Exploring the landscape of teacher applications

Despite widespread concern about teacher shortages, there is little evidence on when teaching positions are posted and how many people apply for them. Using detailed job-posting and application data on nearly 57,000 applicants from 19 traditional school districts and 24 charter organizations, we provide descriptive evidence on the timing of job postings, the supply of applicants, and the characteristics of applicants, emphasizing how each varies across organizations and between the district and charter sectors. We find that late hiring is less prevalent than prior single-district studies suggest—about 11% of openings are posted late—but varies widely across organizations. Applicant supply differs widely across organizations and by sector: districts average 3.3 applicants per opening, versus 6.1 for charters. We also find sectoral differences in applicant pool composition; compared to charters, district applicant pools have higher percentages of White applicants and applicants with prior teaching experience.