With Education majors potentially on the chopping block, UConn risks worsening the teacher shortage

UConn recently announced that they are reviewing 70 majors reaching the evaluation threshold of low enrollment or graduation rates. Out of these, 15 majors were part of UConn’s Neag School of Education, including English, History, Biology and Music Education. If UConn were to cut some or all of these education programs, a vital pipeline for aspiring teachers to earn a degree in their field would be severely diminished or severed entirely, exacerbating Connecticut’s current teacher shortage.   

It is first worth mentioning what exactly the education program and others at UConn face with this new evaluation. The review does not necessarily mean that these programs will be cut or closed, although a May 14 memo to deans noted “It is anticipated that the end result for the review of low-completion programs will result in the closure [of some of them].” In addition to potential closures, programs could also combine with other initiatives, update their curriculum, or make efforts to increase enrollment. But the threat of programs being shut down still hangs over the majors now subject to review, and the field of education is one of the most important to UConn and Connecticut as a whole.   

The Neag School of Education is currently ranked in the top 25 of public graduate schools in America by U.S News and World Report for the ninth consecutive year, representing its important standing as an example for other colleges and universities. In the school year of 2022-23, it had 348 undergraduate students and 757 graduate students. Out of this population, 158 bachelor’s degrees were awarded and 401 graduate degrees and certificates were given. Important alumni include Connecticut’s 2024 Teacher and Superintendent of the Year, showing that the Neag School holds considerable weight in the state. Along with other education programs at the rest of Connecticut’s state schools, such as that of CCSU, it provides school districts with teachers they desperately need.   

The elimination of education programs at colleges and universities is far from unprecedented. In 2020, the University of South Florida, a public state school like UConn, closed its entire College of Education, leaving only an unmoored graduate program intact. Francyne Huckaby, professor of Curriculum Studies at Texas Christian University, called that closure at the time “another” in a “death of a thousand cuts” for colleges’ education  

programs. UConn’s review might very well spell yet another cut that causes the field of education to bleed further.  

Connecticut has long been dealing with a scarcity of available teachers. According to CT Insider, “for several years, numerous Connecticut school districts have struggled to fill vacancies.” This problem, since wealthier districts are still able to attract hires, has disproportionately affected poorer areas with less access to resources; 71 percent of teaching vacancies in Connecticut are in “Alliance Districts,” according to a 2022 report from the Office of Legislative Research. The term refers to districts that have the lowest-performing school systems in the state, comprising about 44 percent of all Connecticut students. As of 2024, the school district of New Haven has 77 position openings, while Waterbury has 63 and Hartford has 58. Connecticut also released subject areas of particular concern when it comes to teacher shortages, including the categories of History and Social Studies, Science and World Languages. Many of these subjects’ majors at the Neag School of Education are up for review, presenting a serious issue of how districts would try to fill positions if the majors were cut or removed, bringing up the potential for a slowed hiring environment in a sector where hiring is already drastically low for several school systems.   

Therefore, for UConn to remove some or all of these education majors would be unwise. Instead, they should work to increase enrollment – something the Neag School is already committed to. According to Neag’s 2023-24 annual report, the “Advising and Certification Office continued to engage in targeted recruitment efforts to increase student enrollment in low-enrollment teacher education disciplinary areas and critical teacher shortage areas.” Through this shortage, Neag needs support to maintain its work in getting more teachers to school districts, not the chilling effect of program closures.