K-12 Teachers: Brightening Oregon’s Future by Igniting Young Minds
May 23, 2025Do you have the aptitude and the heart for inspiring others towards new knowledge or skills? Are you looking for a career that has a positive impact on youth in your local community? For thousands of years, teaching has been the profession that creates all other professions. Many teachers worldwide consider the work to be their calling instead of simply a job. In the words of John Steinbeck, “Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” Each day they enter the classroom, teachers shape children’s sense of competency as future workers, future leaders, and (perhaps most importantly) as conscientious humans who are learning soft skills for how to approach the world around them.
The great news for those looking to become a certified elementary or secondary school teacher in Oregon, is that these are large occupations with above average projected annual openings and various grade level or subject area specializations to choose from. Find a setting that aligns with your passions and teaching could be a fulfilling, sustainable occupation with high societal impact over the course of a career.
Plenty of Job Openings Despite Declining School Enrollment
This article’s focus is on the teaching occupations most prevalent in elementary and secondary schools. It does not cover instructional assistants, college faculty, or non-instructional employees who work within the education sector but have substantially different training requirements and responsibilities from a classroom teacher.
The Employment Department estimates there are 42,360 teachers within Oregon’s K-12 public and private schools, a figure that includes part-time teachers and substitutes. This breaks down to 1,390 kindergarten teachers, 14,830 elementary school teachers, 6,230 middle school teachers, and 11,410 secondary school teachers who instruct general education classes, along with an estimated 4,320 special education teachers and 3,990 substitute teachers. Employment estimates for the other education occupations are available on Qualityinfo.org.
Total employment in classroom teaching occupations is projected to decline 1% from 2023 to 2033, with most job openings coming from replacement rather than from growth. A replacement opening is a job opening created when a teacher retires or leaves the profession.
The overall number of teaching positions tends to track with a state’s school-age population. Oregon’s population of five to 17-year-old children currently numbers around 624,868 but is expected to decline by 1.3% annually in the next decade. The Office of Economic Analysis states in the Economic & Revenue Forecast: Population and Demographic Summary, “Based solely on demographics of Oregon, demand for public services geared towards children and young adults will likely decline or increase only at a slower pace, whereas demand for older adult care and services will increase rapidly.” Oregon school districts have already noticed this gradual drop in enrollment, an exception being schools located in communities with high rates of in-migration or new housing construction.
Declining school enrollment should not be a cause for alarm for future teachers hoping to join the workforce. They will still have strong job prospects upon graduation as older teachers retire and others exit the profession due to individual factors. In recent years, several school districts have encountered high rates of teacher attrition and found it necessary to actively recruit new teachers or improve their retention strategies. Some notable areas of job growth are for substitute teachers and for special education teachers at the regional education service districts (ESDs), which are projected to grow 4.1% and 5.6%, respectively. The Employment Department projects there will be around 28,700 job openings for K-12 teachers during the next decade, or 2,870 per year.
Teacher Salaries Above Average Compared with All Occupations
Teaching is considered a middle-class profession rather than a lucrative one when it comes to pay expectations. This profession had humble beginnings in Oregon. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, “teaching provided neither wealth nor a glamorous lifestyle. The average salary for a female country schoolteacher around the turn of the century was approximately $50 a month plus room and board. Some districts paid part of the earned salary in commodities such as yard goods, flour, or chickens” (Source: “ABC’s In One Room,” Little Known Tales from Oregon History).
Oregon has come a long way from paying its teachers in flour and chickens! This occupation now offers stable income, with median annual salaries for K-12 teachers clustered between $81,617 and $91,814. From the novice to the veteran educator and varying by region of the state, salaries range from $50,000 per year at the 10th percentile, up to $120,000 or higher at the 90th percentile. Teacher pay is quite transparent in the public schools, as it is determined by each district’s salary schedule and published online. Salaries can be influenced by collective bargaining agreement between the teachers’ unions and the local school districts which results in cost-of-living adjustments or longevity ‘step’ increases for each year of teaching. Teachers may also earn merit pay for higher academic degrees completed beyond the bachelor’s degree. Median salaries for K-12 teachers are above average when compared with all occupations, and in the middle of the pack amongst the 170 occupations typically requiring a bachelor’s degree. (Find more job filters and comparisons at the QualityInfo.org Career Explorer.)
Multiple Pathways to the Classroom
Educational requirements for teachers vary depending on whether one plans to teach elementary or secondary students, general or special education, and in a public or private school. Oregon public schools hire teachers who have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university, completed a teacher preparation program, and obtained a teaching license with an endorsement for their intended subject and grade level. Private school teachers are not mandated to hold a state teaching license but most schools favor candidates who possess formal training and a bachelor’s degree.
Oregon has 16 high-quality educator preparation providers for aspiring teachers to choose from when enrolling in an undergraduate or graduate licensure program, as listed in the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission directory with detailed information on each of the programs. Financial aid is available for qualifying individuals through the FAFSA, TEACH Grant, or state grants such as the Oregon Opportunity Grant and Oregon Teacher Scholars Program.
While in college, individuals seeking to become an elementary or special education teacher usually complete a generalized education major that grants them breadth of knowledge in multiple subject areas along with a focus on child development. Those looking to become a middle or high school teacher major in one academic subject such as Mathematics, Biology, or English to gain the expertise necessary to teach this subject at a high level. There is also an option for individuals to take a series of courses in Elementary Education at a community college, receive their Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer degree (AAOT-Elementary Education) then enter an Oregon public university as a junior to complete their bachelor’s degree and finish licensure requirements. If a prospective teacher already possesses a bachelor’s degree and is making a career change into teaching after some years in the workforce, they can enroll in a shorter postgraduate or master’s program. Across the various programs, a student teaching internship is a common capstone experience allowing teacher candidates to put their coursework into practice under the supervision of an expert teacher.
As for nontraditional pathways to become a K-12 educator, initiatives such as the Grow Your Own Educator projects and apprenticeship model focus on building up a diverse teaching workforce. Other alternatives include the Oregon Reciprocal License for those who taught in another state or country, a Restricted Teaching License with sponsorship from the employer for those who have not yet completed a teaching licensure program, and a special licensing process for Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers.
An Interview with Teacher Kyle Ward (Bethel School District, Eugene, Oregon)
Please describe your job. What are your primary duties and responsibilities?
“I am a high school social studies teacher, and I have been for 26 years. So I’ve taught a variety of subjects over the years. I’ve taught U.S. History, Geography, Psychology, Sociology, Economics. I’ve taught all grade levels 9th through 12th grade. For my job overall, I’m entrusted with creating a safe, welcoming place for students, and then to develop their academic skills and their content knowledge in the areas I teach.”
What training was necessary for you to become a teacher?
“I think most teachers take the route I did, which is you earn a bachelor's in the general area that you want to teach. And especially for high school that would be in the specific content area. So I was a History major. And then after your bachelor's degree there’s typically another teaching program you go to that’s a year or a year-plus where you go through courses on how to be a teacher. You do your student teaching experience and hopefully end up with a certification… All my student teaching and my job have been at the same school, Willamette High School, which has been a great fit.”
What are the working conditions like for your job, as far as hours and atmosphere?
“8 a.m. to 4 p.m. are the official contract hours, five days a week. So by our contract it’s a 40-hour week. I think most teachers will tell you there’s work beyond the contract and most weekends I’m doing some sort of work. Often for a high school teacher that’s grading. I teach some advanced IB classes that are more labor intensive as far as the grading since they’re college level classes. We have a block schedule, so there are eight periods and we only do four each day. The classes are 90 minutes and in a day I teach three classes and then one of those is my prep period. Between the A days and the B days, I teach six classes. So if class sizes are around 30, which this year they are, that means I’ve got like 180 students… During class time, it’s me and the students so there’s not like collaboration [with other teachers] while you’re teaching. But one of the cool things is working with other teachers who are generally in teaching for the right reasons and want to help kids.”
Are there opportunities for advancement?
“There are, maybe less opportunities for advancement than you might see in the private sector in a corporation. I think the size of the district matters a lot. At Willamette we’re not a huge district and the school I’m at is the only high school other than an alternative high school. If I’m wanting to stay a high school teacher in my district, there aren’t a lot of options. Some of the options would be to go into administration, which is never something I’ve personally had a desire to do. There are also what are called TOSA’s [Teacher on Special Assignment] or Instructional Coaches where you’re a teacher but you’re doing other things which are not necessarily in the classroom teaching a class. You might be working with new teachers or working individually with kids that need extra help. But the vast majority of teachers are teaching in the classroom.”
What are some challenges of working as a teacher?
“It’s a lot to try to do. On the one hand you’re managing a classroom with different personalities and students from diverse backgrounds, students with a lot of things going on in their life, they bring those things in. So just trying to create that welcoming, safe learning environment and the academic content you’re trying to teach, plan engaging lessons and assess all the work, it can be a challenge. My experience hasn’t been that it’s an easy job. I enjoy the challenge but I think there are probably easier jobs out there for sure.”
Tell me something about your job that I wouldn’t expect.
“Just that the job is a lot more than planning and delivering lessons. Kids especially after COVID, there has been a change. The mental health issues that kids are going through are real and it’s apparent. While there are many kids that don’t have those struggles, in every class I teach, kids have needs beyond just the learning. There’s a lot of things that students are dealing with that you become acquainted with and help them try to make it through.”
What are your favorite aspects of being a teacher?
“Interacting with the kids. Having lessons where you feel like the class was engaged, there was enriching discussion. Getting to know students personally. Working with other motivated professionals who you can bounce ideas off of and on the tough days commiserate with, enjoy your successes together and help each other.”
What advice would you give someone who is considering a career in education?
“Get experience working with kids that are the age level you hope to teach. Like I did some coaching back before I entered a teaching program, soccer in particular, and got used to working with kids. Volunteer in schools. Sometimes people think it’s going to be just how they remember it. Schools are changing rapidly, so try to do that so you know what you’re getting yourself into, the more you can learn about [education] ahead of time, the better.”
Could Teaching Be for You?
Our K-12 schools will remain a stable source of employment with plentiful replacement openings for those who hold the required credentials and demonstrate a passion for educating Oregon’s youth. A Chinese proverb emphasizes the importance of teachers who adapt their instructional practices to how students learn: “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” We all remember those amazing teachers who believed in our ability to learn and sought to actively involve us in our education. Teachers’ influence on the lives of their students often stretches far beyond the classroom, contributing to their success and wellbeing as they approach adulthood. Could you be that teacher for the next generation of students?
Further Reading
Become an Educator in Oregon
Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission
Oregon Educator Equity Report
2023 Oregon Statewide Educator Survey Results | Educator Advancement Council
Oregon Statewide Report Card 2023-24
Penner, Ainsworth and Liu (2024). “Building a Diverse Workforce for All Students: Oregon Educator Recruitment and Retention over Time and across Contexts”
Morton, EdD., Brenda and Maresh, Joel EdD (2024) "Teacher Retention Challenges: What we learned before and after COVID-19," Northwest Journal of Teacher Education: Vol. 19 : Iss. 2 , Article 5.
O.E.D.D. - Your Oregon Educator Data Dashboard
National Center for Education Statistics: Digest State Dashboard