An Analysis of the United States Educational Administrator Shortage

Abstract

There are multiple independent and interactive factors that may contribute to perceptions or misperceptions concerning an administrator shortage in the United States (US). These factors include the complexities of supply and demand data, inferential errors and over-generalisations, candidate quantity issues confounded by anecdotal accounts of candidate quality, administrator accounts of limited job desirability, and the ‘invisibility’ of women administrators as a viable candidate pool. Some researchers have begun to challenge the perception that there is an administrator or educator shortage crisis, but these voices are often readily dismissed. There are multiple reasons why portrayals of an educator shortage crisis may be widely accepted in spite of questionable evidence. Specifically there may be political and ideological reasons that misperceptions about an educator shortage may be perpetuated. This article explores reasons that may explain perceptions or misperceptions of the shortage, including political forces that may encourage or perpetuate beliefs about the problem.