Frontline Education releases research brief with data that supports the local nature of the labor shortage

Analysis explores relationships between K-12 teacher candidate supply and demand over time

Malvern, Pa., April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) –Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, today announced the release of The Local Teacher Shortage. The research brief, developed by the Frontline Research & Learning Institute, analyzes the teacher shortage at a micro level focusing on state-specific nuances. This brief is the latest edition in a series dedicated to highlighting the story data tells in reference to K-12 staff shortages. The other briefs focused on instructional and non-instructional roles at the national level.

“The mission of the Frontline Research and Learning Institute is to equip the K-12 community with current data and rich insights to inform and accelerate their decision-making,” said Mark Gruzin, CEO of Frontline Education. “While it’s evident that a staff shortage exists, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to solving the problem. The release of this research brief and region-specific data will help school leaders navigate their unique staffing challenges.”

Continuing to analyze the Institute’s perspective that the national labor shortage can be likened to a supply and demand model and that there may be fewer applicants rather than an increase in the number of job postings, this brief provides data and insights on applicant and job posting trends from users of Frontline’s Recruiting and Hiring solution from 2018 to 2022. The 49 states represented in the data are divided into six regions to illustrate the distinctions of the teacher shortage by geographical regions.

Highlights from the data include:

Demand: Some regions experienced increases in job postings last year compared to previous years, suggesting that districts within those regions are trying to backfill positions or created more positions with ESSER funding, federal stimulus funding to combat learning loss and support virtual learning and new programming during the pandemic. The data reflects a variance by regional cluster in the number of postings per average district. One regional cluster experienced an increase of about two postings for the average district compared to another cluster that had an increase of 28 postings for the average district.

Supply: The data reflected that all six regions had the fewest number of applications per posting in 2022 for the average district. The largest declines occurred in the Central, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and South regions with a decreased range between four and seven applications per posting on average compared to their respective four-year annual high. The declines in the Southeast and West regions ranged between one and two applications per posting on average compared to their respective four-year annual high.   

The Institute highlights geographical location as one factor that may contribute to the impact that the labor shortage has on school districts. The research also underscores the overall importance of gaining a better understanding of an organization’s recruiting, hiring and professional development data to mitigate effects of the labor shortage.

To read the full research brief, visit here. To learn more about tools that help to track organizational data, visit here.

 
About Frontline Education
Frontline Education is a leading provider of school administration software, connecting solutions for student and special programs, business operations and human capital management with powerful analytics to empower educators. Frontline partners with school systems to deliver tools, data and insights that support greater efficiency and productivity, enabling school leaders to spend more time and resources executing strategies that drive educator effectiveness, student success and district excellence.

Frontline’s broad portfolio includes solutions for proactive recruiting and hiring, absence and time management, professional growth, student information systems, special education, special programs, Medicaid reimbursement, school health management, inventory control and asset management, payroll, benefits and financial management, and analytics solutions that help district leaders tap into their data to make more informed decisions for the benefit of their students and communities. Over 10,000 clients representing millions of educators, administrators and support personnel have partnered with Frontline Education in their efforts to develop the next generation of learners.