New Federal Data: Too Few Applicants in K-12 Schools — from usnews.com by Lauren Camera
More than half of public schools were understaffed at the start of the school year, and 69% reported the primary challenge was that too few teacher candidates were applying for open positions.
Excerpt:
Personnel shortages that challenged K-12 leaders at the outset of the new academic year and continue to disrupt the U.S. public school system are driven by a shortage in the pipeline of new educators and school staff, federal data confirms.
More than half of all public schools in the country reported that they were understaffed at the start of the 2022-23 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the research arm of the Education Department, and 69% reported that too few teacher candidates applying for open positions was the primary challenge.
Also relevant/see:
Too Few Candidates Applying for Teaching Jobs the Primary Hiring Challenge for More than Two-Thirds of Public Schools Entering the 2022-23 School Year — from prnewswire.com
Excerpt:
“The majority of public schools are starting the new school year feeling understaffed, particularly in areas like special education, transportation, and mental health,” said NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr. “And while many schools say that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more challenging to fill positions, 20 percent of schools say that they were already understaffed before the pandemic began. These data points are critical for understanding challenges our public schools are facing, allowing policymakers to provide timely assistance to help our students and educators in areas where it is needed.”
As of August, public schools across the country reported that special education and mathematics teaching positions were among the most difficult teaching positions to fill for the 2022–23 school year. Seventy-eight and 75 percent of schools offering these positions reported it was either “very” or “somewhat difficult,” respectively, to hire fully certified teachers in these areas.