During the current school-year, the Oregon Special Education Recruitment and Retention project is undertaking an informal, bi-monthly survey of open special education positions being advertised on Oregon school district and ESD websites. To date, this survey was conducted in September, November, and February. The number of open positions being advertised after the start of school appears to accurately gauge the extent of the personnel shortage in special education.

• In late September - 291 open positions advertised. Special education instructional assistants had the most vacancies, with 169 open positions - over 58% of all openings.
• By mid-November - open positions had declined to 167 with nearly half of these (48%) being for special education instructional assistants (80).
• By early February, 2008 - open positions had dropped slightly to 149, with nearly 40% being for special education instructional assistants (59).

In the coming months the Recruitment and Retention Strategy Briefs will explore issues and resources related to paraeducators.