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Tan, Gian Anthony Baez, and Susan Kemper Patrick  \nSummary  \nTo understand how states are experiencing teacher shortages around the country, the Learning Policy Institute reviewed teacher workforce reports and state agency documents covering the most recent school years. These state-specific data sources are used to estimate the number of teachers not fully certified for their teaching assignments, as well as count the number of unfilled teaching positions reported by each state. State laws typically specify that teachers who are not fully certified can be hired or assigned only if a fully certified teacher is not available. Therefore, both data points provide a strong indicator of the severity of shortages, but not all states report these data.  \nBased on the latest available data from the states with published information, all 50 states plus the District of Columbia employed an estimated 387,843 teachers who were not fully certified for their teaching assignments. Twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia published data on vacancies, with 37,569 unfilled teacher positions. (See Table 1. ) These estimates indicate that, at a minimum, 425,412 positions were either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments, representing about 1 in 8 of all teaching positions nationally.  \nTable 1. Teachers Without Full Certification and Unfilled Positions for All Reporting States  \n\n| Metric | Number of states reporting data | Total |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Minimum number of unfilled positions | 29 + DC | 37,569 |\n| Estimated minimum number of teachers not fully certified for their teaching assignments | 50 + DC | 387,843 |\n| Total estimated number of teaching positions unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their teaching assignments | - | 425,412 |\n| Total FTE teachers | 50 + DC | 3,253,316 |\n\nNote: For the 2024–25 school year, the full-time equivalent (FTE) teacher data point for Tennessee was missing in the Common Core of Data, so we used the FTE teacher data point provided in the state report card.  \nSource: Learning Policy Institute analysis of state-reported data sources (see Table 2) . Total number of teachers drawn from U.S. Department of Education. (2025) . Full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers. The data source is the National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD),“State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey,” 2024–25 v. 1a.  \nData Description  \nTable 2 captures the estimated minimum number of unfilled positions and number of teachers not fully certified for their teaching assignments in each of the states with published data (the most recent year of data available, ranging from 2023–24 to 2025–26) .  \nThe number of unfilled positions reported represents the number of unfilled teaching positions for a given school year as of a certain date unless otherwise noted. For the number of teachers not fully certified for their teaching assignments, states vary in how they certify their teachers and report on their certification status. Teachers were included in the estimate of “not fully certified for their teaching assignments” if they were:  \n• teaching without any credential or license as defined by the state,  \n• teaching on an emergency or temporary credential (including long-term substitutes),  \n• completing preparation while teaching (including intern or lateral-entry credentials), or teaching a subject or grade level not covered by their current credential (out of field) .  \nNot all states used or reported these different categories of teaching certifications, so these data are defined as the “estimated minimum number of teachers not fully certified for their teaching assignments.”For example, some states reported tallies from surveys that do not include all districts in the state. Additionally, some states","cbCaiiLmTxCilsit","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiLmTxCilsit","pdf",297342,22,"English","# Summary\n## Data sources and estimation approach\n## National estimates (Table 1)\n## Definitions and reporting differences\n## Updates vs prior scans","[{\"question\":\"How does the report estimate teacher shortages?\",\"answer\":\"It uses state workforce reports and agency documents to count both unfilled teaching positions and teachers not fully certified for their assignments, which together indicate shortage severity.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the national totals reported for 2026?\",\"answer\":\"The report estimates 387,843 teachers not fully certified for their assignments and 37,569 unfilled teaching positions across reporting states, totaling at least 425,412 positions affected.\"},{\"question\":\"Why should the figures be treated as estimates?\",\"answer\":\"States vary in certification categories, survey coverage, use of percentages vs totals, and reporting of FTE versus headcount. As a result, values reflect minimum estimates based on available state reporting.\"}]","State Teacher Shortages 2026 Update - Summary | PDF",1792054343,55]