Teacher deficit is double dilemma.

• Position: Schools - Brief Article

With schools across the country scrambling to fill teaching slots, the focus has been on recruiting teachers quickly. Jeff Gorrell, dean of the George Mason University Graduate School of Education, Fairfax, Va., says the teacher shortage is a double-sided issue, and the problem is not just getting new teachers, but keeping them. "We keep filling the bucket at the top with new people, but all the teachers are leaving through the holes at the bottom."

Gorrell says the teachers' decision to leave the profession is tempered by a comparison of the "costs" of their commitment (low salaries, high stress, little respect, a focus on testing over learning, and...