New teachers tested by rising demands, shrinking support

On a recent Tuesday morning in a kindergarten classroom at Momentum Academy, teacher Caroline Simmons knelt beside a student who had gotten out of his seat for the fourth time in five minutes — and they were only an hour into the school day.

“He’s not misbehaving,” she said softly. “His brain just wants to do a million things at once.”

For Simmons, a first-year teacher, moments like this capture both the joy and the strain of the profession. They also highlight what many Missouri educators say has become one of the biggest challenges in today’s classrooms: students arriving with different needs, less experience in structured learning environments and higher levels of support required to keep them engaged.

Those shifting needs have reshaped the job and added pressure to a workforce already stretched thin. Missouri’s teacher shortage didn’t begin with COVID-19, educators say, but the pandemic — which disrupted early learning and child development — intensified trends that were already eroding stability.

Concerns about teacher supply have been building for years, said Paul Katnik, assistant commissioner for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“There was a gap between supply and demand,” he said. “The pandemic accelerated that gap.”

Katnik said statewide surveys consistently point to the same causes: rising demands on teachers, compensation that hasn’t kept up with living costs and a growing sense among educators that they are less respected than they once were.

Missouri recently moved to address some of those pressures by raising the minimum teacher salary from $25,000 to $40,000 beginning this year. Some districts have added retention stipends and supplemental pay programs to try to keep experienced teachers in classrooms.

Despite assumptions, St. Louis is not where teacher retention is lowest. State data show the city retains about 90.2% of its first-year teachers, compared with the statewide average of 82.2%.

“That doesn’t mean the problem isn’t here,” Katnik said. “It means the problems show up differently in different places. The more we can keep our teachers, the less of a demand there is.”

Simmons, 23, is navigating her first school year in that shifting landscape. She is part of the Gateway Teaching Fellowship, a new initiative of The Opportunity Trust that recruits and supports first-year teachers through two months of intensive summer preparation and in-classroom coaching throughout the year. The program aims to provide the structure and mentorship many new educators say they lack.

“New teachers face increasing demands and decreasing support,” said Jonathan Caldera, associate partner at The Opportunity Trust.

Simmons sees the effects every day. Many of her kindergarteners spent their earliest years during the pandemic.

“Many of my students were toddlers during COVID,” she said. “They haven’t been used to classroom environments.”

Her students often struggle to sit still, follow multi-step directions and stay focused — challenges that can overwhelm new teachers without strong training and steady support.

Veteran educators know those pressures well. University City High School math teacher Malinda Baker, who has taught in St. Louis for more than 20 years, said the work remains deeply personal.

“I stay because of the heart I have for students who need to see themselves in the classroom,” she said.

Baker nearly left the profession. After 18 years in a previous district — including serving as an instructional leader — she was reassigned back to the classroom and received a pay cut.

“I really struggled with continuing,” she said. “But I don’t teach math. I teach students. I love students. Love is the reason I stayed.”

For both Baker and Simmons, teaching is rooted in relationships and in seeing potential in students who may need more time, more support or more structure. Even in a demanding first year, Simmons says she plans to stay.

“The growth I’ve seen in my students in just one quarter is incredible,” she said. “Knowing I have that kind of impact — that’s what keeps me here.”

Katnik said retaining teachers like Simmons ultimately comes down to whether schools can provide the conditions educators need.

“Teachers need adequate compensation and support,” he said. “If we can give them that, they stay — and students benefit.”