About this story

By Corina Curry | ccurry@rrstar.com

When GateHouse Media set forth to explore the use of substitute teachers in public schools, it started by looking for data.

Just how prevalent is the use of substitute teachers, how much are school districts spending on subs and what does it take to become a substitute teacher? These were some of the questions GateHouse hoped to answer at least partially through existing records and analysis.

The problem is there was none. If we wanted to get a handle on what substitute teaching looked like across the country, we would need to build the data ourselves.

There are about 13,500 school districts in the U.S. With a number that big, we knew we’d need to aim for a sample. We started by sending Freedom of Information Act requests to the three largest school districts in each state and to school districts serving GateHouse Media daily markets, about 130 publications in 35 states.

GateHouse asked each district for the same set of data points: the number of total days worked by substitute teachers per year, the total number of substitute teachers that worked each year and the total amount paid to all substitute teachers each year. The media company asked for the data going back 10 years.

Most of the data requests were sent from April 21 to April 28. By May 21, the media company had received more than 100 responsive replies.

Those responses were compiled to create a one-of-its-kind national database on substitute teacher use. The database combines substitute teacher numbers and cost submitted individually by school districts along with data from state boards of education and the National Center for Education Statistics.

Building something from scratch had its drawbacks.

Several districts denied GateHouse Media’s request outright either because reporters were not residents of the state or the district did not believe the request fell within the parameters of their state’s FOIA law.

Several districts responded that while they widely used substitute teachers on a daily basis to fill in for teachers who are attending training sessions, on maternity leave or sick, they had no existing records on substitute teacher use and did not track substitute teacher spending within their districts.

Because of payroll software changes, several districts that responded to the GateHouse Media request for information were unable to provide the full 10 years of data. In those cases, the districts provided GateHouse with available data ranging from three to nine years.

A few dozen districts said they could only provide the data if GateHouse paid for it. The districts said they needed the funds to offset the cost of running software reports and obtain the data. Some districts asked for as much as $1,200 to produce the records.

Although GateHouse Media did pay nominal amounts for some data, reporters generally declined to pay large sums.

Corina Curry of the Rockford Register Star reported and wrote Sub Nation with the assistance of reporters and editors of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Curry is the education and learning reporter at the Register-Star. Before covering education, she covered government, social services, crime and courts.

What GateHouse Media data shows

Use of substitute teachers is increasing. A 2014 study by the National Council on Teacher Quality reports teachers across the country are absent an average of 11 days a year. According to GateHouse Media research conducted this spring, the average number of days worked by substitute teachers at more than 100 school districts across the county for the 2014-2015 school year was 14.5.

The cost of substitute teaching is on the rise, as well. School districts spent $334,666,568 on substitute teachers during the 2012-2013 school year, with 115 districts reporting. In 2014-2015, with 118 districts reporting, they spent $355,689,087, a 6 percent increase in three years.

What other studies show

Sources used: “Do Teacher Absences Impact Student Achievement? Longitudinal Evidence from One Urban School District,” (2007) and “Are Teacher Absences Worth Worrying about in the U.S.?” (2007)

On average, 36 percent of teachers nationally were absent more than 10 days during the 2009-2010 school year based on the 56,837 schools analyzed in the dataset.

A school with black students in the 90th percentile has a teacher absence rate 3.5 percentage points higher than a school with a black student population in the 10th percentile. In schools with more Latino students, the increase is 3.2 percentage points.

Students whose teachers miss more days for sickness score lower on state achievement tests.

Low-income students in North Carolina face an appreciably higher chance than affluent ones of attending a school with persistently high rates of teacher absence.