Ever wonder why some school districts have a hard time finding good teachers? Think it's because there's a shortage of qualified applicants? What if you were to learn that bureaucratic bungling-- and not a depleted pool of gifted teachers in waiting--was largely to blame? Hold your pencils: A new study says that school districts have blown the chance to hire hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of teachers because human resources departments failed to follow up on applications. "The problem isn't that not enough people want to teach," says Michelle Rhee, CEO of the New Teacher Project, which is set to release the report this week. "It's the teacher-hiring process that really discourages people. It stops urban school districts from getting the quality and quantity that they need." Among the group's findings: One eastern district had more than 4,000 applicants for 200 positions but still had 15 vacancies when school began last year. In addition, more than 40 percent of hundreds of teachers who took jobs in the suburbs said they would take city positions if given another shot.

"The school district never looked at my resume. They kept telling me to come back another time," says Roni Cooper, 45, who applied for a teaching job in New Orleans. She figured she was a shoo-in given the city's teacher shortage and her qualifications. Her areas are science and special ed, two of the most in-demand disciplines. She visited the school's personnel office twice a year for five years but didn't get a single callback. "Frustration," she says, "is such a mild word for how I was feeling."

Rhee says school districts must streamline their application processes and follow up on promising candidates. The good news: Changes are in the works--at least in some school systems. Take New Orleans. A new superintendent there revamped the hiring program; Cooper resubmitted her resume this summer and was hired two weeks later. The new human resources folks, she says, kept asking "Where have you been?"

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