UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools

This brief examines newly released statewide teacher workforce data from the California Department of Education (CDE) to better understand post-pandemic changes in California’s teaching workforce between the 2019–20 and 2023–24 school years. The purpose of the study was to identify trends in teacher experience, demographic composition, credentialing status, educational attainment, and staffing across key subject areas. Using publicly available CDE educator workforce datasets representing more than 285,000 teachers annually, researchers conducted a descriptive longitudinal analysis of teacher full-time equivalent (FTE) counts and percentages across multiple workforce indicators. Findings reveal a decline in experienced teachers and corresponding increases in first-year and inexperienced educators, particularly in critical subject areas such as English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. The analysis also found growth in the proportion of Latine and Asian teachers, alongside declines in white and Black teachers. Additionally, schools increasingly relied on teachers who were not fully credentialed, while educational attainment patterns reflected greater participation in Integrated Teacher Education Programs, contributing to an increase in teachers entering the profession with bachelor’s degrees. Despite ongoing workforce diversification efforts, gender representation remained largely unchanged over the study period. These findings suggest persistent recruitment and retention challenges within California’s educator workforce and highlight the need for targeted policy interventions, strengthened preparation pathways, improved educator supports, and enhanced data transparency to sustain a diverse and stable teacher pipeline.