Teacher Shortage as a Local Phenomenon: District Leader Sense-Making, Agency, and Responsive Action

• In Event: The World of the Superintendent

Abstract

The manifestations of the nationwide teacher shortage are felt most acutely at the local district level. The diversity of localized contexts often leads to disparities in the ways large-scale initiatives serve school systems. Using sensemaking as a framework, this qualitative research contributes to the existing literature through investigation of the ways in which West Virginia district leaders make sense of and respond to the teacher shortage. We find leaders make sense of the phenomenon in paradoxical ways, both in terms of the most salient causes as well as the perceived locus of control in addressing the teacher shortage. Findings also highlight the way district leader sensemaking has led to action, with divergence across metropolitan and rural contexts.

Authors

• Erin McHenry-Sorber, West Virginia University

• Matthew P. Campbell, West Virginia University