The Department for Education and Skills expected 5,000 teachers to apply - but only 34 have, and just 26 qualified.
Director of assessment for the scheme, Martin Flatman, said it would fail unless it was more widely promoted.
"The Excellent Teacher scheme has not taken off because of a lack of understanding, a lack of promotional materials and a lack of acceptance of the term 'excellent'.
"Many head teachers have said they found it divisive because it implied some teachers were excellent and others were not.
"Without additional publicity from the DfES and the Teacher Training and Development Agency the message of the potential of the status will not get through to schools," said Mr Flatman of VT Education and Skills which carries out assessments for the scheme.
Because Excellent Teacher status did not confer much of a salary increase - compared to the extra cash that comes from extra teaching and learning responsibilities - many had opted for these instead, he added.
