Flux in the Educator Labor Market: Acute Staff Shortages and Projected Superintendent Departures. Selected Findings from the Fourth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-9

Media accounts have described kindergarten through 12th grade teaching staff shortages in 2021-2022 that were severe enough to temporarily close schools for in-person instruction in some areas. Although much has been written about the negative impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on teachers, less is known about the extent to which the pandemic is taking a toll on other types of educators, including superintendents. To obtain a national picture of the various types of staffing challenges that districts are facing in the 2021-2022 school year, RAND researchers surveyed 359 district and charter network leaders in the American School District Panel (ASDP) between October 25, 2021, and December 10, 2021. The representative survey results confirm that media attention to the severe staffing crunch in schools this school year is well placed, and maybe all the more so if current and future variants of COVID19 infect even more school staff and students. Beyond the serious staffing concerns for this school year are concerns in future years about a fiscal cliff and a potential increase in superintendent turnover. [For the companion report "District Leaders' Concerns about Mental Health and Political Polarization in Schools: Selected Findings from the Fourth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-8," see ED617354.]

State of the Superintendent -- High Job Satisfaction and a Projected Normal Turnover Rate. Selected Findings from the Fifth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-12

Numerous accounts suggest that public school superintendents are burned out and frustrated by the accumulated stress of steering schools through the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and political polarization, and that they are increasingly at risk of mass attrition. However, despite high stress levels and similarly dire predictions for teachers and principals, there has been a noticeable lack of heightened turnover among teachers and principals thus far throughout the pandemic. These contradictory signals beg the questions: Are superintendents satisfied with their jobs right now, and will they leave at higher-than-normal rates? This analysis suggests that, as of spring 2022, superintendents have positive feelings about their jobs despite the many challenges schools have faced both before and throughout the pandemic, and they do not plan to depart the profession at heightened rates. This is the first of two reports with results from the spring 2022 survey of the American School District Panel (ASDP). [For the companion report, "Districts Continue to Struggle with Staffing, Political Polarization, and Unfinished Instruction: Selected Findings from the Fifth American School District Panel Survey," see ED621840.]