Author Description

The 1987-88 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the 1988-89 Teacher Followup Survey contain data that can be used to examine issues related to the need for teachers, sources of teacher supply, teacher turnover, teacher attrition, and teacher shortages. This report describes patterns in the sources of supply and the demand for teachers in terms of indicators of shortage and surplus. All but two tables include national estimates for all teachers and for public and private school teachers separately. In 1987-88, approximately 2.6 million teachers were employed in the nation's schools, 2.3 million of them in public schools. In 1987-88, about 63,000 teachers were newly hired, and most were just out of college. In 1987-88, approximately 11 percent of open teaching positions were not filled. Reasons why teachers left the workforce were also studied. Seventeen tables present survey findings. Appendix A presents 17 tables of standard errors, and Appendix B contains technical notes. (SLD)