How One University Is Creatively Tackling the Rural Teacher Shortage

Rather than add novices, Wyoming works to find new ways to keep experienced teachers on the job.

By Nichole Dobo

This story was originally published by The Hechinger Report.

Like many states with a large number of rural schools, Wyoming desperately needs more teachers.

Take the case of the Teton County School District, in Jackson, Wyoming. Located near Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, the area is well known as a vacation spot. Despite the alluring landscape, for full-time residents the extremely high housing costs are daunting.

That makes it difficult to retain staff. The average tenure of a teacher is just four years.