Districts with shortages most often lack special education, mathematics, and science teachers, and most lack middle and high school teachers¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2016 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2021: baselines and conditions change
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
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the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Nine out of 10 districts with shortages report shortages in special education, with mathematics (58%) and science (57%) also frequently short; 62% report high school and 60% middle school shortages. → Anne Podolsky and Leib Sutcher 2016
Evidence¶
Anne Podolsky and Leib Sutcher 2016¶
Anne Podolsky and Leib Sutcher. (2016). California Teacher Shortages: A Persistent Problem. Learning Policy Institute. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED606761
q2 · i? · associational · r2
Survey results on shortage subject areas and school levels (Figures 2 and 3): special education 88%, mathematics 58%, science 57%; high school 62%, middle school 60%, elementary 37%. The quoted sentence states the headline pattern.
"most districts report not having enough middle and high school teachers—especially in math and science, and nine out of 10 report shortages in special education"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- In 2015–16, 48 states plus DC reported special education teacher shortages, 42 reported mathematics shortages, and 40 reported science shortages — related
- More experienced teachers earned additional certificates in shortage areas (47 percent) than in nonshortage areas (25 percent), with special education the most common shortage area (27 percent) — related
- Most surveyed districts used federal recovery funds to recruit and retain teachers, including creating new positions that increased staffing needs — related
- Districts attribute shortages chiefly to a shrinking supply of newly credentialed teachers, cited by 79% of shortage districts — related
- Three out of four surveyed California districts reported teacher shortages in fall 2016, and most said shortages were worsening — related
- About 75% of surveyed California districts report a shortage of qualified teachers for 2016-17, and over 80% of these say shortages have worsened since 2013-14 — a broader claim this one bears on
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
shortage-subjects-special-education-math-science |
title |
Districts with shortages most often lack special education, mathematics, and science teachers, and most lack middle and high school teachers |
description |
Districts with shortages most often lack special education, mathematics, and science teachers, and most lack middle and high school teachers |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2016 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
recheck_by |
2021 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — anne-podolsky-and-leib-sutcher-2016 |
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