Support staff shortages exceed those for teachers in many Illinois public schools
Despite widespread concern that the pandemic exacerbated existing shortages of teachers, a new study of Illinois public schools indicates that need for other certificated staff such as teacher's aides and social workers may ...
Paul Bruno, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, compared data on actual unfilled vacancies for teachers, administrators and certificated staff in all Illinois primary and secondary public schools in fall 2022. At that time, the rate of unfilled vacancies for certificated staff was 5.6%, more than double those of teachers at 2.6% and significantly higher than those of administrators at 0.9%.
In looking at the vacancy rates aggregated to the county level, Bruno found that 60 of 102 counties in Illinois reported teacher vacancies below 2%, and nine counties reported none.
"I don't see much evidence of a terrible teacher shortage in general," Bruno said. "But I'm very worried about shortages in specific positions or schools affecting specific groups of students, and our solutions should be targeted at those specific problems."
The findings, published in the journal Education Finance and Policy, provide a clearer picture of the labor shortages in Illinois public schools, and the study explores the potential impact on students' learning experience.
The unfilled vacancies for all three types of positions varied widely across the state. Credit: Paul Bruno
Bruno's analyses indicated that unfilled vacancies for teachers, administrators and other staff occurred in ways associated with student demographics such as race, English proficiency and poverty that exacerbated existing inequities. Credit: Paul Bruno
Bruno's analyses indicated that unfilled vacancies for teachers, administrators and other staff varied significantly depending on schools' urbanicities―whether they were located in cities or rural areas, for example―and the grade levels of the students they served. Credit: Paul Bruno