Giving Compass' Take:

• After years of push and support from nonprofit groups who are trying to address the lack of teachers in the Mississippi Delta, the states and government are stepping in to help out. 

• How can members of the community help support the teacher shortage at the school, local, state, and national levels to increase the numbers?

• Here's an article on why solving the teacher shortage is critical for education technology. 

CLARKSDALE, Miss. — Cleveland native Toni McWilliams didn’t feel like she was putting her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration to good use working as an administrative secretary for a middle school in her hometown. The job, which paid around $19,000, barely brought in enough money to support her two young daughters. So McWilliams decided to try teaching. “My mom had always encouraged me to teach,” she said.

But there was one big obstacle standing in the way: the Praxis exams. Consisting of four to five different tests, Praxis exams measure would-be teachers’ content knowledge in subjects that include math and reading.

Read the full article about how grassroots efforts are trying to solve the teacher shortage crisis by Kelsey Davis at The Hechinger Report