* Illinois State Board of Education…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) today released early results from a $45 million state investment that show improved recruitment and retention in the state’s most understaffed school districts. The Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program, which was launched in the 2023-24 school year, provided 170 school districts that have the greatest teacher shortages state funds to invest in initiatives to recruit and license new hires and support retention of current educators.

Data is still being collected to assess the full impact of the funding, but ISBE and IWERC announced today that school districts participating in the Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program have hired nearly 5,400 new teachers and retained approximately 11,000 additional educators with the funds so far. The districts receiving the Teacher Vacancy Grant collectively serve approximately 870,000 students.

“It’s a great time to be a teacher in Illinois,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tony Sanders. “The funds provided by the state’s Teacher Vacancy Grants are empowering school districts to provide new financial incentives, special pipeline programs, and other supports to recruit and retain teachers. Illinois is leading the way in investing in education, making our state the best place for educators to build their careers. I applaud Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly for investing in the Teacher Vacancy Grant and supporting evidence-based strategies to uplift the teaching profession.”

“Illinois districts used strategies to address teacher vacancies that matched the root causes they were seeing on the ground,” said Dr. Meg Bates, director of IWERC, which is part of the University of Illinois System. “Our analysis uncovered the diverse array of strategies districts used, all of which were aligned to their unique contexts.”

The funding empowers districts to implement strategies locally tailored to address the root causes of teacher shortages. Districts are required to base their spending decisions on data, ensuring that the strategies are evidenced-based and aligned with their specific needs. As a result, in the program’s first year, more than 51% of districts receiving Teacher Vacancy Grant funds saw a decrease in unfilled positions from school year 2022-23 to 2023-24, compared to only 17% of districts not receiving the grant.

ISBE partnered with IWERC to evaluate the grant program and today released two studies. The first study analyzed district applications to identify key factors, such as compensation, lack of qualified applicants, attrition, and competition, that result in teacher shortages. Districts used funding for compensation, tuition support for licensure or endorsements, and professional learning. The second study examined short-term outcomes, revealing that districts hired 5,387 new full-time teachers. These new hires represent 10% of the total teacher workforce in those districts, highlighting a significant boost in staffing levels where shortages were most acute. Additionally, 10,700 employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff, participated in grant-funded programs that targeted decreased attrition.

The Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program intends to provide participating districts with three years of funding, pending appropriations. Governor JB Pritzker and the General Assembly continued funding the second year of the program with $45 million in fiscal year 2025. The multi-year grant supports districts in employing long-term strategies to cultivate a future workforce. For example, the grant has supported coursework and licensure for approximately 1,500 non-certified staff pursuing licensure and 450 certified staff pursuing further endorsements.

The Teacher Vacancy Grant is the cornerstone of ISBE’s robust portfolio of initiatives aimed at tackling the teacher shortage. Other initiatives include Career and Technical Education Education Career Pathway Grants that have equipped nearly 12,000 high school students to pursue careers in education; the teacher recruitment marketing campaign, The Answer is Teaching, which has generated more than 5,000 inquiries from prospective future teachers since it launched in July; and the new Teacher Apprenticeship Program, which, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, will upskill paraprofessionals for successful placement into the teaching profession.

* From the second ISBE study…

Across TVGPP districts, an average of 40.8 new teachers were hired per district in SY24. Urban districts hired more new teachers on average than rural districts—averaging 88.8 versus 8.7 new hires per district, respectively. But variations in urban and rural districts’ overall staffing sizes likely account for much of this difference. The percentage of new teacher hires, relative to total teacher FTE, on average, across both types of districts were similar—9.4% for rural TVGPP districts and 10.1% for urban TVGPP districts. […]

How many teachers and staff were supported by grant funds in SY24?

The impact of TVGPP funding appears to be far-reaching among both certified and non-certified staff. Below, we provide several highlights from mid-year performance reports. Across 132 TVGPP districts, the following metrics were observed:

• 10,652 (4,372 rural and 6,280 urban) individuals, inclusive of teaching and non-teaching staff, participated in grant-funded programs designed to reduce attrition.
• 11,220 (4,711 rural and 6,509 urban) teachers who took part in grant-funded programs were retained for SY24, which equals 20.9% of SY23 total teacher FTE.
• 171 pathway programs (87 rural and 84 urban) were created to prepare new teachers for teaching positions, recruiting 1,455 (314 rural and 1,141 urban) participants.
• 455 (169 rural and 286 urban) current teachers were funded as they pursued new endorsements to move into high-need areas.

* The study also pointed this out…

Despite the overall net increase in new teacher hires, we raise two exogenous factors—student enrollment and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER)—that may have affected districts’ staffing needs and, subsequently, these findings. Statewide, student enrollment has declined by about 143,000 students from SY18 to SY23 (ISBE, 2024a). Potential implications of declining student enrollment include reduced funding (e.g., EBF) and reduced programs and services, which, in turn, can lead to less of a demand for teachers. Regarding ESSER, Barragan Torres et al. (2024) found that many districts, on average across rounds, directed ESSER funding toward instruction. This temporary infusion of funding could have driven some of the new teacher hires in SY24 reported by TVGPP districts. It also could have driven some of the teachers who did not return in SY24. More specifically, ESSER funds could have led to new teacher positions in previous school years that have since been eliminated due to the impermanence of ESSER funding or changing recovery needs. Looking ahead, ESSER will eventually become less of a factor, as spending of ESSER funds began to taper in SY23 and funding for districts not seeking an extension will expire in fall of 2024.

* An annual survey from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools found one of the most severe shortages was special education teachers. ISBE’s study detailed how schools are using their funds for recruitment and retention…

Some districts, for example, required more special education teachers to meet increasing student needs, and thus focused their strategies on supporting current staff in pursual of proper credentials. Other districts noted markedly high rates of teacher attrition and, in response, implemented retention efforts such as distributing retention bonuses, enhancing induction and mentoring programs, and providing teacher support initiatives (e.g., self-care programs, affinity groups, staff celebrations). In most cases, the causes of and solutions for districts’ specific teacher shortages were multipronged, spanning the extent of the educator pipeline from preparation to retention. […]

And finally, despite supplementary funding from the TVGPP, some districts mentioned a continued lack of qualified applicants for open teaching positions. An administrator from a suburban Cook county district with some hiring success shared that although “sign-on bonuses helped to incentivize teachers to sign on,” they still have vacancies in special education and bilingual education. And in response, they “are working to start a grow-your-own to send current staff to get additional licensure in these areas.”