Leaders of Colorado’s rural schools are more likely to encourage a total stranger to go into teaching than a member of their own family, according to a Colorado-based survey published in October 2025.
The results come at a time when nearly every state in the United States faces critical teacher shortages.
We collected data in the fall of 2023 with the goal of describing the perceived strengths and limitations of rural schools in Colorado as understood by the people leading them. We sent an electronic survey to the 146 rural school principals and superintendents in the state, received 100 responses and analyzed 98.
