From Candidate to Classroom: Research-Based Practices for Recruiting and Hiring Highly-Effective Teachers
Category: Staffing, Finance, and Operations
Substitute teachers play a crucial role in how schools can function, yet little research has focused on understanding the contours of the substitute labor market. This paper uses a mixed method approach, including a survey of a random sample of the population of substitute teachers, state administrative data, and interviews with district administrators and substitute teachers in Michigan to analyze substitute supply and retention and understand how substitutes navigate the labor market. The number of substitute teachers declined significantly from 2018–2021, only about a third worked as substitutes all three years, and the substitute demand and turnover were highest in urban and high-poverty districts. Pay and flexibility are among the strongest motivators for substitutes’ career and assignment decisions, but we explore how the substitute labor market is segmented with some who need the money or flexibility and those who simply prefer flexible, contingent work with students.
Keywords
Substitute teachers, teacher absences, K-12 labor market, working conditions, contingent labor
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/vrpc-xf26
