In Illinois: Early Results from $45 Million Investment Show Improved Recruitment and Retention in State’s Most Understaffed School Districts
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) today released early results from a $45 million state investment that show improved recruitment and retention in the state’s most understaffed school districts. The Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program, which was launched in the 2023-24 school year, provided 170 school districts that have the greatest teacher shortages state funds to invest in initiatives to recruit and license new hires and support retention of current educators.
Data is still being collected to assess the full impact of the funding, but ISBE and IWERC announced today that school districts participating in the Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program have hired nearly 5,400 new teachers and retained approximately 11,000 additional educators with the funds so far. The districts receiving the Teacher Vacancy Grant collectively serve approximately 870,000 students.
“It’s a great time to be a teacher in Illinois,” said State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders, Ed.D. “The funds provided by the state’s Teacher Vacancy Grants are empowering school districts to provide new financial incentives, special pipeline programs, and other supports to recruit and retain teachers. Illinois is leading the way in investing in education, making our state the best place for educators to build their careers. I applaud Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly for investing in the Teacher Vacancy Grant and supporting evidence-based strategies to uplift the teaching profession.”
“Illinois districts used strategies to address teacher vacancies that matched the root causes they were seeing on the ground,” said Meg Bates, Ph.D., director of IWERC, which is part of the University of Illinois System. “Our analysis uncovered the diverse array of strategies districts used, all of which were aligned to their unique contexts.”
The funding empowers districts to implement strategies locally tailored to address the root causes of teacher shortages. Districts are required to base their spending decisions on data, ensuring that the strategies are evidence-based and aligned with their specific needs. As a result, in the program’s first year, more than 51% of districts receiving Teacher Vacancy Grant funds saw a decrease in unfilled positions from school year 2022-23 to 2023-24, compared to only 17% of districts not receiving the grant.
ISBE partnered with IWERC to evaluate the grant program and today released two studies. The first study analyzed district applications to identify key factors, such as compensation, lack of qualified applicants, attrition, and competition, that result in teacher shortages. Districts used funding for compensation, tuition support for licensure or endorsements, and professional learning. The second study examined short-term outcomes, revealing that districts hired 5,387 new full-time teachers. These new hires represent 10% of the total teacher workforce in those districts, highlighting a significant boost in staffing levels where shortages were most acute. Additionally, 10,700 employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff, participated in grant-funded programs that targeted decreased attrition.
The Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program intends to provide participating districts with three years of funding, pending appropriations. Governor JB Pritzker and the General Assembly continued funding the second year of the program with $45 million in fiscal year 2025. The multi-year grant supports districts in employing long-term strategies to cultivate a future workforce. For example, the grant has supported coursework and licensure for approximately 1,500 non-certified staff pursuing licensure and 450 certified staff pursuing further endorsements.
The Teacher Vacancy Grant is the cornerstone of ISBE’s robust portfolio of initiatives aimed at tackling the teacher shortage. Other initiatives include Career and Technical Education Education Career Pathway Grants that have equipped nearly 12,000 high school students to pursue careers in education; the teacher recruitment marketing campaign, The Answer is Teaching, which has generated more than 5,000 inquiries from prospective future teachers since it launched in July; and the new Teacher Apprenticeship Program, which, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, will upskill paraprofessionals for successful placement into the teaching profession.
Visit the ISBE Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program webpage for more information.
Tags: data, funding, shortage, state policy
