Teacher Shortages Differ in Severity from Region to Region

The Annenberg Institute at Brown University released a white paper on teacher shortages in August 2022 entitled Is there a national teacher shortage? A systematic examination of reports of teacher shortages in the United States. Admitting that data are difficult to assemble due to the lack of consistent reporting, the researchers examined multiple sources of information including news reports, departments of education data, and other sources of public information. They concluded that, conservatively, there are at least 36,000 vacant positions and at least 163,000 positions filled with under qualified faculty. While most of the report is a scholarly examination of past attempts to measure and explain the reasons for teacher shortages, the report also offers a definition to explain the provocative title of the white paper. “Shortage,” as the authors define it, refers to a state’s inability to fulfill a position “even with non-standard certification and using teachers who are teaching outside of their area of preparation.” To accompany the white paper, the authors prepared an interactive website to show the severity of shortages from state to state. Results for all but thirteen states are included on the map. However, the map does not show current school year data. 

Read the white paper here. The interactive map can be found here.