Figuring Out When to Panic About “Teacher Shortages” - EducationNext

The pace of teacher hiring picks up over the summer. So does the pace of reporting on the topic.

Teacher hiring is a difficult topic to report on at the best of times. In the current public health and economic context, it is even harder. This means reporters—and readers—must juggle a lot of nuance to understand the staffing situation in their local schools or in schools nationwide.

Here are some tips for writing (or reading) stories about teacher hiring challenges in ways that capture that nuance and that may help prevent narratives from getting ahead of the evidence.

Avoid the phrase “teacher shortage” or define it very clearly.

Perhaps the most common narrative in annual coverage of teacher hiring is that there is a “teacher shortage.” However, that phrase can mean different things. Many people—including some researchers—would say that a shortage exists only if there are not enough teachers to fill open positions. Yet others, including some school leaders, might use the term “shortage” when they are not satisfied with the quality of applicants or wish they had more applicants to choose from.

Those are all important problems, but some are more serious than others. They have different implications for school operations and may have different solutions.

This might be a reason to avoid the phrase “shortage” altogether. Phrases like “teacher supply problems” or “school staffing problems” might be better for capturing the wide range of staffing troubles schools might have. At a minimum, it is important to be explicit about the specific type of “shortage” a story is referring to. Readers should come away understanding what or who, precisely, is in short supply.

Be clear about which teaching jobs are—and are not—proving difficult to fill.

When discussing teacher hiring, a fundamental challenge is that there is no single “teacher supply” or “teacher labor market.” Even schools in different parts of the same state or district may have different numbers of teachers who are interested in working in them. For example, teachers prefer working in schools with better working conditions, including colleagues and school leaders they esteem, and with more local amenities, such as nearby restaurants, coffee shops, parks, and libraries. So, the hiring situation at one school may give a misleading impression about the situation at other schools, even those that are nearby.

Another complication is that most teachers are only willing or able to teach specific subjects or grade levels. This means a school could struggle to hire enough special education teachers even if it has little trouble filling many general education positions.

The subtleties of which positions are hardest to fill are important for conveying the severity of problems for different schools and students. They also have implications for potential solutions. For example, it may be useful to increase the progressivity of school funding so high-need schools can pay teachers more. Or it could be useful to increase financial incentives for harder-to-staff teaching positions.

If readers perceive only a general “teacher shortage” they may overlook these possibilities in favor of solutions aimed at increasing the overall supply of teachers. These measures might not be effective for getting more of the specific kinds of teachers needed in the specific schools that need them.

Focus on consequences for schools and students.

For many readers what is of interest is not the ability to fill teaching positions, but how well schools are able to achieve objectives for students and the community. This can be difficult to judge because how schools operate is often not very intuitive.

For instance, if a school is “unable to fill” a teaching position, it may be natural to assume that students in a classroom will be left with a substitute or that class sizes will increase. But another possibility could be that the classroom is instead staffed with a skilled teacher whose credential is “wrong” for technical regulatory reasons. And for schools flush with pandemic relief aid, the position in question may not have existed previously anyway.

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Figuring Out When to Panic About “Teacher Shortages” - EducationNext
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