Become a “Destination District” and Hire More Teachers Using AI and K-12 Hiring Trends

School districts across the USA have felt the effects of the ‘Great Resignation’ – but we’re here to ask: was there a great resignation for your district? And even if there was not, what were your most challenging issues- waning applicant numbers, standing out to applicants, or simply reaching the best candidates first? 

interviewstream and Frontline Education teamed up in a recent webinar to look at hiring trends for K-12 and help districts figure out where you can innovate in your hiring process to make your stand out to top teachers. Let’s look at hiring trends from the past 5 years to see how hiring has changed for K-12 school districts.

K-12 Hiring Trends from 2019 – 2023

Frontline Education’s hiring data consists of data points from 456,000 job postings and 4.8 million applications in 49 states. Two clear data groups stood out regarding the teacher shortage- a demand side and a supply side. 

• The demand data behind the teacher shortage: this data includes all job postings for teachers, over time. 
• The supply data behind the teacher shortage: this data includes the number of applicants applying to jobs. This is measured by job applications per job posting over time.

Teacher Hiring Demand Over Time

Despite concerns about a teacher exodus (or “Great Resignation”), data shows that there hasn’t been a massive increase in job postings. The demand remains relatively stable. Most K-12 job postings go live during the spring months, specifically March, April, and May, before tapering off in the summer and fall. 

You can see a small increase in demand from year to year, but not the massive increase you would expect if thousands of teachers were resigning. 

Teacher Applicant Supply Numbers Over Time

On the supply side, the number of applicants per job posting has consistently decreased since 2019. The difference between 2019 and 2021 is a 30-40% decrease in applicants for each job posting, which correlates to 4-5 less applicants per job posting. And, the 2022 school year and 2023 school year had even less applications for teacher positions than any other year. 

While demand for teacher positions remains relatively consistent, the supply of available teachers goes down every year. What it means for districts is: your hiring process needs to be efficient so you can hire those teachers before other schools. And it means you need to work harder to stand out to your applicants.

K-12 Hiring Trends by Region and Subject

Before we get into how you can make your teacher hiring process more efficient and stand out to your candidates, let’s talk about regional discrepancies in the data. 

• Central USA: This region mirrors the national trend, but it grapples with a more limited supply of teachers.
• Southern USA: The southern region has witnessed a surge in demand for teachers while managing to maintain a relatively steady supply.

When breaking down hiring trends by specific teacher roles, we find more supply for specific teacher roles and much less for others. For instance, certain subjects like social studies attract numerous applicants, while foreign language teachers remain in high demand.

Hiring Teams Use HR Tech to Overcome These Trends and Become “Destination Districts”- 

From the data, we see a lot of evidence for a gap in the supply of teachers across the USA, not just a shortage consistently but a situation where the demand may be increasing and the supply may not increase to match that demand. School districts are combating the lower supply by trying to make their schools a “destination district.” One way to stand out and become a “destination district” is by leveling up your recruiting & hiring process.

A longer time to hire could mean missing out on a great teacher candidate because they’ve already accepted an offer from another school district. So, it is in every school district’s best interest to refine their application, screening, and interviewing process so you get your first pick of applicants. Districts implement interviewing tech and hiring tools like interviewstream & Frontline Education to gain an advantage over other school districts. 

Frontline Education’s Recruiting & Hiring Platform and interviewstream’s on demand video interviews Help You Hire Faster

• Using Frontline Education’s platform to track applicant data takes the administrative burden off K-12 administrators. All applicant data is in one place and it’s easy to see what stage each candidate is at in their hiring process.
• Integrating on demand video interviews with Frontline Education means that you can screen teacher applicants with videos, replacing a phone screen and allowing you to see a fuller picture of each of your candidates. 
• All applicant info is synced within the Frontline Education ATS, meaning that you can share applicant videos with principals and superintendents, rate candidates within the platform, and see how candidates stack up against each other.

interviewstream’s AI Recruitment Assist Helps You Recruit Smarter

• Leverage AI to create job descriptions, social media announcements, and emails to attract the right candidates.
• Save time as you recruit with AI and allow your team to get back to what they need to do. 

interviewstream’s AI Question Assist Helps You Ask The Right Questions

• AI question assist ensures consistent and efficient interview question creation. You can set specific parameters to generate questions tailored to each position, improving candidate evaluation.
• Save time by tapping into the community aspect of AI – what questions are other districts asking that you might be missing?
• AI question assist is geared towards taking the difficult part out of the hiring process. You can also input your own rubric or use interviewstream’s standard one to grade candidates on their responses.

interviewstream’s interview insights Is An Advanced Reporting Tool To Track Candidate And Recruiter Data

• interview insights collects data to help you improve the candidate experience and identify areas where applicants drop off in the hiring process.
• Get a full picture of your organization’s interview trends with intel on your hiring team members, candidate interactions, completion rates, and so much more.
• Compare your organization to others in your industry on key metrics like candidate completion rate and interviewing times. 

By embracing HR technologies like Frontline Education’s ATS, interviewstream’s on demand videos, AI Recruitment Assist, AI Question Assist, and interview insights, education institutions can address the challenges posed by the current hiring environment. These tools empower hiring teams to optimize their processes, attract more qualified candidates, and ultimately secure the best educators for their students. 

Using interviewstream & Frontline Education to reach teacher applicants

interviewstream and Frontline Education not only streamline recruitment but also enhance the overall candidate experience, helping school districts stand out and attract top talent. The K-12 hiring landscape has witnessed significant changes in recent years, with a growing gap between teacher demand and supply. And it is imperative for many districts today to show that they are the right “destination” for top candidates, throughout the recruiting process and beyond to ensure that they fill their open roles as their district’s are in dire need of- whether the challenge they face is increasing demand or waning supply in applicants for their open roles.

Understanding current K12 hiring trends, and using innovative hiring technology to stay on top of these trends, is critical for school districts and their technology partners to be successful in today’s hiring landscape.  interviewstream and Frontline Education both intentionally invest in K12 and are key partners that you can rely on to get ahead of the trends going forward. 

Please fill out this form if you want to learn more about Frontline Education & interviewstream, or watch our recent webinar to learn more about the information shared above.

About The Author

Caroline Chessia is the Marketing Operations Specialist at interviewstream. She loves color-coordinated graphs, hiking in the mountains, and every dog she meets—especially the Golden Retrievers.