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Pandemic-Era School Staff Shortages: Evidence from Unfilled Position Data in Illinois

Paul Bruno

Education Finance and Policy2025https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00450article
ABDC A
Weight
0.46

What the paper says

Concerns about school staff shortages are longstanding. However, data on shortages are limited, dated, and rare for nonteaching staff. I use administrative data on unfilled certificated positions in Illinois public schools from the Fall of 2022 to paint a detailed picture of shortages across teaching, administrative, and other roles, between districts, and between schools. Teacher and administrator shortage rates are low on average, but shortages of other staff—mostly paraprofessionals—are more severe. However, staff–student ratios have increased recently for all staff types. Shortages vary substantially between schools within districts and across urbanicity, grade level, and student characteristics, often in ways that likely exacerbate inequities.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00450

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@article{paul2025,
  title        = {{Pandemic-Era School Staff Shortages: Evidence from Unfilled Position Data in Illinois}},
  author       = {Paul Bruno},
  journal      = {Education Finance and Policy},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00450},
}

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Pandemic-Era School Staff Shortages: Evidence from Unfilled Position Data in Illinois

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Evidence weight

0.46

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.37 × 0.4 = 0.15
M · momentum0.60 × 0.15 = 0.09
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.