Murky Pools: Describing the supply of teachers and staff to schools

This paper is the first that we know of to examine the applicant pool across teaching areas and among non-teaching school staff positions. In particular, we ask the following four research questions:

1. How does the number of applications per position vary by teaching position, both overall and only for those applications from teachers with appropriate certifications?
2. How does the number of candidates vary across position? More specifically, are the number of applications a good proxy for number of available candidates or do candidates respond to supply by applying to more positions when there are fewer spots available per candidate?
3. How does the number of applications per non-teaching staff position, the number of candidates per position, and the number of applications per candidate vary across positions.
4. Are the patterns evident in a state with complete data similarly evident in the incomplete data from other states?

These questions are addressed using a novel dataset. Information is drawn from a 2010 data extract from Schoolspring.com, the country’s largest online jobs clearinghouse for education positions at the K-12 level. This paper utilizes job postings, job applicant information and employer information from New England States, with a particular emphasis on findings from the State of Vermont where the data exist for every district in the State.