Although teacher quality policies involving salaries, working conditions, performance evaluations, and professional development play important roles across the profession, such factors only matter once one enters the classroom. At least as consequential is who enters the classroom in the first place and their experiences prior to being a teacher: What types of individuals does the teaching profession attract? Do careers such as nursing and social work attract students with the same demographic and academic characteristics as those interested in K–12 teaching? And what types of higher education institutions tend to draw students interested in teaching?
A new study aims to address these questions by looking at the demographics of college applicants interested in teaching in America. It analyzes potential reasons why some groups who enter other fields steer clear of the classroom. Researchers merged eleven years of Common Application data with publicly available information from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Common Core of Data (CCD), the Private School Universe Survey (PSS), and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to develop a detailed picture of applicants’ academic and personal characteristics. If one checks a box on the Common App saying that teaching is something they’d consider, the researchers define that as “interest” in the profession.
The authors employ a logistic regression model that compares applicants’ interest in teaching to characteristics like race, gender, and SAT composite score. They also compare the demographic and academic characteristics of applicants interested in teaching and other careers, such as nursing and social work. Finally, they examine which types of postsecondary institutions tend to draw prospective educators, looking at Carnegie classification (school type), distance from home, applicants’ test scores, and other features, such as whether the school is a HBCU or a Hispanic-Serving Institution.
Consistent with prior research and much real-world evidence, they find that women and White students are more likely to be interested in teaching than men and other racial and ethnic groups. The odds of Asian students expressing interest in teaching are approximately 54 percent lower than White students. For Black students, the odds drop further to 60 percent less. Applicants who applied to more selective colleges (and submitted more applications) were also less likely to be interested in teaching, echoing previous studies that found a negative correlation between interest in teaching and such measures as SAT and ACT scores. The authors also examine whether family background and income affect applicants’ desire to go into teaching but find a weaker connection.
While interest in K–12 teaching varies across groups, interest in the profession as a whole has seen a steady decline, dropping 20 percent from 2015 to 2025 (with similar trends seen in school counseling, social work, and therapy). In contrast, careers such as law, business, and nursing have seen mounting interest. Nursing, in particular, saw a 25 percent increase over the same ten-year period. The authors note that, because racial and ethnic disparities in teaching interest are more stark than for other career fields, factors exclusive to K–12 education may help explain the long-standing racial representation gaps seen in the country’s teacher workforce.
College applicants interested in teaching are 45 percent more likely to apply to a less selective college and to one close to home. Students applying to colleges within 50 miles of their homes are nearly 40 percent more likely to flag teaching as a career interest than those applying to colleges more than 500 miles away.
Who wants to be a teacher? Certainly not everyone. Women, White students, and those who pursue less selective colleges seem to show the most interest. Education policymakers and practitioners hoping to alleviate teacher shortages and improve teacher quality would do well to familiarize themselves with the findings of this study, some of which confirms prior knowledge on the teacher workforce. Meanwhile, schools and classrooms across the U.S. can certainly use all the help they can get from prospective teachers.
SOURCE: Brendan Bartanen, Andrew Avitabile, and Andrew Kwok, “Who Wants to Be a Teacher in America?” EdWorkingPapers (September 2025).
