* AP…

Illinois schools have taken steps to weather an acute shortage of teachers with the state’s help, but a survey released Tuesday points to ways to improve training, support and incentives for classroom instructors.

The annual study by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools shows that 9 in 10 schools report a serious or very serious teacher shortage, struggle to find substitute teachers and face fewer than five and sometimes no candidates for open positions — and three-quarters of schools say no more than half of the job hopefuls they see have the proper credentials.

There is a particular dearth of special education and English-learner teachers. Among supporting staff, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists and nurses are critically short. Administrators, too, are in short supply.

* Capitol News Illinois…

“This matters,” IARSS executive director Gary Tipsord said in an interview. “This is an issue that people care about. They think it is important, and they think it’s critical enough that it needs to be addressed.”

This year’s survey found more than 90 percent of schools responding reported having a “serious” or “very serious” teacher shortage problem.

That percentage has changed very little in the last several years, although the question has been asked in slightly different ways in earlier surveys. In 2021, for example, 88 percent of those responding said they had a “problem” with teacher shortages, a percentage that was unchanged from 2019. […]

Respondents to the survey reported filling a total of 3,694 teacher positions this year using “alternative measures,” such as hiring substitutes or retired educators, combining classes, and increasing class sizes, among other short-term remedies, according to the report.

* From the report…

Across most educator positions, insufficient compensation, employee burnout, and increased responsibilities were cited as the most common causes for vacancies.

Education leaders also reacted to current strategies to address shortages. District efforts to place student teachers and to improve working conditions were seen by nearly 30% of leaders as effective in improving recruitment and retention. In addition, approximately 50% of leaders indicated that increasing the number of days substitutes, including retired educators, are eligible to teach was beneficial. And finally, the potential solutions that leaders found most promising were financially related: modifying the pension tier system, augmenting loan forgiveness programs for educators, and increasing scholarships for teaching candidates were among the most favorably rated strategies.

These findings suggest that educator shortages are not distributed equally across the state, as 36% of education agencies reported no unfilled positions. But for the education agencies that have unfilled educator positions, a majority of leaders perceive shortages to be severe, resulting in alternative remedies such as hiring substitutes and increasing class sizes that affect the quality of instruction and services students receive. Leaders also shared their views on the causes of shortages as well as current and potential solutions to mitigate the problem. These insights provide a pragmatic foundation that can be used to devise targeted, diverse mechanisms to address unfilled positions, both by supporting current educators and growing pipeline programs.

* WMBD…

“There’s just a lot to respond to, there’s a lot to do, and there are a lot of challenges,” said Beth Crider, regional superintendent of Peoria County Regional Office of Education #48.

There are more than 4,100 unfilled positions across the state for teachers, support staff and paraprofessionals. The biggest shortages are for special education teachers, support staff and specialty positions like school psychologists and speech pathologists.

“They’re putting a substitute in there, that’s somebody with a four-year degree that’s not in teaching. They’re using a retired teacher…or worse than that, they’re canceling the class, putting the kids in other classrooms, putting them in study hall, but those are strategies we have to use if there’s no qualified teacher,” said Crider.

With low compensation and reduced pension benefits, Crider said new strategies are needed to attract more people to the field. The current pension system requires teachers to stay in their positions until age 67.

* More…

* Center Square | School survey: Teacher shortage in Illinois persists, but progress is being made: Tipsord said allowing teachers to be more flexible has helped. “A teacher who previously may not have been able to teach in a certain gray area is at least given an emergency credential so that they can,” said Tipsord.

* WGLT | Rep. Sharon Chung joins statewide teacher shortage working group: Chung said while the group has not met yet, she imagines members will meet with different stakeholders, such as Illinois State Board of Education members. “We’ve already done things with raising the teacher minimum pay,” Chung said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “I know that there are bills right now even just being discussed this session about paid student teaching. That could be another thing that’s on the table.”

* Eye On Illinois | Teacher shortage survey shows filled positions up, as are vacancies: A full 36% of education agencies reported no unfilled positions. In the other 64%, a majority report severe shortages. The report indicates a concentration in rural and urban areas – not always aligned on solutions – and then within specific content areas or ages of student population.

* CBS | Over 90% of Illinois school leaders report teacher shortage, survey says: The report also indicated 93% of school leaders said they are having a hard time filling substitute teacher positions, and 88% have fewer than five applications for teaching positions – with some receiving none at all.