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Special Education and the Teacher Shortage

An online search for “teacher shortage” will quickly return nearly 2 million new results. Each day yields more headlines about school districts who struggle to hire enough teachers — and in a recent survey, 77% of respondents indicated that they have a special education teacher shortage.

Among those districts reporting shortages, special education was the most challenging areas to fill:

Special education and the teacher shortage.

Source: National Coalition on Personnel Shortages in Special Education and Related Services

A growing special education student-teacher ratio.

Since 2005, the ratio of special education students to teachers has risen. There is some good news: in more recent years, the number of special education teachers has rebounded to over 388,000 after a dip from 2014 to 2016.

And while 2018 reported almost 20,000 fewer special education teachers than there had been 10 years earlier, these numbers seem to be increasing – for now. Only time will tell what the data looks like post-pandemic, which was an incredibly difficult time for all educators, but especially those in special education.

In the 2024 K-12 Lens Report, nearly 80% of survey respondents reported a special education teacher shortage. That’s higher than any other reported shortage (even against substitutes).

 Hand-picked Content for You

K-12 Lens: A Survey Report from Frontline Education

In this inaugural K-12 Lens, you’ll gain key insights derived from the responses of nearly 700 K-12 administrators. This survey included questions that explore challenges related to past, current, and prospective district operations.

Read The Report –>

Here’s a look at the data at the state level, showing the ratio of special education students to teachers.

 —
Teachers: Total # of full-time special education teachers as reported by each state.
Students: Total # of students ages 6 through 21 served under IDEA, Part B (all disabilities), as reported by each state.
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, Wyoming Department of Education. Accessed July 2021.
Missing Data:
Special Education student population in Vermont for years 2007 & 2008.
Number of Special Education teachers in the District of Columbia for 2006 and in Wisconsin for 2014 and 2015.
Although the data used in this report has been produced and processed from sources believed to be reliable, we cannot ensure the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information. It is possible that reporting errors or inconsistencies between states and years may be present in this dataset.

—

All of this asks the question: how does this impact your special education teachers and staff on a practical, day-to-day level? Are they equipped to efficiently tackle the administrative work that comes with special education? What about complying with state regulations? Do they have enough time to do all this and provide the instruction that students with special needs deserve?

Do you have a special education teacher shortage in your district? If so, what strategies are you employing to combat it? With what tools do you equip your team?

Here are some additional resources:

Why Do Special Education Teachers Quit?
Special educators & administrators share their biggest challenges.
Read the Post –> 

Retention-First Recruitment
Four traits of an effective Retention First Recruitment model for educators.
Watch the Video –> 

Recommitting to RTI/MTSS After COVID-19 School Closures

Guest post by Jim Wright, national presenter, trainer, and author on topics that cover the essentials and beyond of Response to Intervention and Multi-Tiered System of Supports.

Lately, in my conversations with schools, I have noted that educators in my own state of New York and other parts of the country are breathing a deep sigh of relief. The COVID-19 interruption to public education, which began over a year ago, appears finally to be ending. There is every likelihood that schools will return to full-time, in-person learning in the fall of 2021.

But clouds lie on the horizon. Because of the challenges of the past year and a half, many schools anticipate in the coming year a substantial uptick in the number of students identified as in danger of academic failure. While there are several reasons for this expected jump, primary explanations are that, during the pandemic, vulnerable learners became discouraged and disengaged from remote instruction or encountered other roadblocks to learning such as a lack of reliable internet service.

It is too early to fully gauge the severity of the learning loss that has accrued over the past 16 months. The reality is that the impact of the COVID interruption on academic performance has varied widely across districts.

However, one recent study estimates that the initial COVID interruption from March to September 2020 alone may have erased as much as one-third of typical yearly reading growth and nearly two-thirds of typical math growth from the skill set of the average learner.1  

And we can presume that, for many at-risk students, learning losses have only continued to compound across the current school year, as the majority of districts conducted some version of remote or hybrid (mix of remote and in-person) instruction.

Using RTI/MTSS to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 interruption on student learning

An obvious concern is that a sudden large post-COVID influx of students qualifying for remedial educational supports might overwhelm schools’ capacity to provide high-quality academic intervention. A logical solution is for schools to invest renewed energy in a strong RTI/MTSS academic model.

RTI/MTSS is a systemic approach that uses data to identify and monitor students at risk for academic failure, matches those students to appropriate tiered academic interventions, and collects and archives the resulting academic intervention plans to be easily accessed for future retrieval and review. RTI/MTSS applies a rational structure and clear decision rules to flag students in need of intervention support. This fair, transparent process ensures that learners with significant academic risk will receive timely, appropriate services.2

An unfortunate consequence of the COVID interruption is that districts were often forced to scale back or even temporarily suspend their RTI/MTSS supports.

This year, for example, numerous districts reassigned Tier 2 academic intervention personnel to serve as classroom teachers to permit a reduction in the size of in-person classes. Similarly, schools adopting a hybrid instructional model sometimes cut the contact frequency of their intervention groups to only one or two sessions per week — below the recommended three-session/week minimum. While such cutbacks may well have been unavoidable during the COVID emergency, a necessary next step for these districts will be to reinstate the full RTI/MTSS academic model as soon as possible.

Below are four recommendations for schools seeking to bring their RTI/MTSS model back to full strength. These suggestions come from my recent observations from my work with schools on what RTI/MTSS elements were most likely to have been deemphasized, suspended, or even eliminated during the pandemic. Use them as a launching point to evaluate your system’s readiness to respond quickly and appropriately to the needs of all at-risk learners.

4 steps to bring your RTI/MTSS program back up to full strength

1. Recommit Staff to the Mission of RTI/MTSS

In any school, RTI/MTSS is powered by the energy and commitment of faculty and staff who implement it. As schools move to fully restore RTI/MTSS to pre-COVID levels, they should provide “refresher” professional development to staff to renew their understanding of the fundamentals of RTI/MTSS.

A key point to emphasize is that RTI/MTSS is not a roadblock to special education. Rather, the model is preventative: it seeks to provide timely, targeted support to at-risk students to catch and fix academic problems before they cascade into unbridgeable deficits.3 Staff should also be reminded that formative data on academic performance is used to move students up and down the three Tiers of academic intervention.

2. Retrain Teachers in Tier 1/Classroom Interventions

As schools return to in-person learning, they may see a potential increase in students at risk for academic regression. In response, these schools are likely to first assign learners with mild academic delays to classroom instructional review and intervention before considering more intensive Tier 2/3 services. It is therefore crucial that teachers have the appropriate tools and support to carry out high-quality Tier 1/classroom plans and outcomes so the school can discern as quickly as possible which students need additional (i.e., Tier 2/3) services.

Yet in the time of the recent COVID interruption, many schools scaled back or suspended Tier 1 (classroom) interventions. To reinstate high-quality first-tier interventions after a year-long hiatus will not be as easy as flicking a switch. Rather, you will want to refresh the training of teachers in how to carry out these interventions, including specifics about:

  • Whom teachers consult when developing classroom intervention plans.
  • What form(s) to use to put the plan in writing.
  • How many instructional weeks the intervention plan is expected to last (e.g., 6 weeks) before evaluating the effectiveness of that plan.
  • What school-based and/or online resources are available that teachers can browse for intervention and data-collection ideas.
  • How teachers refer students for higher levels of RTI/MTSS support when classroom interventions alone are not successful.

3. Restore the Full Tier 2/3 Intervention Continuum

Schools that temporarily reduced or dismantled their Tier 2 (supplemental) and Tier 3 (intensive) intervention levels in response to COVID should prioritize reinstating them according to RTI/MTSS quality guidelines.4 For example:

  • Group sizes are to be capped at 7 students for Tier 2 and 3 students for Tier 3.
  • Tier 2 groups are expected to meet 3 times weekly for at least 30 minutes, while Tier 3 groups meet 4-5 times per week for 30 minutes.

However, we need to acknowledge that, faced with a possible spike in the number of students with academic delays due to the COVID interruption, schools may be tempted to cut corners in delivering Tier 2/3 services. For instance, Tier 2/3 providers may be urged by teachers to devote intervention sessions to help students to ‘catch up’ in classwork. Despite such pressure, they should remain true to their Tier 2/3 purpose: to find and fix identified students’ off-grade-level skill gaps.5

Also, Tier 2/3 staff should be allocated across grade levels and schools within a district to promote equity in services6: Higher-performing schools with fewer students qualifying for Tier 2/3 services may be assigned fewer interventionist positions, for example, while their fellow schools with larger at-risk populations might receive proportionally greater intervention support.

4. Rethink Data Sources to Determine RTI/MTSS Eligibility

A pervasive negative impact of the COVID interruption has been a reduced availability of quality data sources to determine eligibility for Tier 2/3 intervention services.

During a typical school year, schools employ a battery of academic assessments in fall, winter, and spring to assess risk for academic failure. In determining Tier 2/3 eligibility, RTI/MTSS decision-makers ideally place the greatest weight on a reliable school-wide screener (e.g., NWEA MAP; STAR Reading/Math; FastBridge; AIMSweb). This screening data might then be supplemented with additional academic data sources such as state tests and classroom instructional assessments.

In many locales, however, the pandemic has forced the cancellation of key assessments (e.g., state tests) commonly used for RTI/MTSS placement.

In addition, remote instruction has forced schools to convert traditional in-person assessments (e.g., running records; CBM Oral Reading Fluency) to online administration. Yet if these assessments were never normed for remote use, informally modifying them for ‘distance assessment’ potentially violates administration guidelines and reduces schools’ confidence in using published benchmark norms to interpret student results.

To compensate for missing or compromised data sources, schools should:

  • Complete a building-wide ‘assessment audit’ that lists all assessments currently used for RTI/MTSS eligibility at each grade level.7

For each assessment entry, the audit records the decision(s) for which this data tool is appropriate (e.g., determining eligibility for Tier 2 services for math-fact fluency), as well as a general rating of the technical adequacy (reliability and validity) of the tool. Once completed, the assessment audit will allow the school to rank its academic data sources from most to least objective to weed out redundant tools and to flag assessment gaps requiring additional data sources.

  • Consider adding non-standard data sources to help determine Tier 2/3 eligibility.8

Schools blinkered because of COVID-related loss of academic data might consider temporarily substituting less-direct measures of academic performance, particularly when evaluating the academic risk of remote learners. Examples include attendance, indicators of work engagement (e.g., percentage of student responses to online teacher queries; percentage of time the student turns the camera on during remote lessons, etc.), and teacher nominations of at-risk learners.

  • Review and — if necessary — firm up decision rules for triangulating data from the school’s current screening battery.

Ensure that data-driven guidelines for student eligibility are fair, transparent, and applied with consistency.9

As districts gear up to restore to students their full array of RTI/MTSS supports, we might easily regard the past 16 months of the COVID interruption as an unmitigated disaster. Without question, the pandemic has wrought negative, potentially long-lasting effects on education, including social separation, stress, and — for our most vulnerable learners — the erosion of academic skills.

Upon reflection, however, we might also identify potentially positive outcomes, such as the many examples within schools of staff, students, and parents coming together in the face of a deadly global health threat to model resilience and creative problem solving.

And, in the aftermath of COVID school closures, RTI/MTSS stakeholders in some districts have discovered an additional silver lining: they recognize that the obligation to restore their full RTI/MTSS model is also an opportunity to recommit to it, to build it back better. The recommendations presented in this article can provide the first steps in that rebuilding project.

Collect and analyze the data you need to help struggling learners.

Learn how Frontline can help  

1 Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J., Tarasawa, B., Johnson, A., Ruzek, E., & Liu, J. (2020). Projecting the potential impacts of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement. Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai20-226

2 McDougal, J. L., Graney, S. B., Wright, J. A., & Ardoin, S. P. (2009). RTI in practice: A practical guide to implementing effective evidence-based interventions in your school. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

3 Wright, J. (2007). The RTI toolkit: A practical guide for schools. Port Chester, NY: National Professional Resources, Inc.

4 McDougal, J. L., Graney, S. B., Wright, J. A., & Ardoin, S. P. (2009). RTI in practice: A practical guide to implementing effective evidence-based interventions in your school. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

5 Miller, F.G., Sullivan, A.L., McKevett, N.M., Muldrew, A., & Hansen-Burke, A. (2021).  Leveraging MTSS to advance, not suppress, COVID-related equity issues: Tier 2 and 3 considerations. Communiqué, 49(3), 1, 30-32.

6 Miller, F.G., Sullivan, A.L., McKevett, N.M., Muldrew, A., & Hansen-Burke, A. (2021).  Leveraging MTSS to advance, not suppress, COVID-related equity issues: Tier 2 and 3 considerations. Communiqué, 49(3), 1, 30-32.

7 Ball, C.R., & Christ, T.J. (2012). Supporting valid decision making: Uses and misuses of assessment data within the context of RTI. Psychology in the Schools, 49(3), 231-244.

8 Miller, F.G., Sullivan, A.L., McKevett, N.M., Muldrew, A., & Hansen-Burke, A. (2021).  Leveraging MTSS to advance, not suppress, COVID-related equity issues: Tier 2 and 3 considerations. Communiqué, 49(3), 1, 30-32.

9 Miller, F.G., Sullivan, A.L., McKevett, N.M., Muldrew, A., & Hansen-Burke, A. (2021).  Leveraging MTSS to advance, not suppress, COVID-related equity issues: Tier 2 and 3 considerations. Communiqué, 49(3), 1, 30-32.

Pro Tips: Finance & Funding for K-12 Public Schools

A new year brings the K-12 public school budgeting process into full swing as drafts are written, reviewed, revised, and await approval in the months ahead. And stimulus bills passed to help schools navigate the pandemic and its aftermath make this process even more complex. K-12 school business leaders play a key role in communicating and executing district operations and budgeting. You are the heart of support for other district leaders in understanding public school funding, with a steady pulse on ever-shifting funding sources and related regulations.

While some school business officials come to the business office through education “ranks,” others come from the private sector and still others from the broader non-profit sector. If you are coming into the business office with a background in education, there is no guarantee you will automatically understand the full scope of public school district operations and finance. Similarly, if you are coming into the business office from the private sector, K-12 public school district funding and operations are likely more complex than private sector business. Regardless of your background or experience in business operations and finance, taking a seat in the K-12 public school business office requires an open mind and an ongoing learning mindset.

The multidimensional landscape of K-12 funding makes this terrain challenging at times to traverse, especially from state to state and even district to district. You must keep abreast of continuous changes rolled down from federal, state, and local governments as policy and priorities shift. Despite funding intricacies, you, alongside your fellow school and district leaders, need to remain laser focused on ensuring meaningful, equitable educational opportunities for all students, adding more complexity to the equation for school business leader success.

Let’s briefly review key public school funding categories alongside a few examples. While this overview is broad, it should be noted that approaches to school funding vary by state given that the Constitution grants states the responsibility for public education. The ways in which schools access funding varies from state to state and district to district, creating a system riddled with funding inequities.

Some states have worked to address funding inequities by developing formulas that help equalize the disparities. This also contributes to the state-by-state variances of funding allocations and equity. However, a basic funding principle applies: public school districts nationwide are funded through a combination of federal, state, and local sources, which are foundational, regardless of your business or education background, to recognize, understand, and monitor.

Federal Funding

Federal education funding comes primarily from three sources:

    1. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
    2. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
    3. Stimulus bills passed during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide emergency relief funds for local educational agencies (LEAs)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) 2015

ESSA rewrote the Elementary & Secondary Education Act of 1965 and replaced the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Some examples of what may be funded through ESSA:

  • Title I – provides money to districts to improve academic performance of students from low-income families and areas
  • Title II – provides money to districts to support educator professional learning, instructional coaching, and mentoring

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), originally enacted in 1975 and amended in 1990 as IDEA, ensures children with disabilities have access to services. IDEA allows these students to receive a quality education in the public school system by providing them with the resources needed to make meaningful and appropriate progress.  IDEA outlines and governs how states provide early intervention, special education, and related services to children and youth.

However, IDEA funding does not fully cover all special education costs to K-12 public school districts. When Congress originally passed IDEA, it promised the federal government would pay 40% of special education costs. As of November 2020, that percentage was at 13%, and the highest it ever reached was 33% as a result of the economic stimulus of 2009.[1] Medicaid helps K-12 districts bridge this funding gap but covers nothing near its entirety.

*Medicaid

Since 1988, states have accessed Medicaid to help pay for health-related special education services. Each state education agency has developed its own method for public school districts to bill Medicaid and receive reimbursement for IDEA services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and others.

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FAQs About Medicaid Reimbursement in Special Education

Typically, the federal government contribution to the public school funding equation is around 10% – sometimes greater, sometimes less, depending on extenuating circumstances such as a global pandemic or a national economic crisis.[2]

Elementary and Secondary Emergency Education Relief (ESSER) Fund

In 2020 and 2021, Congress passed three stimulus bills that provided nearly $190.5 billion to the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Education Relief (ESSER) Fund:

  • The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
  • The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSA)
  • The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP)

These funds will help schools navigate uncharted waters in the wake of the unprecedented disruption to education caused by the global pandemic. School funding allocations for each state depend on the proportion that each receives under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title-IA. A full guide on school stimulus funding by state is available here.

ESSER funds are designed to help address local relief, prevention and preparation, and recovery efforts relative to responding to COVID-19, so they are highly flexible. The supplement and not supplant requirements — which dictate that districts can only use federal grants to pay for anything they would not already provide out of their state and local budgets — do not apply to LEA/school district use of ESSER Funds. Lifting this requirement gives districts much more flexibility in how they use their funds.

State Funding 

Education represents the largest categorical expenditure for states. Typically, around 90% of funding for public schools comes from state and local sources.[3]

Education funding (public and private) varies significantly from state to state as there are different ways in which states allocate funding. For example, states rely on different revenue sources to help support public education, some of which include, but are not limited to, income taxes, sales taxes, business franchise taxes, motor vehicle taxes, tobacco and alcohol taxes, lottery proceeds, gasoline taxes, and others.

Typically, state education funding is based on per pupil counts and full-time equivalent personnel counts.

Local Funding

Each state has its own formula for how education funding is collected and allotted. Because most local revenues for education come from property taxes, the wealth of a community is often associated with school district budgets. It is not uncommon for the wealthiest district in a state to spend twice as much (or more) per pupil than the poorest district within the same state.

Inequities in public school funding are pervasive, and the complexity of school funding goes undisputed. The charge for school business leaders to understand funding sources and advocate for funding equity could be a daunting task even for the most experienced school business leader. Keeping up on the ins and outs and the ups and downs of school funding as changes emerge from federal, state, and local levels requires an ongoing learning mindset, efficient and effective business management tools, and a resourceful network!

School Business Leader “101” Recommended Resources:

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 2020. The Condition of Education: Public School Revenue Sources.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 2020. The Condition of Education.

Guide to Understanding School Reporting, Funding, & Compliance

Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) International

Find an ASBO Affiliate

[1] Arundel, K. (2020). IDEA turns 45: Is Congress Close to Guaranteeing Full Special Ed Funding? Retrieved from https://www.k12dive.com/news/growing-hope-for-special-education-full-funding/589543/

[2] National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2020). The Condition of Education: Public School Revenue Sources. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cma.asp

[3] Ibid.

The Case for Strategic Human Capital Management in Education

What Is Strategic Human Capital Management (HCM)?

Depending on where you look, you’ll see different definitions:

  • People Managing People defines HCM as “the collection of organizational practices related to the acquisition, management, and development of the human workforce.”
  • CPA Practice Advisor goes a step farther, adding that “HCM looks at your workforce differently. Instead of classifying employees as an expense, HCM views workers as an asset. While HCM technology helps businesses hire the right people for the job, it doesn’t stop there. HCM also helps to optimize the workforce you already have in place.”

Of course, you know how important it is to consider the differences between HCM in other industries versus education.

Potentially the biggest difference? Students.

HCM in K-12 is still about people, but the impact on student outcomes in the classroom, finite financial and workforce resources, and complex compliance requirements make K-12 HCM feel different.

Why Begin HCM Now?

With an effective strategy for HCM, you can feel more prepared to take on the modern day challenges schools are facing: teacher shortage, increased regulations, and changes in your student population. With HCM, you and your team are better able make the most of limited resources and ensure that every student has access to excellent teachers — the single biggest factor impacting their education. It may not be a surprise to educators that teachers have a larger effect on student performance than any other factor, including services, facilities, leadership, prior ability, socioeconomic status, and even positive home/family dynamics.

effective HCM Allows You And your fellow administrators to better attract, retain, and professionally develop teachers and staff while making HR interactions as effective and efficient as possible.

A Better Work Day For Everyone

Beyond teachers, human capital management enables district leaders to manage and mitigate risk by ensuring compliance with labor and data privacy laws, as well as with state requirements for teachers and other school personnel.

It improves efficiency within the district, ensuring information needed for decision-making is accessible and the amount of time spent on paperwork and logistics is minimized. More efficient processes make it easier to maximize the time spent educating students.

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A Better Employee Journey

With a centralized view of everything related to the employee lifecycle, you can break down silos and work across departments to provide students with the best education possible.

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The K-12 Human Capital Management Journey

Take The Quiz

What value does HCM bring to you?

No matter your role in your district, you can benefit from a more connected, strategic approach to HCM. Here are a few ideas of how you might benefit based on your role.

Jump to your role:

Superintendents: Lead with clarity and take decisive action

Connected HCM helps you foster a community that attracts talented educators and gets the most out of every dollar spent. With a more strategic approach to HCM, you can:

  • Proactively manage risk: Ensure your district maintains compliance and avoids bad press by proactively managing compliance with state and federal laws and avoiding audits.
  • Maintain a stellar teaching staff: Attracting, retaining, and supporting teachers and staff has an outsized impact on student achievement and is key to a high-performing district.
  • Get the most out of district funds: With about 80% of district budgets spent on salaries and benefits, you want to reduce teacher turnover costs and help every employee at your district be as effective as possible for greater impact on student achievement.

HR Directors: Build a district brand that attracts and retains great teachers and staff

HCM is not simply “HR done well,” but effective HCM certainly allows you to focus on the employee experience, engage your teachers and staff, and reduce turnover.

  • Increase efficiency and customer service: Depending on the system you use for HCM, you can automate labor-intensive processes like onboarding and stay on top of cross-functional tasks.
  • Reduce teacher turnover: A solid HCM strategy can help you provide a positive employment experience so that you can avoid turnover. And when you do have vacancies, HCM makes it cheaper and easier to find qualified candidates — and helps ensure you have the budget in place to make the hire.
  • Reduce risk: HCM can help you make compliance more efficient, making it faster and easier to comply with labor laws, secure teachers or substitutes to staff classrooms, and manage annual contracts, PD, and evaluations.

Curriculum & Instruction: Support great teaching — and great learning

With the right processes and analytics in place — key elements of HCM — you can ensure that professional development addresses real, on-the-ground needs.

  • Provide a great teaching experience: HCM eases access to resources and support structures, helping teachers feel seen, heard, and affirmed while encouraging meaningful growth in pedagogical practice.
  • Ensure teacher quality: Integrating your HCM processes from recruitment and professional development to substitute management and employee form management equips teachers with the skills to effectively teach a diverse set of students.
  • Meet evaluation and PD requirements: Compliance can feel like a never-ending game with rule changes happening at any moment. A solid HCM foundation helps you become more proactive and efficient, so you no longer have to choose between compliance and meeting teacher and student needs.

CFOs: Reduce financial risk

HCM can help you feel more confident that the budget spent on teachers and staff will have the greatest possible impact on students.

  • Make the most of funding: Reduce the cost of turnover and maximize every employee’s efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Manage risk: Make compliance more efficient, making it faster and easier to comply with state and federal labor laws, collective bargaining agreements, and payroll and labor costs like overtime or comp time. And when done right, HCM can make data more accessible, so teams like yours can access information as needed — for example, in case of an audit.

Technology Directors: Ensure your tech stack works together

Go beyond simple automation and rest assured that you have a shared vision to guide technology decisions, making it possible for each department to securely work together.

  • Support technology needs: A shared HCM vision gives you clarity in your role and allows you to shift away from managing and troubleshooting dozens of separate systems and move toward more innovative and strategic work.
  • Increase security: Although not a strict requirement for effective HCM, cutting down on the number of different vendors you work with to execute on your HCM strategy can also reduce threats to student and staff data security.

Principals: Focus on students

HCM allows you to focus on students and feel confident that the right teachers and substitutes are where they need to be.

  • Ensure teacher quality: Integrating your HCM processes from recruitment and professional development to substitute management and employee form management equips teachers with the skills to effectively teach a diverse set of students.
  • Reduce teacher absences:  Get more insight into data to proactively address trends in absences so you can ensure students aren’t missing out on quality instruction.
  • Attract and retain qualified substitutes: With a solid HCM foundation, you are equipped with the information you need to find qualified substitutes, and you can make their day-to-days easier so that they’ll want to staff classrooms.

Special Education Directors: Meet the needs of the whole child

For you, the value of HCM is all about people: you can attract and retain high-quality educators to provide the best learning environment for your most vulnerable students. Effective HCM helps you:

  • Overcome resource constraints: How often do you feel like you don’t have enough people to handle the amount of paperwork you manage on a regular basis? With a connected HCM strategy, you can make it easier for special educators to be more efficient, and ensure that when you’re recruiting for an open position, you’ll get the right person into the role.
  • Ensure teacher quality: Working in special education is far from easy. HCM allows you to take a more proactive approach in providing robust professional development to help them get through the toughest days.

Teachers: Feel empowered to make an impact

In many ways, you’re at the heart of HCM. You can take ownership of your career and grow in your practice in ways that impact your students.

  • Be more prepared: Each day brings new challenges, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, especially if you’re a new teacher. When your district has an effective HCM strategy and the right technology, you can get back to working with students faster rather than stressing over endless paperwork.
  • Improve your practice and grow in your career: HCM’s focus on growth directly impacts you, giving you opportunities for career development and professional growth to foster confidence and resilience.

Want to learn more about what strategic HCM could do for you?

Learn about Frontline’s HCM suite here

Set Up Teachers for Success for 21st Century Student Learning

Research suggests that teachers are as important as ever. The RAND Corporation finds that teachers are the most important school-related factor influencing student success. Yet fewer people are graduating with teaching degrees and many current teachers are struggling with low morale. These factors, understandably, have school districts concerned about attracting and keeping top teachers in their schools.

Thankfully, there are steps districts can take to recruit and retain top teachers.

Dr. Lori McEwen, a former assistant superintendent and chief of instruction with three decades’ experience in education, partners with district leaders across the country. Together, they plan strategically and implement student-centered, equity-focused initiatives. Dr. McEwen has:

  • Developed tools that school leaders can use to determine which candidates are best suited to serve the district’s unique
  • Created professional development opportunities that keep educators engaged and growing
  • Supported district leaders in crafting portraits of successful student personas and teacher personas, helping them to answer the question: what does success look like in your schools?

Start With the Students: Creating a Portrait of a Learner


Finding the right teachers begins with identifying the desired outcomes for students. Every school wants to equip students with the skills they need to adapt and thrive both now and in the future — but which skills are deemed most important may vary from district to district.

For that reason, Dr. McEwen advises districts to assemble a diverse group of people to develop what she calls a “portrait of a learner.” It’s a composite of the attitudes and competencies school leaders want students to develop over the course of their academic career.

Dr. McEwen finds that, across districts, similar skills essential to 21st century life “come up over and over again.” They include:

  • Innovative thinking
  • Collaborative working styles
  • Clear communication
  • Creative problem-solving
  • Growth and learner mindsets


For districts who haven’t yet created one, Dr. McEwen encourages them to look at those made by other districts to get a sense of what to do.

“You want to get a whole bunch of folks together to say, ‘What is it the kids need to know and be able to do in the future? What do we need to develop in them?’ Get a group together of teachers, parents, and kids, and you’ll be able to develop that.”

Continue with Teachers: Creating a Portrait of an Educator

Once a district has a good grasp on what they want to develop in their students, they can use that knowledge to determine the attributes their educators need to be successful.

McEwen says that a portrait of an educator should answer the following: “What are the essential skills, attitudes, attributes, and dispositions necessary to create schools and classrooms of deep and joyful learning?”

The right person to create the ideal type of classroom will depend on the end goals outlined in the portrait of the student. “If we want to build risk takers in our students, how do we reward and elicit risk-taking in our teachers?”

Districts can use their portrait of an educator as an aid to assess which teaching candidates will best suit their open positions. They can use the portrait as an aspirational guide for new hires few if any teachers will meet all the ideal standards outlined in the profile from the get-go, but each can grow. That’s where the district comes in. “For school and district leaders, how are we supporting our educators to develop these skills in themselves so that they feel comfortable modeling them for students?” asks McEwen.

Update Both Every 3-5 Years

Educator and student profiles are not set in stone. McEwen advises setting up committees that regularly check on the efficacy of those profiles. “You want to say, ‘Are we developing what we said we were going to develop? If we’re not, is it because something else has emerged as a priority and something has not been as important? Is the language exclusionary to some people?’” Revisions can be made based on those answers, and profiles can be updated every three to five years.

You want to say, ‘Are we developing what we said we were going to develop? If we’re not, is it because something else has emerged as a priority and something has not been as important? Is the language exclusionary to some people?

Reflect On District Policies To Support Students and Educators

Once these aspirational guides are established, Dr. McEwen suggests that it’s the districts responsibility to then look inward, asking questions of their own policies:

  • “How have we or have we not developed the essential conditions under which innovative, collaborative, and analytical educators thrive?”
  • “Are your teachers empowered to say, ‘Hey, we as a group of teachers would like to do something a little bit differently?’”
  • Which systems can be left in place and which need to be revamped?


When district policies can truly support a learner-centric culture, students and educators both benefit.

Using Professional Development

Another way the system can support its educators is by using professional development to build up the skills and competencies the district wants its teachers to model.

McEwen recommends using a variety of practices to do this:

  • Instructional coaches: A district taps their own teachers to take a deeper look at what it means to deliver high-quality instruction. Those teachers then occupy a coaching and support role for their peers.
  • Teacher mentorship programs: New teachers partner with seasoned educators who have a track record of developing the competencies outlined in the district’s portrait of a learner.
  • Committee leadership: Allowing teachers to lead their own professional learning communities, with a focus on the competencies outlined in the portrait of an educator.
  • District “university”: A district-developed plan for professional learning, with micro-credentialing, potentially in partnership with an institute of higher education.

School districts have every reason to be concerned about attracting and retaining the best teachers they can find. With an educator profile in place, they can find educators who fit their schools’ needs, and help them strive to be the best teachers they can be.

Dr. McEwen has provided resources to help you create your own educator profiles. You can find them here, along with her webinar.

Creating a Culture of Caring: Suicide Prevention in Schools

Mental health awareness is on the rise in education, and with good reason. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 10 and 19 — only accidents cause more. It’s prompted many education leaders to consider what role they can play in supporting students affected by mental health challenges.

Theodora and Steve Schiro have thought about this more than most. They’re former educators and current mental health advocates who focus on suicide prevention in schools. The Schiros took up this mantle after losing their son to suicide in 2011.

“We as a society continue to shy away from having serious and ongoing conversations about mental health and suicide, but more teenagers and young adults die by suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined,” says Steve.

The solution, Theodora and Steve say, is to “create a culture of caring.” But what exactly does that mean? And what steps can district leaders take to foster it?

It Starts at The Top

Decision makers at the district and campus levels have a crucial part to play in the creation of a culture of caring. “You set the tone at your school or district, your actions determine the climate and establish the norms…you’re in charge of safety, which means you’re also in charge of suicide prevention,” says Theodora.

One basic way district leaders can do this is by implementing a standard of annual suicide prevention training for teachers and staff. These employees spend the most time with students, so it makes sense that they should be the ones most familiar with the warning signs.

“You set the tone at your school or district, your actions determine the climate and establish the norms…you’re in charge of safety, which means you’re also in charge of suicide prevention,” says Theodora.

But training teachers and staff isn’t enough to prevent suicide altogether. District leaders should prioritize hiring in-school mental health professionals on a full-time basis.

This goes a long way toward fostering an environment where students of all ages can “talk to a trusted adult about their mental health” candidly, says Theodora. With enough mental health professionals in your school, every student can receive the attention they need to make this possible.

Administrators should strive for a ratio of one counselor per 250 students, though many schools struggle to meet that recommendation. Others, like Boston Public Schools, have created models that empower school psychologists to offer a broad range of services to all students, not just act as gatekeepers for special education, which is sometimes the case.

Small Steps Still Help

Of course, money is always a factor in making these ideas come to fruition. Districts with fewer resources may feel hamstrung by their budgets, but that doesn’t mean they can’t use other tactics to help students feel supported mentally and emotionally.

Small improvements can have a snowball effect over time. “The best advice we can share to districts just starting out is to start small, one step at a time,” says Steve.

“Evaluate what you’re already doing, and then take it to the next level.”

One good way to do this is to engage resources geared toward mental health in the community at-large. “If a school can’t sustain full-time staff members, they can forge partnerships with community-based resources to bring help into the school…even one day a week will help,” says Theodora.

A Three-Phase Approach

Even with buy-in from administrators, no culture is reset overnight. That’s why it’s important for every district to establish overarching strategies to deal with the problem of suicide. These strategies should be designed for three different components: suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.

Prevention

Prevention starts with administrative buy-in, staff training, and mental health professional empowerment described above. Staff should be aware of the causes of suicide, know the warning signs, and understand the risk factors.

When each student receives attention to their mental well-being, it becomes easier for schools to identify those who are at risk.

Another part of prevention is to introduce mental health concepts to students when they’re young to destigmatize talking about mental and emotional struggles. This “upstream strategy” can lead to teaching lessons about coping and emotional skills, which can help kids nurture their own mental health.

Together, these things can help bring about deeper discussions that can provide your school’s mental health professionals with added insight into your students’ lives.

The third component of prevention is about cultivating a school-wide sense of belonging. This too should start early by emphasizing concepts of tolerance from a young age. This, combined with student participation in activities and clubs, can help build connectedness over time, something the CDC says is crucial to maintaining mental health.

Such connectedness is the culture of caring in action. For schools, this means students attend a learning environment where they know there are people who care about them, and vice versa.

In all, the idea propelling your suicide prevention initiative is to do more than just identify the kids at risk, “it’s about preventing kids from getting to the point where they are at risk,” says Theodora.

Intervention

Even with ideal counselor-to-student ratios and proper staff training, there will still be some students who may require intervention.

These students may have an increased risk of suicide for a number of reasons, including adverse childhood experiences, family discord, disrupted friend groups, and ended romantic relationships.

When teachers and staff can be more aware of their students’ lives, they can better identify who may be at risk, and take steps to mitigate it. The seeds of this are planted in the prevention phase.

Students should be empowered to recognize and respond to warning signs of suicide among their friends, and within themselves, as well. They should feel able to tell a trusted adult in the school about their concerns for a fellow student.

This can only happen if they are made aware of those warning signs, and what to do about them.

Postvention

Unfortunately, there are situations where prevention and intervention efforts will not be enough to stop a suicide from happening. While you hope to never have to use it, having a plan about what to do in the wake of a suicide is crucial.

This plan should have “suggestions on how to interact with the family and communicate with the community, and will also help school personnel respond during an emotional time.”

It’s important to remember that creating a culture of caring in your own school district takes time and refinement. Theodora and Steve have shared an abundance of resources to help you along this path, which you can find here, along with their suicide prevention webinar.

 

The Effects of Inefficiencies on School Administrators

When you think about inefficient processes, you might think of the implications for your department or even student learning, but what about the impact on you?

What would your day-to-day look like if you could make inefficiencies a thing of the past? With only so many hours in a day, you need to be able to make the most of your time — not only for the sake of your district, but also for your own sake.

A few resources to help get you started:

 

Moving Toward Action: Cultivating a Diverse Teacher Workforce

Time after time, study after study, research has shown that a more diverse teacher workforce positively impacts student outcomes. But students of color aren’t the only ones who benefit — diverse teachers and leaders can serve as positive role models and challenge stereotypes for all students.

But the teacher pool and new educator pipeline don’t accurately reflect the demographics of our society, and many school districts find it challenging to increase the diversity of their teacher workforce. In a recent Field Trip podcast, Dr. Searetha Smith-Collins, book author and former Chief Education Officer, spoke about why workforce diversity in education is so important and three ways schools can move from talking about inclusive hiring practices toward putting them into action.

1. Approach Diversity With Systemic Thinking

In our conversation with Dr. Smith-Collins, one thing is crystal clear: tackling systemic problems requires systemic thinking. Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets, and this is true of school systems as well. Equity has been an issue in education for decades; the disparities in student outcomes are not new. Making change, fighting systemic racism, and creating the kind of environment that attracts a diverse workforce requires a district-wide commitment to inclusivity and equity throughout the district.

Dr. Smith-Collins notes that, when seeking to recruit educators from communities of color, “You’re really looking at ways that you could entice people to become a member of your district that would meet their needs as well as yours.” It’s not just about recruiting from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) – though that is a worthwhile tactic – it’s also about making sure that your district fulfills the needs of potential applicants and makes sure that they are supported, heard, and valued.

Some districts approach enhancing inclusivity and equity through Grow Your Own programs, which elevate gifted paraprofessionals of color and enable them to become certified teachers.

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2. Develop Initiatives Based on Empathy and Understanding

If your goal is to have a more diverse teacher workforce, it’s not enough to focus on tactics for recruiting more teachers of color. Your organization also needs to be a place where educators of all ethnicities and backgrounds feel that their needs are fully met. It’s crucial to take a deeper look into how the district could be structured to more effectively support and retain a diverse teacher workforce. Doing so requires putting yourself in teachers’ shoes and having empathy for what educators of color may experience.

Dr. Smith-Collins relates that, as an educator, she was sometimes the only person of color teaching in a school – which was “a very lonely place to be. . . . When teachers are isolated, that’s very difficult. And I know that it’s very difficult for districts to recruit people of color when they are going to be isolated. So that has to be a consideration, that it’s not okay just to hire a few and place them here and there so that they’re the only one.”

“When teachers are isolated, that’s very difficult. And I know that it’s very difficult for districts to recruit people of color when they are going to feel isolated.”

One way to counteract feelings of isolation is to identify strategies for educators of color to network and share their experiences. Dr. Smith-Collins suggests that districts with little diversity should be sure to give those educators opportunities to go to conferences where they can meet with other educators of color, for example, or try what one district did:

“They have a group where they allow once a month for all the black males in the district to get together to talk and share their experiences and really to bond with one another and find comfort. And one administrator talked about, he was called to the meeting and thought, “Oh no, another meeting.” But he walked into the meeting and saw 25 other black males there. And that they were having that opportunity to get together to support one another. So just sharing an example like that would be kind of comforting, I think, to a person of color, and you think, ‘Wow, this district is really sensitive and understanding of my potential needs. I like that. I might want to work for them.’”

However, it’s also important to focus on overall school culture and climate as well. A positive environment for every teacher is one where all of the people are welcoming, inclusive, and culturally competent.

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3. Do the Work, Don’t Play a Numbers Game

Our #1 takeaway from the podcast is that a truly diverse teaching workforce isn’t about hitting a certain metric. It’s about having the school setting reflect the beautiful diversity in our country and society. Dr. Smith-Collins says, “It’s not a numbers game. It’s a matter of understanding that everyone should be present. Everyone should have voices in what we are trying to teach and what we’re trying to learn.”

She says that what she hopes to see in school systems is that workforce diversity is no longer seen as “such a challenge” but as a natural state of being: that inclusivity is “something that we do naturally when we go about our hiring and our practices and our school districts, it’s just a natural thing that we do to make certain that we’re trying to find any and every opportunity to hire people of color, people who are different in any way that will enrich our environment and enrich our experience for teaching and learning. If we can get to that point, this won’t be such a challenge. We won’t miss the boat. It’s just a part of doing business. And that’s what my hope is, that we finally can dispel the idea that it’s such a challenge and such an issue to find these people. We’re here, people are here. They’re available if we know how to support them, how to work with them, how to elevate them, how to empower them.”

 

5 Principles for Decision-Making Using K-12 Talent Data

 

 

In recent years, districts and states have made great strides in both the implementation of K-12 data tracking systems and more strategic approaches to human capital management (HCM).

The trick that remains is marrying the two: creating K-12 HCM systems that strategically leverage data to tell a sophisticated story and lead to smarter human capital management decisions.

The right lens on human capital management data could turn the tide on teacher recruitment and retention.

While there is so much data available to districts, it’s easier said than done to combine all of that data and view it through the right lens. But given how important teachers are to student achievement — especially when competition for high quality educators is so fierce and the need to address student learning loss is so great — it’s imperative that district leaders start to think holistically about the ways they manage talent.

A Frontline Research & Learning Institute white paper explored lessons from the last few decades and potential lessons to unlock the power of talent data for better HCM decision-making. Here are five simple principles to keep in mind when using data to drive your HCM strategy.

1. All data is not necessarily useful or relevant.

When it comes to K-12 talent data, it’s easy to lose sight of the forest through the trees. Most likely, you have more data points to collect and analyze than you need. So determine ahead of time – what data is relevant, what will it tell you, and how will you act on it?

What’s important in one school district could vary greatly from another. Think about what you want to accomplish with your human capital management program, and start there. Determine a handful of key performance indicators (KPIs) that will capture a snapshot of your progress towards your HCM goals. If you’re using SMART goals — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound — you’ll have an easier time discerning what data is most relevant for your KPIs.

Don’t let the sheer volume of data keep you from focusing where you need to.

Don’t lose the forest through the trees – 5 ways to use K-12 HCM data:

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2. The translation of data into action requires thoughtful planning, training and practice.

Just having data won’t make a difference. Acting on your relevant data (as defined above) takes thoughtful planning, collaboration with other key decision-makers – and lots of practice!

K-12 talent decision-making processes should be oriented toward specific, shared understanding of outcomes – what results are we looking for? What decisions will we make based on what we see? Getting all key department leaders to collaborate around the goals and expectations will lead to better HCM decision-making based on your talent data.

3. The data that is collected must be trusted.

Again, collaboration among key stakeholders is key so that the data that will be used is not called into question once it’s decision-making time. When conducting teacher evaluations, for example, strive to make the process as transparent and collaborative as possible, and give teachers access to their own evaluation history, so they can easily see — and demonstrate — their own professional growth.

Educators also must perceive the data as honest and accurate in order for it to be impactful. They must also feel that the data collected won’t be used against them. Remember, people are what matters most; data collection is meant to support your teachers, not push them out the door.

4. Data collection and use must be part of an iterative cycle.

Testing hypotheses. Measuring outcomes. Making course adjustments.

That iterative cycle is key when it comes to smarter use of K-12 talent data to drive HCM decisions. With data, we can determine what we think the outcome will be, measure it and then make small adjustments for a big impact based on what we learn.

Tools like benchmarks are already built into some K-12 talent data systems, allowing you to not only measure your progress against yourself, but to also see how you compare against other districts. Now that’s some perspective!

5. Data systems must be flexible.

Disconnected K-12 talent software can turn the work of collecting and analyzing data into a web of confusion. By breaking down barriers between systems, you’ll easily draw connections across various areas of your human capital management – from recruiting and hiring, to employee absences, to professional learning and evaluations.

Connected data helps you maintain flexibility to focus on what matters most: the data that will enable smarter HCM decisions that support your educators.

Want to learn more about how the right data can drive strategic human capital management in K-12?

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Talk Data to Me: Declining Student Enrollment

Schools have had to face many new challenges in response to the coronavirus pandemic. While the vaccine rollout may signal the coming end of the pandemic – and the end of some of those challenges – there is one issue that the vaccine will not remedy: declining enrollment. As reported in places from Virginia and Georgia to Minnesota, Arizona, and others, public schools are seeing declines in enrollment that have human resource and budgetary implications. Most of these publications imply that the pandemic is to blame for these declines in enrollment. But is that really the case? Let’s take a look.

We took advantage of the exciting capabilities of 5Sight®, one of five solutions offered by Forecast5 Analytics, now a part of Frontline Education. 5Sight enables districts to leverage prebuilt datasets and built-in analytic tools to generate customized perspectives on organizational, financial, and student-related trends, as well as benchmark peer performance. 5Sight is built on a state-by-state basis using state Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), and related data.

Take a look at enrollment changes at the district level for districts labeled by NCES as a “Regular Local School District” over the most recent 10-year period (2009-2019). Figure 1 shows the percent change in enrollment for each district across the county. Only districts that had data for both years have been included.

Figure 1: District Enrollment Trends: All Students

A quick glance at the map would reveal an overwhelming majority of districts have experienced a drop in enrollment. In fact, enrollment did decline nationally about 0.33%. However, a deeper dive into the data shows that enrollment trends differ greatly by location. Table 1 below breaks down enrollment trends using NCES-defined Locale categories.

Public School Districts

Enrollment declined across each district category defined as “Rural” and “Town.” The largest percent change was seen in “remote” and “distant” rural districts, where enrollment dropped more than 6%. While there was an overall decrease in districts located in cities, the decrease only occurred in large cities. “Mid-size” and “small” cities saw enrollment increases. Likewise, all three sub-categories of the “Suburb” locale saw enrollment increases. Though there was an overall enrollment drop nationally, enrollment trends differ dramatically based on the district location.

Why is public school enrollment decreasing?

It’s clear: there was a general decrease in public school enrollment over the past 10 years. But why? Aside from declining birth rates, the growth in charter schools is certainly one reason. Over the same period, if you look at districts labeled by NCES as an “Independent Charter District,” you can see that enrollment increased in these districts by 80%. Further, enrollment in each NCES Locale category saw dramatic enrollment increases. Again, only districts that had data for both years are included here.

Independent Charter Districts

Changes in enrollment numbers can have a ripple effect throughout a school district, but it’s not enough to just examine the overall enrollment number trend. Who the students are matters, too, regardless of an increase or decrease in the total. From 2009 to 2019, enrollment of students who qualify for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) services increased by 134%. This is traditionally the most vulnerable student population and, as a result, may require more resources from the school district in the form of additional services and specific personnel.

Figure 2: District Enrollment Trends: FRPL Students

What you can do

The general discussion regarding enrollment drops may be misleading. Perhaps a better conversation to have is about how enrollment is changing. How has student enrollment changed in your district? How might this change affect hiring decisions and budget allocation?

Here are some resources to help as you seek to meet every student’s needs in your district:

 

While the national data from NCES lags, 5Sight data from state departments of education is available for 2020, and in some cases for 2021, allowing you to begin to assess even more clearly the impact of the pandemic on enrollment. This includes visibility into enrollment declines and student movement between districts and between charter schools.

Are you interested in assessing district trends or benchmarking your performance — enrollment, finances, student achievement, staffing, and more — against peer districts within your state? 5Sight from Forecast5 Analytics gives you a big-picture perspective so you can make data-driven decisions more quickly and confidently. And if you’re seeking to reevaluate boundaries, reassess school capacities, or determine optimal programming locations due to enrollment shifts, check out 5Maps, a geovisual analytics tool also from Forecast5 Analytics. forecast5analytics.com

5 Critical Steps to Providing Meaningful Professional Development

Guest post by Jennifer Wise, Instructional Services Specialist and Title III Coordinator, Lexington School District Two

As educators seek to refine practices and improve student achievement, it is important for educational leaders to provide access to high-quality professional development that offers a timely response to needs. Whether that professional development addresses the unique needs presented by the COVID-19 pandemic or broader trends developing in education, each learning opportunity demands thoughtful consideration to ensure it is the most appropriate option to support teacher growth.

Leaders should analyze situations, collaborate with key stakeholders, and evaluate anticipated results. Just as it is crucial for teachers in the classroom to engage in self-reflective practice, it is also important for those who organize professional development. The key question to answer: do the offerings provided truly meet the needs of teachers and staff?

Below are five vital steps our team takes to ensure professional development meets the needs of our entire school community: teachers, staff, and students alike.

1. Brainstorm

When our team begins to plan for upcoming professional development opportunities, we always begin with a brainstorming session. No one person holds the key. Instead, we bring in building- and district-level administrators and instructional leaders. It is important to have representation at varied levels from those serving in both administrative and content roles. During our time together, we speak honestly about our needs and work to narrow our focus, recognizing that having too broad of a target can result in a lack of depth. Our goal is to strengthen student performance through instructional change, and that requires intentionality.

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2. Set Goals

Once we have determined the focus of our time, we begin to discuss desired outcomes. We ask ourselves, “What actionable change can we expect to see? And what is the timeline for realizing that change?”. We want to ensure we do not overwhelm our teachers, while ensuring we do act with the sense of urgency increased student learning deserves.

These initial planning sessions generally take upward of three hours, but everyone agrees the time is very well spent. As a leadership team, we ensure we have a common vision and that we are each able to effectively communicate that vision to others.

3. Map out logistics

When we reach the point where our focus and desired outcomes are established, we begin to discuss the logistics. We deliberate on the questions of when, how, and by whom. These questions demand much more attention than simply comparing agendas. We want to ensure the opportunities we provide are offered at the most appropriate time and that the time allocated allows educators to truly engage with the content while not being so lengthy that it results in a loss of focus.

Another question we consider is how and/or where to hold our sessions. This year, most of our offerings have taken place virtually. We have become masters of virtual platforms, implementing features that have truly revolutionized what we can offer. At other points in time, we have considered which building(s) will provide the greatest support. Should we have teams meet by schools, have two schools paired, have all grade levels together? All of these are options we have considered and successfully implemented. The key is knowing which is best for the given time and topic.

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4. Identify presenters

Similarly, we consider who will present the information. We have partnered with organizations who specialize in targeted areas; however, with a desire to build internal capacity, we do aim to provide offerings internally as often as possible. We recognize this can serve as a valuable experience in professional growth for both the facilitators and the participants. Administrators, coaches, and teachers each serve in facilitator roles at various times. We learn and grow together all with the goal of improving educational opportunities for the students in our care.

5. Debrief

Lastly, and so importantly, we debrief on the offerings provided. After each major professional development activity, we bring our stakeholder groups back together for feedback. What worked well? Where could we improve? Everything is an exercise in growth. We must put pride aside and realize we can and will continue to improve the practices of all involved if we are willing — and we are. We often encourage our students to be lifelong learners. Through professional development and reflective practice, we are living that out every day, and I am thankful for the opportunity.

COVID-19-Related Compensatory Services Under Section 504

Unexpected school closures happened so quickly in the early days of the pandemic. Managers of Section 504 programs faced — and still face — a great deal of uncertainty because closures and hybrid learning don’t change the fact that schools are responsible for preventing discrimination and providing the appropriate supports for students with disabilities to ensure they enjoy equal opportunity to access education. However, making sure students receive the services they’re entitled to during a global pandemic isn’t easy and introduces a lot of questions from a compliance perspective.

Are districts at fault for lack of progress or skill regression? Will compensatory services be required? How much do you owe, and when is it due?

Jose Martín, an expert on laws regarding students with disabilities in public schools, recently shared the latest guidance and legal concerns about COVID-19-related compensatory services under Section 504.

What are the rules?

To help schools navigate the uncharted waters, the US Department of Education (DOE) Office of Special Education Programs was quick to issue COVID-19 guidance in mid-March of 2020. With respect to services during school closures, the guidance stated that, “to the greatest extent possible, schools need to implement the services that are identified in students’ IEPs under IDEA or in Section 504 plans.”

In turn, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued its guidance in September 2020. Basically, to avoid the risk of not providing FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education), OCR reminded schools they couldn’t just give a standard set of services or accommodations to all students under Section 504. They must focus on the individualized needs of every student with a 504 plan. In addition, parents could not be asked to sign waivers of their children’s rights to FAPE under IDEA or Section 504 in exchange for getting the online services.

The law on the effect of remote learning during the pandemic to comply with the provisions of an IEP remains unsettled. We’ve never encountered a situation where districts had to quickly shift from full-time live school services to online instruction. To what degree online teaching can substitute for FAPE in the live instructional world remains to be seen. It will likely be different for each student depending on their needs and may be determined by future court cases.

What are compensatory services?

Even reasonable attempts to provide online instruction might not be fully compliant with the FAPE obligation, so you still might owe compensatory services. Compensatory education is kind of like back taxes. It’s FAPE that you should have provided to a child, and you didn’t, which now you have to double up on to catch up.

So, if you didn’t pay your 2016 taxes, you currently owe your 2020 taxes plus your 2016 taxes. Those 2016 taxes, those back taxes, that’s the compensatory education. You’re going to owe a student his regular FAPE, plus the back FAPE, the compensatory services.

Whose fault is it, anyway?

Online learning doesn’t work for every student. That’s a given. But districts have to try hard to meet the needs of all students. If a student has an IEP or 504 plan, parents can take legal action against them for not providing FAPE during school closures.

Martín calls it COVID comp. Some states are even giving it a different name altogether, such as recovery services or supplemental school closure services. Giving this remedy another name highlights that we had to close the schools and switch to online instructional options, not because we wanted to, but because we were forced to. If there was an inability to provide a full FAPE to students in the online environment, it was not because of any negligence on the school district’s part.

What if a parent is not engaging with the school or is not involved with making sure their child participates? Guidance implies that even if the parent is not responding, the LEA may still maintain a responsibility to provide FAPE. Certainly, schools must make every effort to communicate with such parents and try to determine the source of the problem to attempt to address it. To the federal courts, though, a parent’s conduct in refusing services can affect the compensatory services calculation, and it may mean they’re not entitled to compensatory services at all if they unreasonably failed to take advantage of available services.

Remember, document everything! And try harder. Teachers should not only send emails but try text messages, follow-up emails, and phone calls to show they made significant efforts. Those persistent attempts to contact parents demonstrate the school’s efforts to do everything it could.

Sometimes the issue might be the student’s conduct. In one case, the court felt that while the district had denied the student FAPE, parents also failed to take advantage of services. The student didn’t want to go to school, and the parent avoided IEP meetings. So the court did not award compensatory services.

There is another complicating factor. Certain students in Section 504, say those with severe to moderate ADHD, who exhibit lots of off-task behavior, may have multiple challenges participating in an online program. Even with live instruction, those children can be resistant or off task. If a child’s disabilities make them a poor fit for online instruction, should they be penalized for not participating? Likely not.

What if parents seek reimbursement for private services that they got on their own during a COVID-19 school closure? Is the ability to seek reimbursement for private services during a closure the same in the context of no-fault COVID comp? It’s likely that condensed online services aren’t as effective as live services. We don’t know if the courts will find there is reduced expectation during school closure periods.

Early in the pandemic, the DOE determined that no waivers were necessary with respect to FAPE because schools could provide access to FAPE through at-home services. Schools are expected to get the students back to the place they would have been had there not been a school closure.

Another unanticipated twist

Martín notes a difference in his interpretation of online instruction vs. distance learning. He describes online instruction as condensed prerecorded lessons. Distance learning is when a student participates at home on a computer while the teacher is teaching other kids in the classroom.

As schools start to reopen, parents in some states have an option not to send their children to school in person, but rather to continue with some form of distance learning. If the parent voluntarily declines the face-to-face services and chooses distance learning, does that make a difference in the COVID comp analysis?

The answer is that it’s unclear. When parents opt for distance learning, school districts should make sure parents understand that, due to the inherent nature of distance learning, the student might not make the same amount of progress. It’s possible that the courts will say the parents waived full FAPE by opting for distance learning when they were aware it might not have been of equal benefit.

But another way that the courts could view this is that parents shouldn’t have to compromise their child’s safety to get full FAPE. In that case, the full comp may still be owed. It would be wise for schools to take action if a child is struggling in the distance learning environment. The 504 team should contact parents and request a meeting to discuss concerns and possible changes to the accommodations during distance learning. The team may consider urging the parent to reconsider sending the student to school based on the data.

How much do you owe, and when is it due?

If you determine that a child is owed COVID comp, the next issue to decide is how much. How are you going to structure it? When are you going to provide it? How fast are you going to discharge this obligation? The 504 team is responsible for those decisions.

A major challenge shared by every school district in the United States is to provide compensatory services after school closures end. If schools don’t do it right, there’s going to be a wave of litigation on compensatory services.

Unintended consequences

COVID comp is not a remedy for failure on the part of the school district. OSEP recognizes that school districts were unable to provide certain services because of COVID-19-related issues, not because of their negligence. OSEP acknowledges the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and the immense challenge placed on schools.

Suppose there is a lack of expected reading progress during the school closure period. Parents might see it as evidence that the school’s reading program is not working and then want to refer the child for special education evaluation. An important message to parents should be that a lack of reading progress during school closure probably has to do with a shift from face-to-face instruction to at-home instruction. It’s the most likely reason because it’s what happened most recently. That’s the part that’s really different, not the program itself.

It is important not to encourage, pressure or coerce parents into giving up on their compensatory services. School staff should instead offer comp services and encourage parents to take advantage of them. Some parents might say that their child is stressed and overloaded, and they don’t want the comp services. That’s understandable. But you can, still offer to provide the compensatory services in ways that won’t burden the child.

If parents want reading services made up immediately, they should be cautioned not to overload a child with so many services too quickly. You want the child to get the full benefit of the compensatory services, even if it takes a little bit more time.

The goal is to return the student to the levels of performance they should have been at if there hadn’t been a school closure. This reflects the full FAPE standard applicable under IDEA. It’s not so clear that this applies to 504 FAPE to the same degree, but schools should aim to follow the same standards.

The districts that invested more time, thought, energy, and resources in their online services are the ones that are going to have to do less comp. Districts that didn’t do as well with online instruction and support will have a bigger job getting out of the compensatory services hole.

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