Dive Brief:

• As the economy picks up, more districts across the nation are struggling to find substitute teachers. 
• While there is not official data on the shortage, the Associated Press points to a few informal studies. For example, a preliminary study in Washington state found that 84 out of 94 districts reported struggling to find subs. 
• Another example of this trend is the fact that, in West Virginia, a law created in 2013 due to substitute shortages mandates that administrators fill in for absent teachers three days a year.

Dive Insight:

The Associated Press chalks the trend up for the most part to the economy, saying that better conditions have led those willing to settle for part-time work to push for full-time with higher pay and benefits. The AP also points out that there are fewer education majors in general, and in the past, new teachers or education students would take sub jobs so that they could get experience. If this is, in fact, a true reason why there are less substitutes, it points to new issues with the decline in people wanting to be teachers.

So what happens when a school can't get subs? The AP explained one pretty bad, albeit extreme, situation where students were sent to a different grade level to be watched by a teacher who already has their own class to manage. In this scenario, the visiting class is left without much supervision and the flimsy request of filling out worksheets.

Recommended Reading

Associated Press: Schools Nationwide Struggle With Substitute Teacher Shortage