Teacher shortages and lack of teacher diversity have led to growing efforts nationally to recruit teaching assistants (TAs) to be classroom teachers. Substitute teachers are not typically considered in these efforts. We pair longitudinal administrative data from a mid-sized urban district with survey follow-up to address how TAs and substitute…

This special issues brief provides an overview of the education workforce shortage trends both nationally and in Region 2 states (Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island). The brief also highlights examples of how Region 2 states are innovating to address these shortages and provides additional considerations for strategies to address shortages in…

California will need a stable, high-quality teacher workforce to weather the COVID-19 crisis and support student learning in the coming years. However, persistent and worsening teacher shortages threaten the state's ability to meet that need. Teacher shortages, which are often most acute in high-need fields and high-need schools, more severely…

In the 2017-2019 operating budget, the Legislature appropriated $5,000 to create a child care workforce development technical workgroup (Workgroup) and directed the Department of Early Learning (now the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, or DCYF) to convene a group consisting of 13 stakeholders to develop recommendations for the…

Casual academics form the backbone of learning and teaching practice in higher education in many developed countries and in many respects can be considered the norm around which academic policy and practice might be formed. Yet a narrative inquiry into the lived experience of women casual academics within Australian universities reveals that…

Unfortunately, far too many Arkansas students are being taught by teachers who are uncertified in the subject they are teaching. This report analyzes the extent and potential causes of Arkansas' teacher shortage and propose a series of recommendations for state policymakers. Two primary findings about the shortage were identified: (1) Shortages…

As K-12 teachers and administrators grow increasingly concerned with issues of accountability, research-based methods, and intervention strategies, little discussion exists on the impact of substitute teachers in the classroom. In the rush to analyze test scores, are the days covered by substitute teachers even considered? Though districts are…

Teach For America (TFA) aims to address teacher shortages by sending graduates from elite colleges, most of whom do not have a background in education, to teach in low-income rural and urban schools for a two-year commitment. The impact of these graduates is hotly debated by those who, on the one hand, see this as a way to improve the supply of…

Ever since reform, opening up, and the development of the market economy, teacher attrition has reached an alarming proportion. In Liaoning province, more than 6,300 or 50 percent of the teachers either took early retirement or changed careers between 1979 and 1985. As a result, secondary and elementary schools in some regions have not been able…

Examines how the Family and Medical Leave Act's special rules affecting primary and secondary education are likely to change the way that school administrators think about and make use of substitutes. Considers the pool of people who become substitutes and the way that they are recruited and compensated. Discusses intermittent leave for teachers…

Describes a Long Island (New York) high school district's concentrated effort to expand their pool of potential substitute teachers and offer them a comprehensive orientation program. The district used PTA newsletters, letters to staff, and newspaper notices to attract applicants. Training covered curriculum, teaching strategies, classroom…

Describes one school district's experiences using an automated substitute teacher calling system, noting that this automated system cannot help with problem of substitute teacher shortage and describing how the district worked to attract and retain high quality substitutes by examining teachers' opinions of ideal substitute teachers…

Presents results from the First Annual SubConference: A National Conference on Substitute Teaching. The theme was "Best Practices in Managing Substitute Teaching." The conference examined what works and what does not work concerning practices and policies related to substitute teaching. Topics included recruiting, screening, training,…

The Pathways to Teaching Careers Program was a national recruitment effort started in 1989 to bring teachers of color into the teaching profession. This effort was instrumental in forging the investment of some $50 million for a series of grants that included 26 programs in 66 colleges and universities, located in 43 cities in 26 states (the…

In summer 1999, a group of Park City, Utah, school administrators, personnel directors, human-resource specialists, and substitute teacher coordinators brainstormed on improving the recruitment, training, and retention of substitute teachers. Providing effective preservice and on-the-job training and professional recognition are key suggestions.…