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How ERP Software Smooths the Journey for School Business Officials

District administrators are pushing back on K-12 technology companies to do a better job of connecting the data that schools depend on for everything from security and compliance to reporting and funding. Historically, school business professionals have worked on an island in corporate finance software that requires costly code customizations and supplemental spreadsheets to make it work for education.

At a recent regional ASBO conference, we heard tons of questions about how to get HR better aligned with Finance and Payroll departments for compensation like steps, stipends, grades, and supplementals, as well as benefits administration. It came as a surprise to some, but comprehensive ERP software systems aren’t just for the corporate world anymore!

Here are a few main reasons that school business professionals are turning to software that is purpose built for K-12.

You wear multiple hats

In the school business office, you could have any number of responsibilities — transportation, food services, facilities, state reporting, accounts payable, risk management, payroll, requisitions, budgeting, reconciliations, even managing Human Resources matters. Needless to say, you likely wear a lot of hats. One moment you’re wearing a baseball cap, keeping score of district finances. Then, next thing you know, someone’s knocking at your door asking you to switch gears and put on a cowboy hat and round up some paperwork for them.

That can make it difficult to stay focused and get things done.

Research has found that mentally juggling multiple tasks leads to cognitive overload, with the end result of decreased productivity and memory impairment. But the work needs to get done, and you’re the one who has to do it. Chances are, there’s no room in the budget to hire enough staff to truly ease the burden. So, what’s a busy, multiple-hat-wearing school business official to do?

It all comes down to reducing the number of mental shifts and switches you need to perform in a day. If possible, block off time to work on one thing at a time. But if that’s not possible, don’t despair! Every little bit counts.

Making a positive change could mean taking steps as simple as consolidating your software systems so you don’t have to deal with invoices from as many vendors, and don’t have to log in and out of a dozen systems, all with different password requirements. The more you can move toward using one integrated platform, and away from several smaller point solutions, the better off you’ll be. For example, you may want to consider a comprehensive ERP solution that lets you manage Payroll, Finance and Human Resources all in one place.

You need a reliable paper trail

There are plenty of things to worry about in the school business office. Like shrinking (or stagnant) budgets, audits, fines for noncompliance, bad PR — the list goes on and on. It’s imperative that there’s solid documentation for everything that happens in the office. You never know when you might need to double-check which staff member entered data into a system (and when), or who updated an invoice or approved a requisition. Otherwise, you could end up with overdue invoices or necessary supplies not getting to classrooms that need them.

But you don’t necessarily want all of that documentation to take the forms of, well, documents. After all, you have more than enough paperwork floating around already!

A good ERP system will ensure that every action taken in the software is logged and timestamped. And remember — these records won’t do you much good if you can’t see them without specifically requesting them from the vendor and waiting for their developers to export the log. Look for software that not only keeps a record of all the actions taken by users, but also makes it easy for you to access the information you need, when you need it.

You need to stick with budgets and district policy

So much of the work you engage in demands accuracy. That often translates to feeling like you’re constantly updating spreadsheets and trying to keep everyone in the loop.

When all the data you’re working with is in real-time across HR, Finance and Payroll it finally feels attainable to stay in compliance and still be nimble. And that’s what a comprehensive ERP does for business office folks who are juggling budget and district policy — but only when it’s purpose built for K-12 school districts!

Districts that use ERP software made for the needs of schools can process all the unique demands of district budget and policy natively without resorting to the costly code customizations needed for generic corporate systems. Business office professionals embed approval workflows, and automated rules and conditions that head off overspending and noncompliance for everything from hiring and professional development to travel and assets.

Just think about all the time you gain from not having to endlessly reinforce budget and policy regulations when your district ERP software handles all of the rules and reminders for you.

You can’t afford to waste time 

And that brings us to our final point — time is at a premium in the school business office. You have enough to do, without having to deal with all the back-and-forth that comes with inefficient manual processes.

All the time management tips and tricks in the world won’t help you get everything done if you don’t have the information you need to cross a task off of your to-do list.

It’s frustrating when you’re constantly taking time out of your day to chase people down when forms weren’t completed correctly (or at all) or waiting on others to get information to you. And in the meantime, you have deadlines to meet and a mountain of work to get through.

This is really where an ERP system can shine: saving you time in getting work done, easing communication between departments and making sure that data is accurate.

But here’s the catch: your software system should work for you, not against you.

One-size-fits-all software meant for the corporate world just isn’t made for the nuances of K-12, and you might end up spending more time working around the system than you ought to. Look for a configurable ERP system made specifically for K-12 education that gives access to real-time data, and you’ll be on your way to Time Savings Central. (That’s not a real place, but if it was, we would buy you a ticket there today.)

5 Tips for Using Video as a Professional Learning Tool for Teachers

You know that feeling you get when you hear yourself on tape, or see yourself on video? Is that really what I sound like? Do I really look like that?

April Strong can relate. After all, she has filmed herself teaching more than most. And she says it’s worth the awkwardness of watching herself on screen.

“Video brought clarity to my practice so I could bring the greatest work to my classroom for my students. That’s the power of video. Nobody told me I had to do it. There was no other reason other than it was the perfect time, because I was wondering what I truly looked like as a teacher. Video was, and is still, very clarifying. I might be [using] the most effective strategy ever, but if I don’t actually see it like my students saw it, I’m not growing and I’m not truly clear on if I hit my target. That’s what makes me most passionate about video in the classroom.”

[ctt template=”9″ link=”j502l” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]“If I don’t actually see it like my students saw it, I’m not growing and I’m not clear on if I hit my target. That’s what makes me most passionate about video in the classroom” – @LoveAStrong [/ctt]

Get Started Using Video as Learning Tool

As a teacher at Martin County School District in Florida, April has been using video to grow and develop her own teaching practice for years. Now as an instructional coach, she is using this technology to support other teachers in the same way.

 

Earlier this year, April told me how she got started. For any teachers, administrators, coaches or other instructional leaders considering video to support teacher professional development, here are 5 things to remember.

To get started, just get started.

“All you need is your cell phone, and a place to prop it up, and the bravery to literally just push that red button. So to get started with video, it’s just a matter of being brave enough to push record and commit to actually watching — maybe not the full video, but enough of it to realize there’s something to grow from.”

Don’t let technical missteps get you down.

When April first began using video, it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

“That whole first week or so of recordings has become a highlight reel for me, in that I captured no audio, most of my back, none of anything that I needed and everything that I never knew I wanted in order to clarify my practice. So it was very clunky, and not a lot of great video product came from the first multiple attempts. But it’s been the most beautiful journey, and most vulnerable journey, that I’ve allowed myself to go on with my students watching.”

White Paper: “10 Strategies to Improve Teaching with Video”— a look at ten different ways video is useful for improving teaching practice, and real-life examples of organizations that have successfully used video to support educator growth.

Offer reflection questions.

Providing a springboard for reflection can help teachers get more out of watching their videos:

“What are some things you should ask yourself or ask a person if you’re watching their video? Offering sentence stems or question prompts for yourself or for a person you’re watching is a really great resource to slowly start to edge into giving feedback.”

Encourage teachers to share videos with colleagues.

April describes a collaborative conversation around a video she shared of using hands-on lessons as she was teaching science. She said that her colleagues were able to see aspects of her teaching that she hadn’t noticed herself:

“I wanted to show the engagement strategies that I included with these hands-on lessons and how I managed that. They helped me grow my practice and make my hands-on lessons more manageable than I thought I needed. I was missing some management pieces. I might not have noticed that I could have moved students in a group more easily around the room, or if I asked a question and answer response this way I could save some minutes, because I was really struggling to finish my hands-on labs. And I shared that with the team. So as they watched, they were really looking at where my wasted minutes were that I was oblivious to…

“The power that comes from watching yourself on video, the conversation you have, I think is a deeper way of learning, not just about yourself but also about your profession.”

[ctt template=”9″ link=”A5BFH” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]“The power that comes from watching yourself on video is a deeper way of learning, not just about yourself but also about your profession.” -@LoveAStrong [/ctt]

But be sure to make recording and sharing videos optional.

Many people may be resistant to the idea of using video at first, April says. The key is to make it optional, and find someone who is willing to lead the charge and model for everyone else.

“[Don’t tell] anyone else they should do it, but do it for yourself and do it for a while, and whether or not you choose to share it is your personal choice, but if you’re not pushing ‘go, record,’ then you’re not going to get any further with video for yourself or as a program for your school district…

“I pushed record that day because I was assured, in the video that I was using, it would be stored in a place that was password-protected. Only I could see it, and it would not be shared or go live until I was in control of doing that, and I was the only person able to do that. And I think that’s the most powerful piece about a video program is having full control over your video until you’re ready to share it and collaborate around it.”

Looking for a way for teachers to share and collaborate around their own videos of teaching practice? Check out Learning & Collaboration Resources, part of Frontline Professional Growth. Through online collaborative groups, teachers can share and discuss videos, artifacts, lesson plans, earn micro-credentials, and use a massive library of courses and videos of instructional strategies and techniques.

Schedule a demo of Learning & Collaboration Resources today  

Breaking Down the New Hire Orientation Checklist

Beginnings are important. If you start a book with an underwhelming first chapter, or a television show with a subpar first few episodes, you’re less likely to see it through to the end. The same could be said for work — people are more likely to be engaged and stay in a job where they feel prepared and appreciated from Day 1. And in a setting like education, engagement and retention are even more critical because they directly impact students.

The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) has found that successful onboarding programs incorporate four distinct levels, or building blocks, that they call “the Four C’s.”

The Four C’s are:

  • Compliance: Training employees on basic legal and policy-related rules and regulations
  • Clarification: Ensuring that employees understand their new job and expectations
  • Culture: Providing employees with a sense of organizational norms— both formal and informal
  • Connection: Fostering vital interpersonal relationships and information networks

So, what are some must-do tasks for your new hire to get started off on the right foot? We’ve organized them to align to the Four C’s, so you can be sure that all the building blocks of a successful onboarding process are covered. Not every task on our list will apply for every new employee, or every district, but this should provide a good starting point for you to compare your own process against.

Level 1: Maintaining Compliance in the Onboarding Process

First and foremost, it’s imperative that your school district protects itself and stays in compliance with applicable rules and regulations. To that end, you’ll want to make sure that required personnel forms have been completed by the new hire and securely filed with the district.

Where possible, you may want to have these tasks completed online, before the employee’s first day. Managing the compliance and administrative side of onboarding with digital document management (ahead of time) helps keep employees focused on their new job from Day 1 — and that’s a win-win for everyone. You don’t want a new teacher distracted by thoughts of direct deposit forms or W-4s while standing in front of their new classroom!

To-do list:

  • Finalize background checks
  • Complete required personnel forms
    • I-9
    • W-4 and state tax forms
    • Direct deposit forms
    • Etc.
  • Provide information on perks and benefits (health insurance, retirement plans, etc.)
  • Enroll employee in benefits plans (if applicable)
  • Have new hire read and acknowledge the employee handbook
  • Explain emergency procedures, security policies (e.g. building access) and school safety plans
  • Take employee photo for their badge

Level 2: Clarifying Expectations

To set employees up for success, the basic operations of the job as well as the school and district’s expectations must be clearly communicated from the get-go. This includes both the operational (knowing where to go, or how to use district-provided technology) and the more aspirational (understanding how they will be evaluated). There may be some overlap with the “compliance” level here. For example, you’ll want to ensure that every employee is trained on your emergency procedures and school safety plans.

Tip: New staff members have to absorb a large amount of information.

To-do list:

  • Provide agenda for new-teacher orientation
  • Go over school and district policies
    • Dress code (for students and staff)
    • Keys and access cards
    • Visitor policy
    • Medication procedures
    • Attendance procedures (for students and staff)
    • Purchase requests or expense reporting
  • Train on school/district technology
    • Classroom telephone
    • Intercom system
    • Email
    • Software used: Student information system, school administrative systems, etc.
  • Provide a tour of their building
    • School layout: classrooms, bathrooms, cafeteria, lounge, office, supply room, nurse’s office etc.
    • Bus entrance
    • Teacher parking
  • Explain the organization’s approach to curriculum
    • Curriculum development process and expectations
    • Lesson plan procedures and expectations
    • Classroom assessment system
    • Grading procedures
  • Review student discipline
    • Behavior expectations inside & outside of the classroom
    • Expected staff supervision outside of classroom
    • Referral process for students with special needs (gifted, special ed)
  • Lay out the employee evaluation process
  • Share resources and information on professional development opportunities

Level 3: Building a Shared Culture

As we’ve written before, building a positive school culture needs to start with the hiring process. It’s important that your onboarding process reflects your organization’s culture — for example, if you’re proud of your school or district’s digital initiatives in the classroom, it might be jarring for new hires to hear about online programs while going through a manual, paper-heavy onboarding process.

A positive school culture can’t be built through checklists or one-off tasks — it will always be a work-in-progress requiring participation from everyone. But, here are a few things to start with.

To-do list:

  • Distribute a welcome packet
  • Share your organization’s mission, vision and goals
  • Communicate the school and district’s values
  • Set expectations for collaboration and positive interpersonal interactions

Level 4: Fostering Connections

At the highest level of onboarding, relationships are key. Hopefully, your school culture values ongoing collaboration, which will make it easier for new hires to build productive relationships with their colleagues. You can help foster these connections by making introductions and helping new hires understand who they can go to with questions.

To-do list:

  • Explain the organization chart and ensure that new hires know where to find key personnel.
    • Their principal (of course)
    • Secretaries
    • Counselors
    • Instructional coaches and facilitators
    • Custodians / facilities personnel
    • Who to contact in the central office (e.g. for questions about payroll or Human Resources)
  • Introduce new hires to their mentors

After the First Week

Don’t let employee onboarding end with orientation, or even after the first week. Ideally, induction processes should last for a few months — or the new hire’s first year —and segue into a retention strategy to keep the best educators in your district.

It’s also a good idea to follow up with new employees after their first month, and throughout the year, to gather their feedback. This will give you the insight you need to further refine your onboarding strategy and help future new hires succeed.

K-12 Data Security: It’s Never Been More Important to Have a Plan

Unless you’ve been offline since the days of dial-up and connecting to the internet courtesy of a CD from America Online, you know what it’s like to turn on the news and wonder if your passwords are now in some hacker’s grubby fingers.

Yahoo!. Equifax. MySpace. Facebook. LinkedIn. MyFitnessPal. Or, to limit our scope to those discovered just in 2018: Starwood Hotels, Twitter, Quora, Facebook (again)… even Panera Bread.

Hundreds of millions of records, including usernames, passwords, email addresses, credit card data, passport information, personal data and more, intentionally stolen or accidentally leaked.

It’s bad enough when our own information is at risk. Is this going to be a big headache for me? But what about those who have entrusted their data to us? Are we doing enough to protect the data of students and employees?

[ctt template=”9″ link=”9cT2b” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Are we doing enough to protect the data of students and employees? [/ctt]

Apparently not. According to the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center’s review of 2018, there were 122 cybersecurity incidents in 119 public K-12 education agencies in 38 states. That number is probably low, since it only includes incidents that were discovered and publicly disclosed. As of this writing there have been over 420 incidents since the beginning of 2016.

At the same time, district leaders aren’t backing away from technology. When Project Tomorrow released “The State of K-12 IT” in November, it found that 97% of district administrators view technology as important to student success — with many pointing to initiatives like flipped learning, competency-based learning and online professional development as quickly-growing trends.

Protect Data Security by Preparing Your People

Two more striking statistics from Project Tomorrow’s study: 61% of district administrators say it’s a top priority to provide teachers with professional development on protecting student data — even though only 8% of teachers say that they need that kind of professional learning.

EdTech Strategies CEO Doug Levin agrees with the district administrators. Speaking to EdWeek in November, he said that training on how to protect sensitive data is key: “Perhaps just as important as hardware and software that guards against malicious attacks is raising awareness about them and providing training to staff, students, and parents.”

In the same article, Marie Bjerede of the Consortium for School Networking concurs. “The big hitter in protecting your systems and data is to train all staff on detecting and not clicking on fraudulent phishing e-mails, and on exercising good password hygiene.”

Where to Begin?

In addition to cloud software that meets the highest security standards, it has never been more important to have a plan for K-12 data security. Frontline’s “Cybersecurity Program Getting Started Guide” pulls together resources you’ll need to build a team, examine and classify your data, perform risk assessment and gap analysis, and then take action.

Download the Cybersecurity Guide Today  

 

Foster Diversity Among Teachers With a “Grow Your Own” Program

What do you do when your teacher workforce doesn’t reflect the diversity of your student body?

It’s a question many education leaders have found themselves asking. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, over half of public school students identify as people of color, compared to only 20 percent of public school teachers. The consequences of this disparity are profound — research shows that when students of color have at least one teacher who shares their racial and cultural background, they:

  • Perform better on standardized tests
  • Are more likely to graduate from high school
  • Are more likely to attend a four-year college

Suffice to say, the diversity gap reinforces the opportunity gap. As to why this disparity exists, that’s a topic we could write about ad infinitum. But for now, let’s focus on what you can do to make a positive impact and close the diversity gap.

Launch a “Grow Your Own” Program In Your District

One strategy is to launch a “Grow Your Own” program in your district to focus on cultivating a pool of diverse teachers from your own community.

Grow Your Own programs can be two-pronged:

  • Provide opportunities for community members or current support staff to become licensed educators
  • Identify and incentivize students in your high schools to pursue education majors and enter the teaching profession in your district

Verona Area School District’s Grow Your Own Teacher Program

Verona Area School District (VASD) near Madison, Wisconsin launched their Grow Your Own program for two reasons:

  • A growing teacher shortage in the district
  • A glaring mismatch between the racial makeup of their teaching workforce and student population

At one point, the district’s student body was over 30 percent students of color, yet only four percent of their teachers fit the same description. At the same time, the district was only receiving four or five applicants for hard-to-fill positions, like Special Education or STEM.

Jason Olson, the Director of Human Resources, knew that the research. Students of color do better when some of their teachers share their cultural and racial background. And he knew that the vast majority of public school teachers attended high schools within a one-hour drive from where they work now. Focusing on recruiting locally, from the district’s own community, could lead to a teacher workforce that more accurately reflected the student population.

Active Recruiting for Strong Candidates and Learning Outcomes

Leaders at VASD implemented their two-pronged approach thoughtfully. They intentionally recruited district support staff who exemplified the natural qualities of an educator in their day-to-day roles:

  • A positive attitude
  • A growth mindset
  • Perseverance
  • Smarts
  • Adaptability
  • Dedication
  • Excellent problem-solving skills

After a screening and interview process, they offered the strongest candidates an 18-month alternative teacher certification program, at the end of which they had a group of certified teachers who were community members with attributes that could make a difference for their students.

Simultaneously, they developed a longer-term initiative as the second-prong of the Grow Your Own Program. They identified high school students with those same characteristics of a high-quality teacher and ran them through a similar selection process, slightly adjusted for these younger candidates.

Jason shares:

“Those questions aren’t as focused on lesson planning and grade books and curriculum, you know, set-up and things like that. We figure we can teach people about that. What we can’t teach them about is some of the things that are born and early formed in terms of conflict resolution, conflict de-escalation, race relations, advocacy for students, standing up to bullying, things like that.”

The district partnered with a local college to offer reduced tuition for students in the Grow Your Own program and picked up the remaining tuition not covered by financial aid or internal scholarships. As a result, those students in the program have all of their tuition paid for a bachelor’s degree and walk away with a teacher certification. The money paid by the district toward the degree is forgiven once the student has taught in the district for four years.

Prioritizing the Program in the Budget

With a pipeline of roughly two to eight students in the Grow Your Own pipeline, and two students enrolling in each year, Jason calculates that the program costs about $80,000-$100,000 per year. It’s not cheap, but Jason is quick to point out that turnover isn’t cheap either. The program is a priority in the budget due to the positive long-term impact district leaders expect it to have on their teacher workforce and student outcomes.

Goals and Results of the Program

So far, the program is poised for success. It’s helping the district take positive steps toward equity for all students in the district.

In it’s first year, the program had strong results:

  • The first cohort of internal staff members who completed the 18-month certification program have now entered the teaching workforce
  • The first high school student from the program graduated with a degree in Special Education and will take a role in special education at the district
  • The diversity of applicants to the district increased greatly and diversity in their teaching workforce doubled

Jason attributes this incredible change to an improved reputation in the community. He shares, “I really attribute that to word of mouth out in the community, that, ‘Wow, something’s different here this year, and I don’t know what it is, but I like it.’ … Like that curb cut effect where if you do something good for one particular group of people, what do you know, it ends up being a good thing for everybody.”

He adds:

“What I heard was that people appreciated the honesty of saying that what we’ve been doing in the past, for our students of color in particular, hasn’t been working very well, and owning up to that. And being humble enough to put that out there, I think, resonated with a lot of people. And also acknowledging the fact that there is an important connection between students of color and teachers of color and making that a priority, I think, elevated that with a lot of our applicants — kind of elevated their thought of us as a district, and also as an employer.”

Starting a Grow Your Own Teacher Program in Your School District

Looking to start a Grow Your Own initiative in your own district? Learn more about how Verona Area School District launched their program, and the results they’ve seen, by checking out this episode of Field Trip, Frontline’s podcast about leadership in education.

Why Include Student Voice in Professional Development?

Let me tell you what I got for Christmas.

It was a banner year for me, at least in terms of what lay inside that shiny package I ripped open. There, inside a long, thin, triangular box, was a brand new, heavy, matte black, metal, 0.5mm rOtring mechanical pencil. Alongside it came a gorgeous leather cover for my beloved Field Notes.

A bit nerdy? You bet. A rather poor gift for someone else? Perhaps. But was it exactly what I wanted?

Yes.

And here’s the thing: I’ve gotten so much joy out of that simple gift — a gift that was easy to give and didn’t cost a lot — because the person who gave it to me asked me what I wanted.

What does this have to do with professional development?

Making sure that professional learning moves the needle on teaching and ultimately on student achievement means spending time and resources on the right content, methods and learning opportunities for each individual teacher. It also means thinking through the needs of each class, each group of students.

Increasingly, schools are bringing students into those conversations.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”8zLJw” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]More schools are bringing student voice into conversations about professional learning. [/ctt]

Last year an Edutopia article made the case for including students’ voices in the professional development process, either through interviews and surveys, or even inviting students to attend a workshop. By participating in this way, students can help to remove the guesswork, further focusing professional learning on not just what teachers believe will be most effective, but on what students see as their own needs.

Students are perceptive, and can also provide a unique window into a teacher’s practice. In a recent interview, Dr. James Stronge discussed indicators of quality instruction, and considered the merits and shortfalls of several often-used data points, like observations, self-ratings, peer feedback and summative evaluations.

But, Dr. Stronge said:

“The source that’s really good, over and over, is when students rate teachers. The correlation between student feedback on ‘whether my teacher is effective’ and student achievement gains in reading has a correlation coefficient, in some studies, of about 0.75….Kids are better, more valid evaluators of teacher effectiveness than teachers are of themselves and, I would conjecture, of teachers watching other teachers or principals rating teachers. The correlation with math achievement is also high, not quite as high as reading, but it’s still very high. Kids know good teaching.”

By extension, parents can also bring perspective to professional learning. Mary Kathryn Moeller, Director of Professional Development at Jenks Public Schools in Oklahoma, describes the importance they place on collecting feedback from many different voices:

“In May we tend to do a visioning meeting around professional development for the next year. We always invite parents into that as well, which might seem odd, because they might not think that we would include them in discussions around teacher professional development. But, in fact, having the parents as part of that conversation is really, really valuable. Because they know what’s going on in the classroom, and they work with their own child. As we’re thinking about, ‘In the end we’re all working together for the benefit of the students,’ the parents are an essential part of that.”

Of course, it’s easier to assume we know what people want or need — whether we’re giving gifts or planning professional learning. (For the record, I’m very much in favor of taking a risk and giving a terrific gift that the recipient has no idea is coming.) Yet directly asking those who are most impacted by the decision, “What are your thoughts? Where should we focus our time?” could very well be the difference between an exercise that’s “just okay” and professional learning that has measurable results in the classroom.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”YSCei” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Do you include students’ voices when planning professional development? Take this instant poll: [/ctt]

Do educators at your school system explicitly ask students (and parents) for input into professional learning plans?

Take our super-quick poll — it’s only 2 questions — and let us know (and see poll results instantly!):

4 Ways to Improve Transition Planning in Special Education

Providing individualized special education services in school is crucial to fulfilling the mission of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). However, in-school services only get you partway to accomplishing IDEA’s goals for students with disabilities.

The preamble to IDEA illustrates its long-term vision: “Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.”

Transition planning is the vehicle educators use to help students with special needs live as independently and self-sufficiently as possible after high school.

Yet, for busy educators it can be easy to get caught up in daily planning and lose sight of a student’s post-secondary goals.

By following these four best practices, you can increase your confidence that students are well-positioned for a successful transition to life after high school.

The following best practices were taken from the video The IEP and Transition Services by special education author, consultant and national speaker Carol Kosnitsky. Content has been edited for brevity and clarity only.

1. Start the transition services process before it’s required

Formal transition planning may not be required before the age of 16 in your state. However, starting early can help kids identify strengths, needs, self-awareness and the ability to engage in self-determination skills, which include not just self-awareness but self-evaluation and decision-making.

Starting early also helps educators pick developmentally appropriate skills for kids. The process can begin in elementary school and be as simple as asking a student, “What are you interested in?”

Invite kids to physically participate in IEP meetings as early as possible. The sooner you’re able to get kids to physically come to their IEP meetings the better. This way, by the time the student is expected to be a fully-fledged team member, she/he is comfortable and confident about that roll.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”V8BuC” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Invite kids to physically participate in #IEP meetings as early as possible to make the transition planning process less daunting for them. Click here for more tips. [/ctt]

2. Make sure post-secondary goals are measurable

Measurable post-secondary goal can be a confusing term because the word “measurable” in every other part of the IEP process is about collecting data and being accountable for a student achieving the goal. When thinking about “measurable” post-secondary goals, you are really thinking about “observable” goals.

Help your students articulate what they want to do after leaving high school as it relates to two or possibly three different areas. The two post-secondary goals that are required for all students are:

  1. An education and training goal
  2. An employment goal
  3. If appropriate, you would also engage kids in planning a third goal around independent living

Measurable post-secondary goals begin with, “After high school, I will _____” statements. They should be results-oriented and specific. The specificity is how you make them observable.

Real-world example:

Your student mentions wanting to go to college. You’re not going to measure if he ends up attending a four-year college, but now that you know it’s his goal, you’re able to take steps to help him prepare. You can determine the criteria to get into college and what course of study that student should take in high school to prepare for that post-secondary goal. You’ll also be able to consider if any of that student’s disability-related needs could prevent him from meeting his goal.

3. Keep referring to present levels of performance

While IDEA doesn’t specifically mention present levels in the transition process, you should always refer to present levels to understand the gap between a student’s actual performance and the skills and behaviors you know she/he needs to make a smooth transition. Always go back to the rest of the IEP to look at strengths, interests, preferences and kids’ skill levels.

What is required in transition services is a clear statement of the student’s course of study. To build this statement, you’ll need to consider the following question: Given what a student’s post-secondary goal is, are you planning the appropriate course work and opportunities that will increase the likelihood of that transition?

A big part of course-of-study planning is helping students see the relevance of classes they take in high school and how those relate to their future.

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Checklist to Elevate Each IEP

4. Coordinate a transition “action plan”

The last part of transition planning is called transition services. This is the coordinated set of activities that make up your “action plan” for a student. If you know what the student wants to do after high school, and you know the courses that she/he is going to be engaged in, what other things are on the to-do list that you – as a student-support team – need to take care of over the next four, six, seven years?

Your action plan should be a long-range plan that can be changed every year. It could include the school, the special education team, the guidance department, the parent, the student and representatives from any other agencies the child is or will be involved with.

The law requires that you look at seven different areas to say, “Is there an action plan necessary around this big area of instruction?”

Seven areas to review

  • Course of study/instruction
  • Employment
  • Functional volitional assessment
  • Community experiences
  • Other post-school and adult-living objectives
  • Acquisition of daily-living skills
  • Related services

Not every student needs services in each area. These seven are a kind of checklist to make sure you’ve covered the full range of things that are not course-related in your action plan for that student.

Real-world example:

A student who was receiving special education in high school is going to college, where any support and protection he has will come under Section 504. Do you need to do any instruction around that change?

In summary: begin with the end in mind

You want to be able to think forward and say, “10 years from now, I know this child is going to have experienced economic self-sufficiency, is living to the maximum extent possible, as independently as she can,” and that’s really thinking with the end in mind. Allow post-secondary goals to influence everything you do and the decisions you make for that student, and fulfilling IDEA’s vision will be well within your reach.

Transitioning a student from an IEP to a Section 504 plan to prepare for college? Frontline Special Ed & Interventions can help you lead a smooth transition. Schedule a demo to learn how  

What Can MASH Teach Us about Position Control in Schools?

There’s a reason that shows like “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” and books like “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” quickly became so popular. While it may have been a while since you were running around on the playground with your classmates, don’t you remember how intensely strategic some of the games were?

One of the games that stands out to me as having real-life applications in the K-12 Human Resources world is the game MASH. No, I’m not talking about the popular TV series. The playground game MASH, where just a few scribbles on a composition notebook could determine your fate.

Take a trip down memory lane and explore what that game teaches us about position control in schools!

What Does a Game Have to Do with Position Control?

Let’s start with a refresher on the game (just in case the rules are escaping you right now).

With some friends in the school yard, you’d write out the letters M.A.S.H on a piece of paper. Each letter stood for mansion, apartment, shed, house, then you’d proceed to list out a ton of different options.

  • The name of your spouse?
  • The number of kids you’ll have?
  • Which city to live in?

The entire objective of the game was to cross off options from the list until you ended up with a choice from each category. In the 90’s, most kids were trying to rig the game to end up in a mansion, married to Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston, maybe with a handful of kids in Honolulu.

It’s fun to dream and have options, but in the world of K-12 HR you want processes to be reliable and predictable. When it comes to position control and management in schools, you need more than simply a grasp on all the available options.

When you don’t have a strong position control strategy in place, it can feel like you’re playing this game every time you hire — except it’s less fun when there are real-world implications. Shuffling through mountains of options and permissions to finally end up with the designations for that specific position and the corresponding new hire.

 

What’s the Difference Between Knowing and Controlling Positions?

School HR professionals undoubtedly know all the information necessary to build out a position. However, there’s a huge difference between having an expansive list of all the available designations for a position and having a comprehensive position management plan in place to support district-wide operations.

Manually sorting through the pay structure, data and security permissions, and reporting for each individual employee who comes and goes is incredibly time-consuming and error-prone. It’s not nearly as fun as playing a game like MASH during recess, so it’s not something you want to spend hours on. With position control, you can be confident that each position proactively has the appropriate designations, and employees automatically inherit the settings for the positions that they’re hired into.

When you have this level of transparency and control, district-wide processes run more smoothly, and the information that you have access to becomes more reliable.

Want to learn more about implementing a position management and control plan in your school district?

Take a look at the Position Management & Control Playbook.

How to Beat the Teacher Shortage by Broadening Your Recruiting Horizons

In many school districts, teacher recruitment efforts tend to be localized and rarely focused out-of-state — unless, of course, your district is near a border. And while localized recruitment strategies can be very effective, if you’re struggling with teacher shortages, it’s time to branch out.

Most likely, you and your team work with finite resources to attend all the out-of-state job fairs you can but you know that there are plenty of qualified educators around in the country who might be looking to relocate to your area.

Invest In Recruitment Materials

Put the time into perfecting your district’s recruitment materials so that you can send it into the world to do the work for you. Consider investing in your:

  • Your district’s brand: Across your materials, what story are you telling about what it means to work in the district?
  • District website: The first thing most people do when exploring something new? Google it.
  • Recruiting page: Have a dedicated page on the district website for interested applications and keep it useful and updated
  • Job postings: Make each one great since they’re likely a candidate’s first exposure to the district

Out-of-state applicants probably need a little more motivation to seriously consider your district, especially since they would have to relocate to work for you. So, talk up your location and community too. Is it a gorgeous rural setting, ideal for nature lovers or people with an outdoorsy side? Or is it bustling with activity and culture, with something new happening every weekend? There’s something great about where your district is, but out-of-state candidates may not know about it until you tell them.

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Making Your Mark: Building Your District Brand

Out-of-state applicants probably need a little more motivation to seriously consider your district, especially since they would have to relocate to work for you. So, talk up your location and community too. Is it a gorgeous rural setting, ideal for nature lovers or people with an outdoorsy side? Or is it bustling with activity and culture, with something new happening every weekend? There’s something great about where your district is, but out-of-state candidates won’t know about it until you tell them.

Tip: Your job posting may be an applicant’s first exposure for your district, so make sure it makes a great first impression. Check out our blog post 3 Characteristics (and Examples) of Great Teacher Job Postings.

Make It Easy for Job-Seekers To Find You

Make sure that applicants hear about your districts and can easily find open jobs in your district. Have a clearly-labeled link to your job postings in the main navigation of your district’s website; don’t let open positions languish, hidden. Local candidates who already know about your district and are interested in applying might be willing to do a digital scavenger hunt to try and find a job application, but others will give up and look for districts with a more streamlined site.

Advertise your district’s and its openings:

  • If your district has someone dedicated to public relations or communications, work closely with them to ensure that your district’s story is told.
  • Post vacancies on online job boards and social media pages.
  • Consider the generations you’re targeting and whether local classified ads or billboards are necessary at this point.
  • Reach out to local publishers and the media to see if they’ll run a story about working in your district

Journalists are more likely to pick up the story if you can give them more to go on than the fact that you have open positions. So, make sure to tell them what you’re doing differently, like offering a signing bonus for certain shortage-prone districts or setting up a new mentoring program for new hires. Shine a light on the wonderful work happening in your districts, and have the media do the work of spreading the word.

Invite Qualified Applicants to Apply

That’s all great for having job-seekers find you — but what if you can be proactive about finding them? On certain certain online job boards and career sites — Frontline’s proactive recruiting tools, for instance — you can invite qualified candidates to apply. With our applicant tracking system to automate your outreach strategy, so you don’t have to sink hours of your time into messaging applicants individually.

Another idea for proactive outreach is networking with teacher preparation programs. You probably already have partnerships in place with local colleges of education, but why not try reaching out to out-of-state universities as well? It might not lead to an official partnership, but it can only help if professors mention your district in class, or if your vacancies are announced in their newsletter. Even if they aren’t within driving distance, they may have many students looking to move somewhere new after graduation.

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Trends in Teacher Preparation Programs

Remove Obstacles From The Hiring Process

Effectively recruiting from further afield means you have to be willing to put yourself in a qualified candidates’ shoes and adjust your hiring process accordingly. It’s all about providing a great applicant experience. To put it simply, the easier your processes are, the more candidates you’ll have.

Look at your hiring process from their perspective:

  • Is it an effecitve use of their time doing their job search?
  • Is it a cost-effective effort for them? (A plane ride may not be feasible.)
  • Can they see a realistic path for an out-of-state applicant to go through your process?

Lastly, look for ways to make the transition easier for candidates who need to move closer to your district. For example, can you offer a list of affordable housing or moving resources? This doesn’t mean you have to spend your own valuable time compiling a list of nearby apartments or moving companies — see if a local realtor already has something similar and is willing to share, perhaps in return for being recommended to employees new to the area. Ultimately, you know more than they do about the area.

In addition, seamless onboarding systems make the process easier for all new hires, but especially those who aren’t able to pop into your office for an hour or two to fill out forms in person. It’s all about making a great first impression and showing that your district is a fantastic, supportive, modern place to work.

 

7 Things You Should Know About Micro-credentials

 

 
Micro-credentials are picking up steam in the professional learning world. From what you’ve heard, you might think of them as merely a series of badges learners can earn (more on that later). But there is far more to micro-credentials than that.

Micro-credentials are in fact an incredibly effective way to implement a competency-based learning model. Here’s how they work: Learners like teachers, paraprofessionals, principals and others can select a micro-credential to pursue. As they learn, they submit specific evidence to demonstrate mastery of the subject at hand — whether that be content knowledge, specific pedagogical techniques, skills like classroom management, procedures like dealing with bloodborne pathogens, or many others. Then, this evidence is weighed by an assessor, who determines whether to award the micro-credential or ask the learner to keep working on it.

Intrigued? Here are a few more things you should know about what micro-credentials can bring to your professional learning program.

1. Micro-credentials measure the demonstration of skill and knowledge, not time spent learning.

Time spent on professional development is not a good indicator of the value of that learning — that’s not news. Simply spending time isn’t the goal — in fact, most of us would probably say that if increased knowledge and skill in teaching can be achieved in less time, it would be a good thing. Still, time tends to be the most-measured factor in professional learning.

Wouldn’t it be better to measure the growth demonstrated, the skills learned, the knowledge acquired? Micro-credentials require evidence of knowledge and growth in order to be completed.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”1RAaQ” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Micro-credentials measure the demonstration of skill and knowledge, not just time spent learning. [/ctt]

2. Micro-credentials honor existing competence and respect learners’ time.

We all know what it’s like to sit through unnecessary training, the litany of “better things to do” running through our heads when a seminar covers the same material we’ve conquered long ago. A veteran teacher who’s an expert in formative assessments may not need to sit through a course that a first-year educator finds helpful. With competency-based learning, she won’t have to. She can simply demonstrate her skill and knowledge in this area and earn the micro-credential, while the new teacher takes a course or other learning experience to gain that knowledge.

This means that teachers can spend their professional learning time focusing on learning opportunities that are meaningful and relevant to them.

3. Micro-credentials are a tremendous way to meet ESSA’s professional learning requirements.

The Every Student Succeeds Act sets a high bar when it comes to professional learning, and micro-credentials can help to meet each of the criteria specified in the law. ESSA calls for professional learning to be:

Sustained. Developing a set of skills requires more than going to a one-time workshop, and with micro-credentials, the timeline can flex to meet the needs of each individual learner.

Intensive. Professional learning that is focused on a discrete concept, practice or program is exactly what competency-based learning brings: a particular area of focus and the steps needed to achieve it.

Job-embedded. While some learning elements of a micro-credential may be offered online, skills are mastered and demonstrated within the context of the job.

Collaborative. One of the best ways to learn within a competency-based model is from experts: colleagues, coaches, mentors. And when submitting evidence, an in-district assessor weighs evidence and provides feedback to the learner.

Data-driven. While time is often viewed as a data point, the most important data at an individual level is whether or not the participant can show he has learned the required skills.

Classroom-focused. Micro-credentials allow learners to truly focus on the skills that will make the most difference to teaching and learning.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”14KvH” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]How micro-credentials help meet ESSA’s professional learning requirements: [/ctt]

4. Micro-credentials break down learning into manageable chunks.

Meaningful learning needs to focus on discrete units that can be practiced. This kind of “microlearning” often involves a series of sessions that take 45-90 minutes each and are delivered over time. Not only does this put ambitious projects within reach, it provides a sense of accomplishment when each unit is practiced and implemented.

5. Micro-credentials ≠ badges.

As we look at what micro-credentials are, it’s helpful to also look at what they are not. By now, you can hopefully see that micro-credentials are way more than just badges. Badges are simply a way to incentivize (or even gamify) learning with micro-credentials. While the micro-credential codifies how competence must be demonstrated through the submission and assessment of evidence, a badge signifies that competence has been demonstrated.

It comes down to rigor. Looking at whether an individual attended a workshop, put a certain number of hours into a learning experience or watched a series of videos doesn’t have the same level of rigor as determining whether they can effectively put a skill into practice in the classroom. High-quality micro-credentials may award badges, but only when a participant can show mastery.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”kC2Ui” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Badges vs. micro-credentials: A micro-credential codifies how competence must be demonstrated through the submission and assessment of evidence. A badge signifies that competence has been demonstrated. [/ctt]

6. Micro-credentials can help build a district’s brand.

A challenge many school systems face today is when good teachers leave — either the school itself or the profession entirely. The job market is competitive, and building a solid brand can give your district an edge in attracting and retaining high-quality teachers.

One way to do this is by providing meaningful professional development for teachers, including micro-credentials. Competency-based learning honors what teachers already know, is flexible, and is an effective way to acquire critical skills – and that can all add up to a big differentiator for your district.

7. Micro-credentials can provide leadership pathways.

Beyond offering effective learning, micro-credentials can also provide a way for teachers to advance in their careers. At a certain point, the next logical step for a teacher is to leave the classroom and become an administrator. But what about those who don’t aspire to the principalship and want to remain in teaching?

One of the unexpected benefits of micro-credentials is opening a door to leadership. Imagine a master teacher who’s highly skilled at formative assessment. You might ask that teacher to become an assessor: someone who looks at the evidence other teachers submit in order to earn micro-credentials. This puts that master teacher in a position of leadership, where they can provide feedback, collaborate with peers, share expertise and be seen as an expert by colleagues. Better yet, this leadership opportunity doesn’t remove that teacher from the classroom. It’s a fantastic way to build internal capacity in your district for a rich set of skills and create a culture of collaboration and sharing.

To learn more about micro-credentials and why teachers love them, visit our page “It’s All About the Outcome: Unraveling the Confusion Around Micro-credentials.”

3 Ways Evaluating Your Classified Staff Can Make a Positive Difference in Your School (and Where to Start)

It was always cold when I walked to the bus stop, at least in my memory. Down the hill to the corner store, fumbling with a cassette for my Walkman, lugging a far-too-heavy backpack. Every day of the school year, Ms. Nuse was the first school employee I’d see, and at the end of the day, the last one, too. She was no nonsense, but kind. She drove bus 23.

Teachers are often the first to come to mind when we think of school (and rightly so), but the vast number of non-certified staff also play a pivotal role in education: bus drivers, food service professionals, office staff, security, custodians, crossing guards and many others. Yet when it comes time to think about evaluations — especially evaluations designed to result in professional growth — the focus is almost entirely on teachers.

Yes, many districts evaluate classified staff. Others do not. Still others may conduct quick-as-possible evaluations to stay compliant with state or district requirements, but without putting significant resources toward ensuring those evaluations result in employee growth.

That’s not surprising. Evaluating employees in a way that prioritizes growth and emphasizes feedback takes time. Yet there are some compelling reasons for taking that time, even when doing so is not strictly required.

Why Evaluate Classified Staff?

1. Classified staff are vital to the success of your school and students.

No shock here, right? Without caring people to bring students to school, prepare breakfasts and lunches, ensure a clean facility, set up computers, welcome visitors, keep students and employees safe and countless other jobs, instruction would grind to a halt, and quick! Doesn’t it make sense to invest in the continual development of these men and women?

[ctt template=”9″ link=”neLj_” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Why take the time to evaluate classified staff? Because they are vital to the success of schools and students. [/ctt]

Simply making sure jobs are performed more effectively isn’t the only reason, however. Most of us can tell stories of favorite teachers over the years, but the other employees working in a school can make a powerful impact, as well. Especially for students who may not do as well academically, positive relationships with adults who aren’t teachers can make a difference in their wellbeing.

2. Evaluations make it possible to offer targeted professional development.

That professional learning should be targeted to specific needs and strengths won’t raise many eyebrows. But without a systematic way of identifying those needs and strengths, how can we expect that to happen? Employee evaluations that are part of a broader culture of continual growth for every employee can help inform professional development offerings and shed light on trends and patterns across the district, showing what kinds of learning opportunities are worth investing in for your people.

3. Evaluating classified staff can increase retention.

This is not to imply that only having a summative score on a spectrum of “Developing” to “Highly Effective” will increase employee satisfaction and bring new job applicants through the door in droves. A score by itself will never do that.

But consider: what happens when classified employees receive the same level of care and interest as teachers and other certified staff?

When people feel valued, invested in and cared for, when their roles are viewed as important to the success of students, when they can truly take part in the mission and vision of the school, they tend to be happier. They are more engaged and pour more of themselves into their work. And notably, they tend to stay in their jobs longer.

The key, of course, is making sure evaluations aren’t ‘gotchas,’ that there is a strong feedback component, and whenever possible, that employees are included from the beginning and have input into how the process is constructed.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”E17wr” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]School employees who feel valued and invested in are happier and more engaged — and that means higher retention rates. [/ctt]

Where to Start When Evaluating Classified Staff

For districts that want to begin the journey toward evaluating classified staff, consider starting here:

  • Begin with each job description. You may already be halfway to creating your evaluation rubric: start with each position’s job description to create a rubric for each job category. This way, each individual will see how their specific job contributes to the overall success of the district, and will have a clear lens through which to view strengths and areas for growth.
  • Scale up existing practices. Many schools may already do some form of evaluations for non-certified employees. In such cases, see where you can supplement those efforts with formative, growth-oriented conversations. Say you’re already spending 30 minutes twice a year evaluating employees, yet aren’t seeing the benefits noted above. Rather than trying to scale the mountain of forming a brand-new program, see if spending 45 minutes with each employee would be doable instead — and spend those extra 15 minutes in real conversations about goals, performance, career ambitions and areas to improve or strengthen.
  • Train evaluators to give feedback and conduct reliable, unbiased evaluations. Evaluating classified staff shouldn’t necessarily be the work of one person. If all evaluators have a common understanding of performance criteria and are trained to provide meaningful, relevant feedback, employees will be more likely to respond positively to evaluations.

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Every employee in a school district affects student learning in some way, so everyone can benefit from honest conversations about performance and growth.

Rekindling Connections Between HR and Finance in Schools: Position Management

Making sure that your people are being paid the right amount, consistently and on time is among the most critical responsibilities of a school business office. An unintended consequence in many districts, however, is that Finance and Payroll tend to be an island instead of working alongside Human Resources.

Those siloes often result in redundant data across HR and Payroll. It also leaves many Human Resources professionals trying to make finance-driven processes work for their purposes too. That might get you most of the way there… but it all starts to fall apart once team members resort to supplemental spreadsheets or manual paper-driven processes to track peripheral (but critical) parts of the HR function.

Any of this sound familiar?

One of the ways that schools are rekindling the connections between HR and Finance is to implement a comprehensive position management plan.

How Does Position Management Connect HR and Finance?

Position management and control in schools is more than managing the actual people staffing your schools. It requires attention and detail to be dedicated at the position level, not the person. You identify critical information that will be associated to that unique position, and that information follows that position code no matter which human is filling it at any given time.

Let’s look at an example.

You start with a position category like “Professionals: Instruction”; this encompasses all your instructional positions across your district. Let’s say you have 2,000 possible instructional positions that are categorized as “Professionals: Instruction,” then within you have sub-categories like English, Math, and Science Instruction or First, Second, Third Grade; whichever makes the most sense for your organization.

Beyond assignment details, like subject-matter and/or grade-level, in a position management plan you’ll also associate the following information at the position level:

  • Pay structure
    • Steps
    • Stipends
    • Grade
    • Cycle
    • Supplemental
  • Access to data
  • Reporting
  • Security permissions
  • And more

Without this type of plan, districts are often struggling to keep up with the unique designations for the array of position types in a school district. People are being hired in and out of positions and pieces can get missed during a manual/paper-driven hiring and onboarding process. When the errors are buried in the details of complex information without immediately recognizable consequences they can go unnoticed. Worse yet, this could present non-compliance issues with security and access to information. This results in timely, and often costly, measures to rectify missteps with error-prone processes.

Once all this information is designated at each category and position, it’s clear and concise what happens as personnel come in and out of your schools. If it’s so beneficial, then why are so many school districts struggling?

 

Well, imagine tracking all that intricate information across grades K-12 for 2,000 educators with varying years of experience and credentials. Sure, identifying broad strokes of common permissions for like positions is one thing, but as they say, the devil’s in the details. If you’re managing critical information like pay structures and security permissions on spreadsheets or on paper, it becomes almost impossible to scale this process.

That’s why so many school districts are relying on human resource management software, where HR and Finance are connected through embedded vacancy/approval conditional workflows configured specifically for the needs of K-12 schools.

“Because it’s all in one piece, it has allowed us to make good use of taxpayer money as it relates to employees – we can make sure that they spend the fruit of their work in doing what’s right for onboarding.” Rick Rodriguez – Assistant Superintendent of HR, Lubbock ISD

In case you’d like to read the second installment of this series, you can check it out here:

“Rekindling Connections Between HR and Finance in Schools: Funding Distribution”