Like many states, Montana is facing an educator shortage—especially in rural areas. Policymakers in the Montana Rural Recruitment and Retention Task Force partnered with us to study data that can inform efforts to address this issue. The goals of the study were to assess just how large the educator shortage was in 2016–17 and 2017–18, how often teachers change schools or districts or leave the profession entirely, and how many teachers and principals worked in multiple roles or in multiple school systems.

While this work focused on Montana, the findings may help education policymakers in other states with similar demographics. Key findings include:

• 62 percent of positions in shortage subject areas were difficult or fill or unable to be filled
• Rural administrators reported more difficulty filling positions than non-rural ones
• 86 percent of teachers and 87 percent of principals returned to their position from the previous year
• 29 percent of teachers and 24 percent of administrators held multiple positions

Download the report for more findings and details.

Report