An overwhelming majority of public school district superintendents have had difficulty finding applicants to fill teacher positions, according to a survey.
The survey by the American Association of School Administrators was based on responses from 910 superintendents from across the country on teacher shortages and their causes. Some 85% of superintendents reported a shortage of applicants for vacant positions as the primary driver of the shortage.
The survey also found that 28% of superintendents reported having a higher number of vacant teaching positions compared to the 2021-2022 school year. In contrast, only 9% of superintendents said they had a lower number of job vacancies compared to last year.
“It’s abundantly clear that we need to build a better pipeline of educators who are going to exert the kind of leadership and courage that is needed today to move America’s public education agenda forward,” Daniel Domenech, the executive director of AASA, said in a press release. “We are grateful to the superintendents who participated in our survey at a time when the exodus of education leaders is alarming and will have long-lasting effects.”
Education leaders and professionals have repeatedly expressed concerns about a nationwide teacher shortage, which many have attributed to COVID-19-related school closures and restrictions.
In its report on the survey, the AASA said the national teacher shortage predated the pandemic but was worsened by it.
“[The shortage] is a complex problem with multiple factors driving educators away from the field, including relatively low pay, poor working environments, uneven or absent opportunities for professional growth, and the weak prestige of teaching,” the report said.
However, the organization also noted that the findings of the survey indicated fears of a mass exodus from the teaching profession were largely overblown.
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“The educator shortage is real, it is persistent and it is widespread,” the report said. “[But] while the educator shortage is real, and problematic, the vacancy rates, in general, are not representative of a major exodus from the teaching and educator profession.”
