We develop a unifying conceptual framework for understanding and predicting teacher shortages
at the state, region, district, and school levels. We then generate and test hypotheses about
geographic and subject variation in teacher shortages using data on unfilled teaching positions in
Tennessee during the fall of 2019. We find that teacher staffing challenges are highly localized,
causing shortages and surpluses to coexist. Aggregate descriptions of staffing challenges mask
considerable variation between schools and subjects within districts. Schools with fewer local
early-career teachers, smaller district salary increases, worse working conditions, and higher
historical attrition rates have higher vacancy rates. Our findings illustrate why viewpoints about,
and solutions to, shortages depend critically on whether one takes an aggregate or local
perspective.
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Download 09/20233.23 MB
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/8t5b-2302