Teacher Staffing Challenges in California: Examining the Uniqueness of Rural School Districts

Abstract

Using unique data from California on teacher job vacancies, we investigate staffing challenges across the urbanicity spectrum, focusing on the extent to which the characteristics of rural school systems explain the differences in staffing challenges as measured by vacancy rates and emergency credentialed teachers, relative to other urbanicities. We find that rural districts have significantly and substantially higher staffing challenges than districts from different urbanicity classifications (urban, suburban, and towns). Some of these differences are explained by district-level attributes, such as the proportion of students in poverty in the district. The geography of rural districts itself also explains the high levels of staffing challenge as rural districts are more likely to be located on a state border and far from teacher education programs, both of which are strongly associated with staffing challenge measures. Even after controlling for a rich set of observable covariates, there is evidence that rural districts are still somewhat more likely to face staffing challenges, suggesting that there are unobserved aspects of being rural associated with the desirability of employment that are not readily captured by quantitative data.

Labor Dynamics of School Principals in Rural Contexts

“…Thus, it is important to explore which district characteristics, particularly in rural contexts, are associated with an increase in the number of applications. This approach is congruent with Engel et al (2014), who explore which school characteristics are important predictors of where teacher applicants apply in Chicago, and Goldhaber et al (2020), who examine which district characteristics are associated with staffing challenges in rural California. The district-level characteristics are further divided into fixed characteristics (e.g., student composition) and malleable features (e.g., salary and pupil–teacher ratio) for suitable policy implications (Viano et al, 2020).…”

Introduction to Special Topic: Rural Education Finance and Policy

“…These results control for student and teacher race, teachers' perception of the school climate, and other observable teacher and school characteristics such as student poverty and teacher salaries. Goldhaber et al (2020) takes us from a rural state to a more urbanized state, California. Although the state is largely urban, the number of students enrolled in rural schools in California is the fifth largest in the country.…”

“…Goldhaber et al (2020) takes us from a rural state to a more urbanized state, California. Although the state is largely urban, the number of students enrolled in rural schools in California is the fifth largest in the country.…”

Student Teaching and the Geography of Teacher Shortages

“…The localized connections between teacher education and school system employment suggests that school systems that host few student teachers may face more limited hiring options and, thus, greater staffing challenges. Goldhaber et al (2019) find that school districts in California that are geographically closer to TEPs have fewer staffing challenges (as measured by teacher vacancy rates) and suggest thatgiven that student teaching appears to be a key factor in influencing the location of a first job, it makes good sense for the state to encourage teacher candidate-student teaching internship matches be in districts with greater classroom staffing struggles (p. 52)…”