The Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) has been testing the feasibility of allowing large more populated school communities in Colorado to partner with smaller committees to address teacher shortages and provide virtual learning opportunities in difficult-to-staff content areas since 2023.
CDE began collecting educator shortage data in the 2017-18 school year in response to Colorado House Bill 17-2003: Concerning a Strategic Action Plan to Address Teacher Shortages in Colorado. As part of their work, CDE created the Educator Shortage Survey distributed to all local education agencies (LEAs) including school districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). As a result, CDE has reported back to the Colorado Legislature about the support provided for recruiting and retaining educators. Using this data gathered by CDE, CASE has spearheaded the "CASE Project" to expand teacher shortage support in Colorado by identifying regions, academic subject areas, and school district staff requiring the most support.
The main goals of the CASE Project have been to:
- Reshape the delivery of instruction to ensure that students in any zip code have high-quality teachers and the same opportunities for courses.
- Increase teacher job satisfaction and the likelihood of retaining teachers in positions longer with fever preps, opportunities to innovate, and potentially greater compensations.
- Develop the skills desired by business and industry to ensure that the best teachers have access to even more students.
The CASE Project thus far has resulted in key partnerships between various school districts throughout Colorado to leverage staff and resources. The resulting strategy are available to help local education providers (LEPs) respond to educational shortages across Colorado communities for collaboration with capacity, resources, and efficiencies with small rural systems. As the leading district for this week, St. Vrain Valley School District RE 1J was highlighted in The Learning Accelerator's "Deepening Our Understanding of High-Quality Virtual and Hybrid Learning: An Initial Analysis of Six Diverse Models" Report on models of virtual and hybrid learning environments that demonstrate strong outcomes and promising evidence of learning acceleration in sites representing rural, suburban, and urban populations serving diverse groups of students and varying in size.
More information will be added to this page as the CASE Project continues throughout 2025.
