New Research Reveals Hiring Trends for Non-Instructional Education Employees

Frontline Education

MALVERN, PA — Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, today announced the release of The Longitudinal Recruiting and Hiring Landscape for Non-Instructional Education Employees. Developed by the Frontline Research & Learning Institute, the research brief provides recent trends on the non-instructional labor shortage, offers insights on the root causes of the current situation, and outlines recommendations to minimize the number of open positions and ensure that the most qualified candidates are being hired.

While news of the teacher shortage continues to dominate headlines, this brief explores the under-examined roles required to operate and maintain successful K-12 organizations. These roles include bus drivers, food service employees, security personnel, office administrators, teacher’s aids, tutors and technology providers, among others.

The data shows that both the increase in the number of open positions and the decrease in the quantity of candidates applying for jobs are contributing to the non-instructional labor shortage. However, the decline in candidates is more pronounced than the increase in available jobs, indicating that the shortage is more heavily related to a supply issue, rather than an increase in demand. Non-instructional job openings posted in 2022 attracted, on average, approximately 38% less applications than job postings in 2019.

“Districts are diligently working to navigate the labor shortage and deploying year-round recruiting and hiring efforts to ensure that they can deliver an excellent educational experience to the students they serve. That experience includes the engagement and support of critical, non-instructional employees—from the bus drivers who transport students to and from school to the food service employees who provide meals to the students while they are there,” said Elizabeth Combs, Managing Director of Frontline Research and Learning Institute. “The goal of this brief is to leverage actionable data from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute and provide K-12 leaders with insights that may be applied to their recruiting and hiring strategies so they can attract the highest quality applicants from the available pool.”

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The research brief is the first in a series dedicated to highlighting the story data tells in reference to K-12 staff shortages. It is published by the Frontline Research & Learning Institute, a division of Frontline Education dedicated to providing data-driven research, resources and observations to support and advance the educational community. The Institute leverages the millions of data records collected and anonymized from Frontline’s solutions. This report utilized data from Frontline HCM, a comprehensive platform that enables district leaders to better attract, retain and professionally develop teachers and staff while making HR interactions as effective and efficient as possible.

A subsequent research brief focused on the teacher shortage is expected to be released in the coming weeks. The full research brief can be downloaded here.

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