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Why Use Baseline Data to Drive Decisions in K-12 Education?

Table of Contents

What you need to know about baseline data
How baseline data drives instruction in the classroom
Baseline data in Special Education
Should baseline data be used for mental and behavioral health support?
Data is the evidence we depend on
Learn more about using baseline data

Believe it or not, data wasn’t always a factor in decision making in schools. A lot of decisions were made subjectively. Lacking efficient digital records, educators didn’t have the data needed to make objective decisions. Fortunately, teaching has evolved into a science based on facts. As more and more data has become available with the increased use of digital tools, research highlights the benefits of making objective decisions based on numbers.

Baseline data serves as the foundation or starting place. Educators need to understand how to collect and use that baseline data to monitor progress and measure increases in student achievement or changes in behavior.

What you need to know about baseline data

What is baseline data? It’s all about the evidence. Baseline data provides teachers with evidence of what students know or can do and still need to learn. It must be something that can be quantified or counted in some way. The most common ways to collect data include:

  • Percent accuracy: percentage of correct responses on an assessment
  • Frequency: number of times a behavior occurs
  • Duration: how long an event continues
  • Rate: number of behaviors during a set amount of time
  • Interval data: samples counted during specified time intervals

Baseline data can be collected on any student. Typically, it is used to measure progress of students who are experiencing learning or behavioral difficulties, are English learners, have missed instruction over a period of time, or may simply need additional support.

How baseline data drives instruction in the classroom

Because students have diverse needs, schools use a tiered pyramid system to provide additional instruction to those who need more support. The first tier, the base, is core instruction for the entire class. Tier 2 includes students who may need targeted instruction in specific skills, and Tier 3 is reserved for small groups of students requiring intensive instruction.

Two models serve as the basic framework for intervention. Response to Intervention (RTI) is focused primarily on academic progress. A more comprehensive design, Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS), expands to social-emotional areas of concern.

In most schools, it’s common practice to hire an interventionist or train teachers in best practices for intervention during the school day. Within tiers 1, 2, and 3, teachers and specialists rely on diagnostic screeners to group students with similar skill levels into small groups.

Teachers are well aware of how important it is to monitor student progress and determine which interventions to implement. But sometimes it’s challenging to sift through all the information available and know what data to use. Jim Wright, RTI/MTSS expert, created a guide to help teachers ask the right questions, collect useful data, and decide how to use it to monitor student progress.

The guide breaks down the decision-making process into clarifying steps.

  1. What specific skills or behaviors does the student find challenging?
  2. What is the student’s baseline or starting point?
  3. What outcome goal would define success for this student?
  4. Has the student reached the goal?

As soon as the teacher identifies the baseline data to use as the starting place and determines the end goal, it’s time to decide how to get to the finish line. To make sure students stay on the right track, teachers will place them in flexible small groups and monitor progress along the way.

How students are grouped and which tools are used to monitor progress will significantly affect the outcome. Since we’re talking about data, understanding the science of teaching makes a difference. It matters. Jim Wright has developed an 8-step process an interventionist can use to implement intervention plans confidently and effectively.

Baseline data in Special Education

The first step in writing an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for a student is to start with baseline data. In an IEP, that’s called a statement of Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP for short). With a clear starting place, teachers can set measurable goals using specific examples of student behaviors. They must be observable and demonstrate progress.

Collecting data about students in a Special Education program can be a little more complicated because it comes from multiple sources beyond the classroom teacher or teachers. Students may receive instruction from the regular education teacher or a trained special education teacher and multiple related service providers. Depending on the IEP, the list could include speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, or various other specialists.

Progress must be monitored in every area a student receives services for, so the data will look different from each provider. At its core, the data is used to

  • Guide instruction
  • Make decisions about student growth
  • Communicate progress on IEP goals
  • Determine effectiveness of providers and programs

It’s helpful to have standardized procedures and tools for collecting, reporting, and analyzing all the data available to monitor student progress. Most school districts use software programs to track, report, and manage compliance requirements.

Should baseline data be used for mental and behavioral health support?

Schools can’t afford to overlook the importance of mental and behavioral health as a factor of student success. The experience of educating children during the pandemic may have been the catalyst that launched mental health into the spotlight.  In a way, that’s a positive situation. Parents, teachers, counselors, nurses, and administrators — among others — recognize the urgent need to take action.

Fortunately, there are tools available to schools that will help expand their support of student health beyond what a school nurse can provide. Mental health interventions do not need to be limited to students with IEPs, but should be available to any student.

It starts with collecting baseline data on all students. When an MTSS model (Multi-tiered System of Support) is implemented with fidelity, students are screened for academic and behavioral barriers to learning. That data forms the baseline for interventions and progress monitoring to address academic or behavioral areas of concern and improve student achievement.

As teachers develop interventions for academic problems, the wellness team made up of school nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists steps in to support students’ health needs — physical, mental, and behavioral. While a student struggling with reading or math would be given interventions specific to their learning difficulties, a behavior plan with achievable targets would be implemented for a student with behavioral challenges.

Quality health management software connects traditional school health data like vision and hearing screenings and visits to the school nurse to mental and behavioral health data. Access to that data allows the school nurse and the mental health providers to track student health history and address concerns proactively before they escalate into a crisis.

While academic needs can usually be met within the school or district, often with the help of specialists, mental and behavioral health is different. Collaboration between school mental health providers and community-based professionals can make a difference in helping students reach their goals. With parent participation and permission, data is shared between the school and community mental health treatment providers.

If an intervention plan doesn’t produce positive results even after adjustments, it may indicate that a student needs professional treatment beyond what the school can provide. In those situations, schools must continue to maintain communication and share data with the outside providers. A collaborative effort will enable a positive transition when the student returns to school.

Data is the evidence we depend on

It’s impossible to show evidence of student progress or guide instruction without baseline data. What teachers should do with the data can be a challenge, but there are plenty of resources to help make those decisions. By monitoring progress, decisions are made for students based on facts instead of subjective choices. Everyone benefits when students succeed in school.

Learn more about using baseline data

Go deeper: The Student Learning Objectives Toolkit is a resource developed by the National Center for Improvement of Educational Assessment to help educators map out the process for developing quality SLOs. https://www.nciea.org/library/recent-publications/slo-toolkit

Using Student Achievement Data to Support Instructional Decision Making https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/dddm_pg_092909.pdf

For educators looking for evidence of effective instructional strategies to use as interventions, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, has answers. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/

National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/

Why should schools provide comprehensive school-based mental and behavioral health services? https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/mental-health/school-psychology-and-mental-health/comprehensive-school-based-mental-and-behavioral-health-services-and-school-psychologists

 

3 Things for Schools to Remember About Long COVID Diagnoses

 

 

Some people who previously tested positive for COVID-19 are now showing symptoms like tiredness, fatigue, difficulty thinking, concentrating, headache, changes in smell, taste, dizziness, or fast beating or pounding heart, usually appearing about a month after that initial positive test. This condition is being referred to as “Long COVID.”

Long COVID diagnoses among students and staff are sadly becoming more and more common. In fact, recently, questions have arisen for schools about what a diagnosis of Long COVID means for IEP eligibility, Section 504 Plan eligibility, and the rights of school personnel under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released guidance that a student experiencing Long COVID may be eligible for special education under IDEA and/or may be entitled to services and protections under Section 504.

In addition to the complexities the OCR guidance brings to schools in serving at-risk students, there are important things to consider regarding school personnel who receive a diagnosis of Long COVID. So, lots of new questions about the rights of students and staff – and how best to support those who’ve received a diagnosis of Long COVID.

Many schools are fielding new questions like:

  • Is Long COVID a “disability?”
  • Should a student with a Long COVID diagnosis receive an IEP or a Section 504 plan?
  • Is a school employee with a Long COVID diagnosis entitled to protection under the ADA, and what does that mean from a legal perspective?

Here are three key legal points to keep in mind when making decisions related to Long COVID diagnoses.

1. A Long COVID diagnosis alone does not trigger eligibility for disability

Let’s remember that the OCR guidance uses the word “may” for an important reason – eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) and Section 504 is never automatic.

OCR is not saying, “If a student receives a Long COVID diagnosis, she’s automatically entitled to an IEP.” Because she’s not.

Similarly, students are not “automatically” entitled to a Section 504 plan. And school employees with Long COVID diagnoses are not automatically entitled to protection under ADA and don’t automatically receive certain accommodations in the workplace.

Schools need more than a diagnosis to determine a student’s or an employee’s individual need and how to best support that person. Let’s remember our usual intervention and Child Find processes. A diagnosis of Long COVID, despite being new, and brought to our attention now from OCR, should not be treated any differently than other medical or mental health diagnosis.

Always be asking what is the student need? How can that need be most efficiently, and quickly, accommodated? May the classroom teacher accommodate and provide supports to address the need?

Or importantly, does the need require special education? How is the student engaging with peers and authority figures? Does academic performance look different? Remember, schools are required to accommodate in the general education first, before making “changes” to support need through special education.

You do a great job of exhausting the resource “continuum” before evaluating for special education or restricting the student’s experience through IEPs. The accommodation of Long COVID symptoms should not be treated any differently.

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2. Continue using ordinary IDEIA & 504 eligibility processes

The eligibility criteria for students under IDEIA and Section 504, and the interactive process under ADA for employees, did not change as a result of COVID-19 or Long COVID.

As it relates to students, be sure to follow ordinary processes to determine eligibility for Section 504 plans or IEPs. Look at the impact of that Long COVID diagnosis – objectively identify the need.

For example, as it relates to Section 504 – is there an issue with physical plant access? Are there issues with testing? Are there issues with interaction? In terms of special education eligibility, how is special education going to address the symptoms of Long COVID? If there’s no special education needed, an IEP is not needed. Same with Section 504.

Let’s remember the interactive process with employees. You can’t simply say, “No, you get no accommodations.” But you should always say, “Yes, let’s engage in the process.” Ask for medical information, follow your typical process. Consider whether or not certain essential job duties are being impacted by the diagnosis. Simply having a diagnosis of Long COVID, just like having a diagnosis of COVID-19, doesn’t automatically entitle one to accommodation.

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3. Always focus on individual need

Remember, you don’t have to know everything – though it may often feel that way for many district and school leaders. In many ways, we’re figuring this out as we continue to educate during this public health crisis. We’re building the plane as we fly it. Lean on best practices. Remember to focus on individual need. Focus on the person. Don’t get distracted by Long COVID being a new or novel diagnosis, and don’t get stuck in the process. Continue to follow the process rules and best practices that you know.

And always, always, guide your teams towards helping students achieve real learning.

Student (and employee) progress has been, and always will be, the polestar.

Ask yourselves now, as you always do, with regard to Long COVID or anything else, is that student experiencing real, meaningful progress? If the answer is yes, good on you. Keep at it. If the answer is no, you need to ask why and then engage in the right process.

And of course, with your employees, continue to offer support. We can’t treat one differently who might have been COVID-19 positive. We can’t treat one differently with a Long COVID diagnosis. For school personnel, engage in the interactive process if one asks for accommodation and presents a diagnosis of Long COVID.

Talk Data to Me: Hiring Trends for Mental Health Providers in Schools

There has been a lot of recent discussion in K-12 spheres, including in past Frontline blogs, about the ongoing teacher shortage. Not only does the problem of large numbers of job openings with limited numbers of applicants available to fill them apply to teaching positions, but it also persists for mental-health-related positions. This is concerning given the increase in student and staff mental health needs. As school districts often find themselves with budgetary restrictions that may hamper their ability to seek such professionals, the hope is that federal stimulus bills, like the American Rescue Plan, can help provide some relief and flexibility.

So, to what extent are school districts trying to address the additional mental health needs of their students and staff? Are mental health professionals being sought after, and did COVID relief funds actually make an impact in meeting this need?

Data from Frontline Education’s Recruiting & Hiring solution — which is representative of national district norms — provides a glimpse into which roles that help support student mental health are being prioritized by district hiring managers.

Are school districts posting more jobs for mental health providers in 2021?

Many district personnel can influence student mental health, including social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, school nurses, and other designated mental health professionals. Below is an interactive chart showing the number of districts with a job posting for the aforementioned job titles over time. The chart is sliceable by locale (rural, suburban, urban) and district size.

Note related to graph: This controls for changes in the total number of districts that use Frontline Recruiting & Hiring.

 

Which school districts are posting jobs related to mental health?

Above the normal ebbs and flows of hiring seasons throughout each year, there are clear jumps in the numbers of districts seeking professionals to address mental health this year, particularly between weeks 15 and 22 (mid-April through early June). This bump transcends locale but is particularly prominent in rural and suburban districts. Interestingly, the increase in mental health hiring is clear in large and medium districts – but no obvious changes in hiring are apparent in extra large or small districts.

This spike may have been a result of the fact that schools are placing a greater emphasis on student mental and emotional health in the wake of the pandemic. The spike in open positions coincided with the availability of federal stimulus funds through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) and other legislation to increase district budgets to help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on schools.

In fact, some of the ESSER and ARP state plans specifically call out that states hope to spend ARP funds on social workers and counselors in schools to help address student well-being. Since funds through these federal legislations are available through 2023, if current data is any indication, we can expect more jobs for mental health professionals to be posted in the months to come.

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What about other roles that support student mental health?

It is heartening to see data that shows districts are actively hiring more school counselors and social workers. However, while school counselors and social workers are critically important when it comes to supporting student and overall community health, there are others in districts who heavily contribute to the well-being of students and families – notable examples being school psychologists and school nurses. And while our data doesn’t show an uptick in the demand for school psychologists or school nurses specifically, hiring trends for those positions remain in step with the trends of recent years. It is definitely a possibility that we will see increasing demand for school psychologists and nurses as well as the pandemic continues and its effects on student health become more evident.

Using Analytics to Support Students in the Midst of a Pandemic

As schools re-open for the 2021-2022 school year, educators find themselves facing a myriad of challenges. From establishing health and safety guidelines for a safe reopening, to managing the ever-increasing concerns around the mental health of staff and students, to benchmarking student performance, schools are once again facing a school year unlike any other.

Like last school year, districts are reinventing themselves to meet the challenges ahead with creativity and care to ensure all students meet their goals in the classroom. Whether they’re establishing modified distance learning plans, developing intervention strategies, or finding new ways to re-engage learners, district leaders are focused on a speed to insight around four key questions:

  1. What are the current performance levels of each student?
  2. Based on the current performance level, what are our goals for student performance for the upcoming school year?
  3. How will we measure our performance during the year?
  4. What will we do to support students who struggle?

More and more, educators are using analytics to answer these questions and identify moments of success from last school year.

Here’s how:

1.  What are the current performance levels of each student?

Districts are analyzing last year’s attendance rates, course grades and even engagement in eLearning platforms like Google Classroom, Canvas or Schoology data to identify a critical list of students who may need additional resources to launch a successful start of the school year.

Along with previously mentioned classroom-level datasets, districts are reviewing benchmark assessment data like iReady, NWEA MAP, Star 360, PSAT/SAT and even state assessments.

This provides insight into key performance standards in math and reading, showing not only how students did at the end of 2021, but also informing where to go in 2022. In each instance, educators are looking to analytics that swiftly disaggregate the results so they can ensure equity and access for all students. Districts know that a bridge will need to be built from last year to this year, so reviewing the most recent benchmark assessments to understand what students know and can do can help to create a game plan for the upcoming school year — which is paramount to a successful 2022.

Figure 1 provides a sample quadrant analysis of NWEA MAP performance from fall to spring 2020-2021 in Reading/Language Arts, as shown in a dashboard created using Forecast5 Analytics’ 5Labs tool, powered by Frontline Education.

2. Based on the current performance level, what are your goals for student performance for the upcoming school year?

At the secondary level, preparing students for college and career remains as important as ever. Districts are looking at disaggregated analytics that can quickly show if high school students are on track to graduate. They are also creating Early Warning Indicators to combine a variety of data points (like attendance and grades) to see which students may be falling off track so principals and building leaders can proactively support each student and track performance during the school year. Districts are, once again, closely monitoring student enrollments in rigorous coursework like AP and Dual Credit to make sure that each and every student has access to content and instruction that prepares them for life after graduation.

Figure 2 displays a district Early Warning Indicator (EWI) as shown in a dashboard created using Forecast5 Analytics’ 5Labs tool, powered by Frontline Education. The graphs are based on the combination of the student’s attendance and number of D’s and F’s, a risk category.

3. How will you measure your performance during the year?

As assessment information on students may be limited from last year, it is important to establish reasonable targets for students to meet for the current school year. The first step to measuring student performance is identifying where the student is at, now. This can be done through the use of classroom assessments, standardized assessment or a combination of both.  Then, once the benchmark performance is in place, continue to monitor student progress throughout the year, to ensure that students are not only successful in the classroom through traditional or standards-based grades, but also meeting grade level expectations on standardized measures in reading and math.

4. What will you do to support students who struggle?

Supporting struggling students begins with a collaborative team, either across a grade level, content area or subject, identifying students needing support. Knowing, quickly, which students are not meeting the established performance expectations is critical. So often the RTI, MTSS or student support team spends a significant amount of time ‘crunching’ the numbers and very little time planning the action steps. Consider flipping that conversation and providing tools to your leadership teams that allows them to spend less time creating the data tables and more time acting upon them.

Real-world example

In one Illinois district, traditionally, the leadership team spent a significant amount of time combing through and trying to make sense of various departmental and course grade data to determine how many students were failing more than one class each grading period. Then, the students were to be connected to a targeted intervention. This data was not easy to pull into a report and share, so it took much longer to establish action steps that would help the staff support the students in a timely fashion. The team then developed automated custom dashboards that were disaggregated by counselor, dean, grade level, course and department, to quickly identify students that may need an intervention.

Concluding thoughts

While the challenges that exist are many, we have seen a remarkable sharing of best practices and ideas among clients and colleagues from around the country. Through virtual webinars, conferences, and the return of in-person professional development, it is truly inspirational to see the collaboration around key analytics that quickly support a child and the focus on equity to make sure all students receive an education that prepares them for their next step in life. From this experience, schools and educators will once again adapt, modify, and succeed in ensuring students meet with success, paving the way for the next generation of educators, leaders, and community members.

To make data-informed decisions about student outcomes, you need easy-to-use data analytics tools designed specifically for schools. Forecast5’s 5Lab consolidates disparate data sources into a single analytics environment, giving you in-depth, actionable insights to navigate our evolving education landscape and improve student achievement. Explore more here

Top Tips for Success with Online Professional Development for Teachers

While many of us can’t wait to get back to in-person professional development and think online PD is less than ideal, I’m here to tell you that virtual professional learning can be highly successful. When online professional learning is well planned and well executed, teachers describe their experiences as “fantastic,” “effective,” “perfect,” and “wonderful.”

My team studied over 130 online professional learning courses offered to educators in hundreds of school districts over the course of two school years — including courses available during the pandemic. These courses were offered as part of a grant from the NY State Department of Education to the NY State Teacher Centers — 126 professional development centers run by teachers, with the goal of providing high-quality professional learning opportunities for educators to enrich teaching practice and improve student learning and achievement. We know from this program evaluation that teachers have high expectations for professional development, and we learned from over 1000 feedback survey responses what makes virtual professional learning work.

The courses we studied encompassed a variety of topics including the arts, culturally responsive education, educational technology, mathematics, and social emotional learning, just to name a few. Many courses featured multiple sessions and included reading and writing assignments participants were expected to complete.

Feedback fell rather neatly into 6 essential categories. Format, time management, communication, interaction, content, and materials all need to be part and parcel of the design of virtual professional learning. A deeper dive into these responses from teachers revealed the following lessons:

Teacher survey results: what makes virtual professional development work?

Course format

  • Keep it real. Teachers asked specifically for instructors to build in at least one synchronous session in an otherwise asynchronous course that would allow participants to interact with one another in real time.
  • Fair is fair. Teachers complained when the workload didn’t match the course credit or compensation. In many districts, they receive professional development credits toward requirements to maintain their professional certification, while others receive additional compensation for completing PD courses outside of the school day. Instructors should ensure that any work they expect teachers to complete outside of course sessions, combined with the hours spent in session, is commensurate with awarded points, credits, or compensation.
  • Variety is the spice of… learning. Teachers appreciated courses that included a variety of activities: lecture, small group discussion, videos, writing prompts, and other interactive activities. As with much professional development, most courses took place after their workdays, and transitions from one activity to the next helped keep them engaged.
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Time management

  • Enough is enough (but more might be better). Many teachers commented that they wished there were more course sessions, or in some cases, that sessions were longer to accommodate the volume of content and activities the instructor planned. It’s imperative that instructors take into account the amount of content they intend to cover and propose an adequate number of sessions or hours so as to not overwhelm participants with too much new information at one time.
  • Everything has its time and pace. Pacing is very important to teachers, and many commented on the pacing of their sessions. They expressed appreciation for good pacing and complained when it felt too fast or slow. Specifically, instructors should allow time for participants to grapple with and process new content, take notes, and reflect on their learning. They should also build in opportunities for discussion and make time for questions and answers after new content is presented.
  • Gimme a break. Simply put: People need at least one brief break when sessions go two hours or more.
  • Passing the baton. Teachers did not appreciate losing valuable course time when instructors needed to hand off the controls to co-presenters. If there are multiple presenters, transitions need to be well practiced and managed so no instructional time is lost.

Communication

  • The cardinal rule is clarity. Teachers didn’t appreciate confusion around course expectations. Instructors should ensure that participants have a clear understanding of what is expected in addition to attending course sessions (e.g., reading relevant articles or a book, viewing videos, completing a project, posting on a discussion board). They need to know if assignments are required or simply recommended.
  • Facts first. Teachers are natural planners and indicated that they want all course information up front, prior to the first session. They need to plan for their participation and additional work expectations, especially if there are multiple course sessions and reading or writing assignments with specific due dates.
  • Keep in touch. Participants appreciated regular communication from instructors during the course (such as weekly emails), and some wanted to maintain contact with the instructor and even other participants after the course ended. Instructors might want to create optional, ongoing learning communities where participants can continue to ask questions and exchange ideas and resources.
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Interaction

  • Share and share alike. Teachers indicated they want more opportunities for participation and interaction with each other and the instructor. They wanted opportunities to share what they’re doing in the classroom relative to the course topic, and to hear what others are doing. Instructors should provide opportunities for participants to connect, network, and establish collegial relationships they can potentially continue beyond the course.
  • “Breakout” of the mold. We received a lot of feedback about breakout rooms in virtual communication platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Inside the course itself, instructors need to build in time for participants to interact with each other and process the content. Breakout rooms can be used for this purpose, but instructors need to devote enough time for each participant to contribute to the conversation, react to others, and complete whatever tasks the instructor assigns.

Participants need explicit directions for how to use the time in breakouts, and they must be able to access and review the directions once they’re in the breakout rooms. Some instructors in our study put breakout room prompts on slides in the main room, and by the time people got into their breakouts, they found they didn’t remember the question prompts.

Breakout room activities must be meaningful and relevant. Discussion for discussion’s sake when participants aren’t clear on the purpose doesn’t work.

  • Mix it up. Teachers wanted a variety of opportunities to interact with each other and the instructor. They appreciated the ability to talk in real time (e.g., via breakout rooms) and interact in ways that went beyond the chat box or simply posting written reflections and responses to each other asynchronously. Instructors should consider taking them to other platforms (Google Slides, Jamboard, Padlet, etc.) to keep participants engaged.
  • They fancy feedback. Teachers wanted to hear from instructors, especially when they submitted written assignments or other projects. Instructors should give adequate, meaningful feedback to participants on their responses or other coursework.

Content

  • Teachers are looking for action. Teachers appreciated the content they learned, but they really wanted to walk away knowing how to apply their new learning in the classroom. Instructors should provide concrete action steps for participants, including strategies they can use in classrooms. Teachers asked for specific examples of how to implement what they are learning in their classrooms. In fact, this was the most common request we read in feedback comments. At the very least, instructors should present realistic (if fictional) scenarios so that participants can envision how they might act, react, or implement strategies in the classroom.
  • Deeper dives win the gold. Teachers often want more. Many asked for a “level two course,” or deeper dives into the course topics. Instructors should offer more advanced courses if they are able, or at the very least, point participants to readings or other materials or additional courses for those wishing to learn more about the topic.
  • One size does NOT fit all. Teachers expressed frustration when course content or resources didn’t match their grade or school level. They wanted courses geared specifically to their grade levels or at least differentiated for elementary and secondary. Instructors should offer courses tailored to specific grade level bands or differentiate their courses to address different needs and levels. For some courses, teachers wanted content to be differentiated based on participant levels of knowledge or experience with the topic.

Materials

  • Before is better. Teachers wanted materials up front before the course began. They wanted to see what was coming and get familiar with it, and they wanted to feel prepared and ready for the course. Instructors should distribute materials (slides, handouts, etc.) to participants prior to the first session.
  • Materials matter. Course participants need more than just slides. Teachers in our study wanted to see agendas, outlines, or handouts that help them stay organized and keep track of the concepts presented, the course activities, and all assignments. They also wanted the right number of resources. If there were too many, participants needed them to be organized and curated. If there were too few, they asked for more. Materials and course resources should ideally be organized and available in one location. Participants do not want to have to go to multiple systems or storage places to collect all the materials they need for the course.

High quality professional learning should be created based on results of program evaluation, needs assessments and other assessments of teachers’ learning needs. It should be well organized, managed, and include relevant activities and materials, along with a clear communication plan between instructors and participants.

Teachers know good teaching and are more than willing to share how they experience the professional learning we provide for them. As it turns out, many of the same principles and practices we apply in the classroom are what make virtual professional development successful as well.

Resources

Talk Data to Me: Hiring Trends in the Wake of a Teacher Shortage

The teacher shortage has gained a lot of attention over the past few weeks. National news, local news, and even President Biden have all addressed the topic in recent weeks. According to a survey conducted by Frontline Education, two-thirds of nearly 1,200 school and district leaders across the country reported having a teacher shortage.

A teacher shortage would cause enough problems for districts trying to fill vacancies in a normal year, but the pandemic appears to have exacerbated this struggle. Some reports indicate that as many as 1 in 4 current teachers plan on leaving the profession in a wave of retirements or quitting the profession for other endeavors.

What can we learn about these troubling trends from hiring data? The Frontline Research & Learning Institute and data from Frontline Education’s Recruiting & Hiring solution — which is representative of national district norms — provide an in-depth look at hiring trends over time.

Are school districts posting more jobs in 2021?

Chart 1 shows the number of Teacher Job Postings per District over the past three years. A trove of teachers leaving the profession should translate into districts having to post more jobs than usual, but as Chart 1 shows, that is not the case thus far. The number of job postings per district this year tracks steadily alongside previous years.

Are schools struggling to find applicants for open positions?

The teacher shortage would most clearly manifest itself in the data in low numbers of applicants per job posting — and indeed, you can see fewer applicants per posting in 2021 than in previous years in Chart 2 below.

In prior years, each job posting received an average of 7.8 applicants. However, job postings in 2021 are receiving fewer than 6 applicants on average thus far.

Collectively, this translates to a 12.5% decrease in applicants per district in January-July 2021 compared to January-July 2020 and a 31.6% decrease in January-July 2021 compared to January-July 2019.

Chart 2:


 

 

What does it all mean?

If teachers are choosing to leave the profession at higher rates than years past as has been predicted throughout the pandemic, we should expect to see an increase in teacher job postings aimed at filling those vacancies. However, this isn’t reflected in the trends in Chart 1.

Does this mean that teachers are not retiring (or otherwise exiting the profession) at the rates that have been commonly feared? Maybe, maybe not. The consistency of the trends in Chart 1 suggests it would be reasonable to expect the number of job postings to fall for the remainder of the year, but it’s also possible that districts are awaiting approval for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund and ARP funding proposals that include new positions. If that’s the case, job postings could track higher than in years past, and in a year where already fewer applicants are vying for jobs as Chart 2 shows, the teacher shortage may intensify.

Additional Resources

    1. The Teacher Shortage, 2021 Edition: See results from Frontline’s survey of nearly 1,200 district administrators on the impact of the teacher shortage.
    2. Retention-First Recruitment: With fewer teachers entering the profession, retention is more important than ever. Here’s how Curriculum & Instruction and HR can work together to attract — and keep — great teachers.
    3. Talk Data to Me: For earlier data on recruiting and hiring trends during COVID-19, see here and here.
    4. Pro Tips: Finance and Funding for K-12 Public Schools: A review of federal, state, and local education funding categories.
    5. Supporting the Health Needs of Students and Staff: Resources on supporting the mental and physical health needs of students and staff for a safe reopening of schools.

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.