Leading up to the 2020–21 school year, Colorado schools sought to fill 6,910 teaching positions representing 12.44% of all teaching positions in the state. Of those positions, 1,128 remained unfilled or were filled through a shortage mechanism (e.g., long-term substitutes, retired educators, alternative/emergency authorizations). The ability of schools and districts to retain teachers reduces the demand and expense related to recruitment, and limits the negative impact teacher turnover has on student achievement and school improvement efforts, particularly in the lowest performing schools and in high-poverty, high-minority school communities.
R12CC is supporting the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and its stakeholders to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) maps to explore the influences of place on educator shortages in the state. The custom-designed GIS maps incorporate a variety of demographic, socioeconomic, and talent management data, including trend data, allowing stakeholders to explore relationships and patterns among data and identify possible bright spots where specific workforce pipeline approaches or strategies may have been effective.
Through facilitated data analysis, identification of effective/evidence-based approaches, and a report on Colorado bright spots, R12CC will assist CDE and education stakeholders to better understand factors contributing to educator shortage and retention challenges, and identify and share effective locally driven practices.
R12CC is also assisting CDE to update the Colorado Dropout Prevention Framework to support continuous improvement in student reengagement and recovery efforts. While Colorado’s dropout rate is at its lowest (1.8%) point in a decade, it has remained fairly stationary over those years. However, disruptions due to COVID-19 threaten to increase the dropout rate, potentially exceeding the 8,561 students who dropped out last school year.
To update the framework, R12CC is supporting CDE through multiple and iterative interdependent processes, including the facilitated identification of framework content and format revisions, aligning the framework to other departmental frameworks, collecting input from internal stakeholders on framework updates, and the formation of external stakeholder outreach and implementation plans. Collectively, these processes will help create an updated framework that is innovative, adaptive, and responsive to student needs.
Project Updates
Impact Story: Charting Pathways Toward a Strengthened Educator Workforce in Colorado
Across the United States, vacancies in the educator workforce have drastically increased, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.1 Leading up to the 2021–22 school year, Colorado schools sought to fill 5,729 teaching positions, representing 10.33%
Strengthening Colorado’s Educator Workforce Pipeline Learning Community
The R12CC hosts quarterly learning community sessions focused on strengthening and diversifying the Colorado educator workforce for state, local, and preparation program leaders. The sessions provide an opportunity for participants to share the
Strategies Employed to Address Teacher Shortages Infographic
A talented teacher workforce is an essential foundation for improving educational outcomes for students. As such, securing teachers at all levels of the teacher pipeline (i.e., recruitment into the profession, onboarding for the
Educator Workforce and Dropout Prevention: Spring 2023 Project Updates
Recent efforts to support Colorado education stakeholders’ use of a geographic information system (GIS) map to strengthen the workforce pipeline include transitioning the map to the Experience Version. This mapping software update includes an introduction to the map with links
Voices from the Field: An Interview with Carolyn Haug from CDE
Voices from the Field spotlights stakeholders in Region 12 and their work to improve educational opportunities and outcomes. R12CC is privileged to collaborate with and share the insights of Dr. Carolyn Haug, Director
Educator Workforce and Dropout Prevention Project Implementation: Fall 2022 Updates
The Strengthening the Educator Workforce Pipeline project focuses on supporting education stakeholders to use geographic information system maps to understand factors that may be affecting educator shortages and identify and share effective locally developed practices with peers. As part of
Year 3 Project Highlights
Work during our third project year continues to focus on providing high-quality technical assistance, building collaborative relationships, and supporting educational agencies to make systemic changes. View these project highlights to learn more about our work:
Supporting Colorado’s Educator Workforce and Dropout Prevention: Winter 2022 Updates
Work during our third project year continues to focus on providing capacity building services to guide stakeholders’ use of the geographic information system (GIS) map to analyze placed-based data and develop strategies appropriate for addressing contextual factors that impact the