Leveraging State Data to Better Understand Current and Future Teacher Supply

This report examines how states can use their Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) to better understand their teacher supply problems and assess initiatives designed to address them. It emphasizes two key actions: connecting existing data and collecting new data on the prospective workforce. Together, these two actions can give states a more nuanced understanding of their teacher supply—one that encompasses the early pipeline, supply output, and supply quality.

Using research and real-world examples from four states, the report shows what states can learn by building data systems that follow prospective teachers across key transition points: from high school into postsecondary education, through teacher preparation and clinical practice, into program completion and licensure, and finally to employment as classroom teachers. Achieving this continuity requires individual-level records and unique identifiers that allow states to track teachers longitudinally.