Summary of Teacher Vacancy Survey Results for
2005-2006 Teacher Shortage Areas to be used for the 2006-07 school year
The teacher vacancy survey was conducted in Fall 2005 by the Teachers College Institute, UNL, at the request of the Nebraska Department of Education. The shortage areas were submitted to the US Department of Education for formal approval, and are recognized as shortage areas during the 2006-07 school year. For more information, see the List of Shortage Areas and Six Year Comparison (2000-2006).
Surveys were sent to 253 K-12 school districts in the state. Data requested from the survey included:
the number of districts that could not find fully qualified teachers (defined as those who are certified to teach and have the appropriate endorsement for the courses they are assigned to teach);
the number of teacher positions for which schools could not find fully qualified teachers at the beginning of the 2005-06 school year;
the endorsement areas needed for those unfilled positions;
reasons why the individuals in the applicant pool were not sufficient/appropriate for the positions; and
what schools did to compensate for those unfilled
positions.
The response rate was high (91%), with 230
districts returning completed surveys.
The distributions matched well, indicating that the sample is regionally
representative of K-12 districts in the state.
There was a total of 57 unfilled positions in the fall of 2005.
The endorsement areas with the largest number of unfilled positions were:
|
Foreign Languages |
18% |
|
Special Education |
16% |
|
Music |
12% |
|
Speech Language Pathology |
11% |
|
Sciences |
9% |
There were 41 districts (18% of the returned sample) with unfilled positions. Twenty eight districts (68%) with unfilled positions had less than 1000 students. Thirty five of fifty seven positions (61%) were in districts with less than 500 students.
|
District
Size |
Districts
with Unfilled Positions |
Unfilled
Positions |
||
|
Number |
Percentage |
Number |
Percentage |
|
|
<100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
101-250 |
12 |
329.3 |
15 |
26.3 |
|
251-500 |
10 |
24.4 |
13 |
22.8 |
|
501-1,000 |
6 |
14.6 |
7 |
12.3 |
|
1,001-2,500 |
5 |
12.2 |
8 |
14.0 |
|
2,501-5,000 |
3 |
7.3 |
3 |
5.3 |
|
5,001-10,000 |
2 |
4.9 |
2 |
3.5 |
|
>10,000 |
3 |
7.3 |
9 |
15.8 |
| Total | 41 |
100.0 |
57 |
100.0 |
Based on community college region boundaries, 41 school districts with 57 unfilled positions ranked as follows: 10 school districts in the Southeast region had 14 unfilled positions (24%); 9 school districts in the Panhandle region had 11 unfilled positions (22%); 7 school districts in the Northeast region had 10 unfilled positions (17%); 6 school districts in the West Central region had 8 unfilled positions (15%); 5 school districts in the Central region had 5 unfilled positions (12%); and 4 school districts in the Omaha Metro region had 9 unfilled positions (10%).
The survey allowed school districts to identify
multiple reasons for unfilled positions.
The top four reasons for unfilled positions were as follows: 1) no quality applicants; 2) no applicants
with appropriate endorsements;
3) no applicants; and 4) qualified
applicants refused offer for position.
The survey offered 13 solutions for school districts to choose when identifying how they solved the dilemma of unfilled positions. The three most reported solutions were:
Hiring a person who was fully certified but not endorsed in the required area
Rearranging existing faculty assignments to accommodate classes not being covered
Hiring a person with a provisional certificate