WASHINGTON (March 3, 2022)—Nearly half (44 percent) of public schools currently report full- or part-time teaching vacancies, according to data released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

As of October 2022, 4 percent of all public school teaching positions were vacant. The average public school had two vacant teaching positions. Eighteen percent of public schools had one teaching vacancy and 26 percent had multiple teaching vacancies.

This resource compiles state-specific data related to teacher shortages and provides a national comparison of state policies to recruit and retain teachers across the teacher pipeline.

Three years ago, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) invested approximately $40 million dollars of relief funds into grants to improve the recruitment and retention of teachers. All grant recipients participated in a Four Phase Evaluation process.

In October 2022, after the 2022–23 school year started, 44 percent of public schools reported having one or more vacant teaching positions. 2. While these data show real and/or perceived struggles with school staffing for the 2022–23 school year, they do not allow for prepandemic comparisons.