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Cited by 50Teacher Professional Development and MotivationSchool Choice and PerformanceTeacher Education and Assessments

What Do We Know About the Extent of Teacher Shortages Nationwide? A Systematic Examination of Reports of U.S. Teacher Shortages

Open access
Nguyen, Tuan D., Lam, Chanh B., Bruno, Paul·2024·AERA Open
DOI 10.1177/23328584241276512
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Abstract

Teachers are critical to student learning, but adequately staffing classrooms has been challenging in many parts of the country. Though teacher shortages are widely reported, they are poorly understood, particularly in terms of the magnitude and variation of the shortages, and reported figures are often localized and anecdotal. To address this gap, we systematically examine news reports, Department of Education data, and publicly available information on teacher shortages for every U.S. state. We characterize the data landscape and find there are at least 39,700 vacant positions along with at least 288,000 positions being held by underqualified teachers, both of which are conservative estimates of the extent of teacher shortages nationally. We discuss the implications of our findings for improving data systems, including more specific and consistent reporting of shortage, as well as implications for teacher preparation and education policy.

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Crossref · 10.1177/23328584241276512

Cites

16 of 16 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Aragon S., 2016, Teacher shortages: What we know
  2. Castro A., 2018, Policy brief 2018-1: Addressing the importance and scale of the U.S. teacher shortage
  3. García E., 2019, The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought
  4. García E., 2019, U.S. schools struggle to hire and retain teachers
  5. Ingersoll R. M. (2003). The teacher shortage: Myth or reality? Educational Horizons, 81(3), 146–152. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42926477
  6. Partelow L., 2019, What to make of declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs

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Authors
Nguyen, T. D., Lam, C. B., & Bruno, P.
Affiliations
  • University of Missouri (US)
  • Kansas State University (US)
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
Corresponding author
Nguyen, Tuan D.
ORCID
Venue
AERA Open
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2024-01
Volume
10
ISSN
2332-8584 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1177/23328584241276512
OpenAlex
W4402681484
Semantic Scholar
3852a76ce1de5f61266ea3c7891a81248c0d6de6
Cited by
50
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 1
FWCI
61.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • AERA Open (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Professional Development and Motivation
  • Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
  • Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Assessments
Keywords
teacher shortage, underqualified teachers, teacher staffing, teacher preparation, education policy

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