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Why Substitutes Work in Your District (or Not) – and What You Can Do About It

Ever feel the pinch of not having enough substitutes to fill in for absent teachers? You’re not alone.

Substitute shortages continue to be a top concern for school districts across the country, and there are plenty of theories why:

  • Teacher shortages make it easier for new educators to find full-time jobs
  • Wages are too low to make substitute teaching an attractive choice
  • People move into other careers in times of economic prosperity.

But data from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute suggests that the issue might not be simply a shortage of substitute teachers in the pool — instead, perhaps our current substitute teachers just aren’t working enough. Looking back at data from our annual report on national employee and substitute absences, during the 2016-17 school year, 46% of substitutes didn’t work at all during the 2016-17 school year. Those who did worked an average of 33.3 days. Fill rates that year averaged 84.3%, indicating that there’s more still work to be done to in finding enough substitutes to cover employee absences.

So, what influences substitutes’ decision-making process when taking jobs? To find out, the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University used Frontline Education’s data to explore substitute teacher preparation and working patterns in greater depth.

The study’s data sources included:

  • Human resources data from 2014 to 2017, including over 1.5 million substitutes from over 6,000 K-12 organizations
  • A survey of over 5,000 substitutes from over 2,000 organizations and fifty administrators

What affects how often substitutes work?

First, let’s look at what correlates with taking more substitute teaching jobs:

  • Shorter commute times
  • Availability of work
  • A desire to work in their community or be near their children

It makes sense that having more available jobs means substitutes accept more work, and that those with shorter commute times take more jobs — after all, most people would prefer not to have a very long commute.

We also found that substitutes who teach as a primary source of income work more than those who teach to earn extra money on the side, and that substitutes with strong preferences for specific subjects were more selective and accepted fewer positions.

How do substitutes choose where to work? (Hint: it’s not what you might think!)

At the District Level:

With many substitutes working in multiple school districts, you might be wondering what compels them to choose one district over another. When we asked substitutes and administrators about the values that made substitutes want to work for a particular district, both substitutes and administrators cited availability of work as a leading reason to work in a district.

Reasons for absences

But that’s the only top reason they agreed on.

In addition to availability of work, substitutes reported that district culture (48%), pay (33%), and administrative support (29%) were important in selecting a district. In contrast, a much higher percentage of administrators (62%) believed that pay was a top influencing factor for substitutes in selecting a district, and a lower percentage of administrators believed that district culture (38%) and administrative support (12%) were top factors for substitutes.

That begs the question: does every district leader fully recognize the importance of school culture and administrative support when it comes to recruiting and retaining substitutes?

Maybe not. Only 8% of organizations surveyed provided substitutes with ongoing feedback, and 10% offered professional development. Another 36% of organizations reported providing no support to substitutes.

At the school level:

If you have an employee absence management system that gives you access to your district’s absence data, you may have noticed that some schools have higher fill rates than others. That might not only be due to lower absence rates: substitutes tend to prefer specific schools based on certain characteristics.

As we’ve seen before, short commute times and locality are a major influence — substitutes prefer to work locally and in their own communities. But school culture also plays a role, coming in third on the list of reasons substitutes prefer certain schools. Welcoming substitutes into the school community can help encourage more substitutes to work in schools with low fill rates.

What about providing training for substitute teachers?

While substitutes and administrators alike agreed that training for substitutes is important, our findings suggest that substitute training and preparation has not been fully utilized in the vast majority of districts.

According to the survey, 45% of substitute teachers reported receiving no training at all, and only 7% reported participating in district orientation training. Moreover, the majority of administrators reported that the amount of job skills training was inadequate and that they were dissatisfied with the current format of the training.

A district which invests in its substitutes through professional development opportunities is likely one with a positive, supportive culture, which we have identified as a strong influence on substitute decision-making.

What does this mean for school administrators?

Administrators can encourage substitutes to take more jobs in order to raise fill rates in several ways.

Take stock of your district and school culture — how are substitutes welcomed into the community? Fostering a supportive culture across every level of the organization will attract more substitutes and inspire them to take jobs in your classrooms.

Provide more administrative support to substitute teachers. Chances are, you don’t need to hire more staff — just look for areas where you can streamline inefficient processes and reclaim time.

Invest in providing support to substitute teachers, and consider providing ongoing feedback, professional development or other substitute training opportunities.

Encourage teachers to report absences as far in advance as possible. Longer lead times have a positive effect on position acceptance, and substitutes appreciate having thorough lesson plans.

Target your recruiting efforts to be as local as possible, and draw a connection between substitute teaching and working with the community.

Finally, if your budget allows, consider your district’s substitute wages. Pay isn’t the top reason why substitutes choose to work in a particular district, but higher wages are still an effective incentive — especially if neighboring school districts already pay more.

6 School Districts Challenging How We Attract and Retain Educators

The hard work of attracting, engaging, growing and retaining quality teachers has got to be one of the greatest challenges facing K-12 right now.

Many teachers don’t feel engaged, equipped or empowered. They’re leaving the field at alarming rates, and new graduates are not taking their place fast enough, causing a widespread teacher shortage. Meanwhile, administrators are often over-burdened with paperwork and compliance. Budget cuts and limited resources compound the problem.

So what’s the solution? To be clear, it’s not dependent on the HR department to have all the answers. That’s just one piece of the puzzle.

Strategic, forward-thinking school districts are collaborating across all teams to take a holistic look at human capital management. What exactly does that look like?

  • Using data to drive strategies, from recruiting to professional learning
  • Setting goals and benchmarking progress
  • Collaborating across departments to find solutions
  • Empowering teachers with the tools to be more efficient

These districts are K-12 innovators, and we can all learn from their stories.

Read their stories  

4 Ways to Support Staff Working with English Language Learners

Guest post by Sara Smith-Frings, Former Director of Language Programs

Supporting teacher staff working with english language learners

Being a director of programs supporting English language learners (ELLs) is truly a balancing act. Just like a juggler with spinning plates, we always have our eye on the prize of student success. We know, however, that unless each staff member involved is fully committed to supporting the ELLs, one of those plates might come crashing to the ground. So, how can we keep those plates spinning? And just who are the individuals represented by these “plates”? Who are those staff members that contribute to ELL success?

1. Support Classroom Teachers Working with ELLs

This is the front line, so to speak. These are the individuals who are closest to the academic needs of ELLs. Teachers face a multitude of challenges in today’s schools: in an average classroom, there are students with differing needs ― and having ELLs in class adds to the instructional challenge.

  • Ensure teachers have information about each student that would assist with instruction, such as:
    • Home language
    • Number of years in the U.S.
    • Level of English proficiency
    • Academic history

I recall a campus on which the teachers were provided essential and pertinent information regarding their ELLs. Of course, instruction and learning differed from classroom to classroom, even though teachers had the same information.

When the information was used correctly, the students at this campus felt supported academically and emotionally. The latter was as important as the former. Students who are stressed about their academic situation find it difficult to learn.

One language-arts teacher grouped students by language level and provided carefully selected academic material, and used thoughtfully implemented teaching strategies and learning accommodations, such as word walls and modified material according the language levels. The teacher was friendly and kind, and provided the necessary structure for learning to take place. Students were familiar with the teacher’s classroom procedures and expectations for learning, alleviating stress that comes from the unknown. Do you think the teacher’s management style affected student performance?

In a room right down the hall, the science teacher didn’t review and utilize the information provided for his ELLs. He used the state-provided textbook with no language accommodations, and lectured without providing language supports. His demeanor was stern, and language accommodations weren’t made. How do you think this was reflected in the academic performance of the ELLs?

In the above scenarios, students whose stress is lessened ― in this case by a caring teacher making appropriate accommodations ― tend to have more positive academic experiences and outcomes.[1]

How could the science teacher be better equipped to support ELLs? What if he had been provided with a mentor to help implement teaching methodologies to meet the needs of his ELLs? What if he had the opportunity to observe teachers who successfully taught ELLs? Were there science teachers with the same positive results for their ELLs as the language-arts teacher? If not, could he have observed the language-arts teacher? This leads to the next point.

2. Provide Meaningful Professional Development

Teachers working with ELLs need access to meaningful professional development. There are many theories of adult learning — too many to go into detail — but suffice to say, PD should be targeted to the teacher’s immediate needs and job-embedded, if possible.

This could include opportunities for teachers to collaborate around the needs of their students. Had the science teacher in the previous example been provided with the opportunity to collaborate with other staff members, the students would have benefited as their teacher learned new strategies for supporting ELLs.

Collaborative cultures create a positive work environment for teachers and benefit students. Unfortunately, opportunities for collaboration are not always the norm. Teachers have hectic schedules and collaboration can feel like “one more thing” if time isn’t built into the school day. It is easy for a teacher with many responsibilities and demands to simply stay in his/her classroom and not seek out others. Consider building development time into the schedule, either through early/late release once a week or professional development days during the school year.

3. Think Strategically About ELL Paperwork

Take into consideration any paperwork associated with your ELL program. Who does the paperwork? How much time is involved? It is common for ELL-program paperwork to be complex due to state and federal regulations.

In my former district, a teacher was responsible for completing and maintaining paperwork for each campus. When a classroom teacher was designated, s/he was provided extra time to complete the paperwork, on top of classroom activities.

I remember the Tale of Two Middle Schools: one had a teacher who was given two class periods to keep up with the paperwork for the ELL program. On days that she had no paperwork, she would reach out to the content teachers of the ELLs, checking on the progress of the students and ensuring classroom teachers had what they needed to fully support students. At the other middle school, the ELL teacher responsible for paperwork did not have enough time during the school day for paperwork, except for the usual conference period or lunchtime. Needless to say, paperwork was not in the best order at the second campus, and student performance suffered.

4. Support Campus Administrators

Without the support of these campus folks, ensuring academic success of ELLs can be an uphill battle. These are the individuals that make sure the best personnel, processes and procedures to support ELLs are in place. How do we support administrators so that those plates keep spinning?

Ensure principals are informed of their ELL population and how student performance might affect their campus academic ratings. Why is this important?

  • They are ultimately the ones who provide the support mechanisms for their staff:
    • How the information about ELLs is communicated and by whom
    • Time for their staff to complete paperwork
    • Opportunities for professional development
    • Selecting the staff to instruct the ELLs

Summing Up the Importance of Role-Based Support

Those who go into education do so to promote student learning and to make a difference in the lives of children. Providing appropriate support to teachers raises the level of instruction for ELLs. Providing purposeful support to all staff, including teachers and administrators, will ultimately lead to the desired academic outcomes for students.

[1] Abukhattala, Ibrahim. (2013). Krashen’s Five Proposals on Language Learning: Are They Valid in Libyan EFL Classes. English Language Teaching; Vol. 6(1). Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1076806.pdf.

Learn more about Frontline English Learner Program Management

5 Tips to Understanding and Avoiding Bias in Teacher Performance Evaluations

Bias is normal and universal. We all perceive the world differently, and interpret what we observe differently. Our experiences shape our views and vice versa. Although we cannot be free of bias, if we can acknowledge and understand our biases, we will be better able to overcome their effects.

However unintentional, as evaluators of teachers’ performances, our biases can interfere with the accuracy and reliability of evaluations. Teachers won’t trust and use evaluation results for improvement unless they are convinced the observations are accurate, truthful and justifiable.Error in evaluation, or in any measurement, is inevitable. Human performance – including teaching – is especially elusive to measure from the very beginning, and the validity of the evaluators is compromised by a number of factors (Bejar, 2012).

IdealReality
The scores evaluators assign to teachers only reflect:
  • The true quality of performance
The scores evaluators assign to teachers also depend on:
  • The quality of evaluators’ understanding of the performance rubric
  • The quality of the evaluators’ interpretation of teachers’ performance
  • Fatigue and other factors that can influence evaluators
  • Environmental conditions
  • The nature of performance previously scored

Here are 5 common bias issues in teacher observation and evaluation, and proposed solutions to overcome them:

Issue 1: Rater Personal Bias

This bias occurs when evaluators apply idiosyncratic criteria that are irrelevant to actual teacher performance. Often without realizing it, evaluators give higher ratings to teachers who resemble them or have characteristics in common with them — for instance, certain beliefs or ways of getting things done which are not essential to an educator’s effectiveness.

Likewise, the evaluator might give a lower rating because the teacher has different preferences for instruction, even though the instructional delivery is effective. If the teacher is rated too high or low based on a rater’s personal bias, she will not know how to improve her teaching because she will not understand from where the rating really came.

Examples:

  • “This teacher reminds me of myself when I started teaching, so I’ll give him a higher rating.”
  • “The teacher moves around a lot. I prefer to be more stationary when I teach.  I’ll give her a lower rating.”

Solution:

Training evaluators on objective ways to collect evidence from multiple sources on uniform, research-based performance standards will help overcome this bias. When evaluators let their own judgments get in their way of accurately evaluating teachers, training can help them be more objective.

Issue 2: Halo and Pitchfork Effect

The halo and pitchfork effect can arise when early impressions of the educator being evaluated influence subsequent ratings. In the halo effect, this impression tends to be one that is too favorable. For example, let’s assume a principal has a positive impression of a teacher who is professionally dressed. Even if the actual observation of the teacher suggests deficiencies in the teacher’s performance, the evaluator might use more leniency than with other teachers who may not be dressed as professionally.

On the other hand, if the evaluator has a negative impression of a classroom where students scramble around the room and chat noisily minutes before the lesson starts, the evaluator might then have less tolerance for that teacher, even when students are on task and engaged when the lesson begins. This would be an example of the pitchfork effect.

It may seem that the halo effect could help teachers, but if their ratings are inflated, they will not know how to improve and develop their instructional skills. If they are unjustly deflated they may get disheartened because they don’t feel they are getting a fair assessment on their true abilities.

Examples:

  • “You were very professionally dressed and well-spoken, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt if I see deficiencies in your classroom.” (Halo)
  • “The kids were rowdy and noisy as the lesson started, so now I look for flaws when I observe you.” (Pitchfork)

Solution:

To help counter this issue, evaluators should be trained on objective ways to collect evidence on uniform, research-based criteria. Multiple evaluators also should be used, so that various perspectives are included. These solutions will help prevent an evaluator from rating a teacher inaccurately based on his or her own impressions.

Issue 3: Error of Central Tendency

Central tendency is a bias in which evaluators tend to rate all teachers near the middle of the scale and avoid extreme scores, even when such scores are warranted. This is a very common issue and can happen for various reasons: a desire to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings, for example, or the worry that teachers will be upset if they realize their ratings are different.

If everyone receives the same rating, improvement is difficult. It discourages those teachers who are performing at a highly effective level, while giving false confidence to those who need significant improvement because their current performance is not meeting student needs. Essentially, the rating can perpetuate ineffective teaching practices.

Examples:

  • “We’re all the same…and we’re all acceptable!”
  • “I don’t want to upset anybody, so I am not going to differentiate and am going to rate everyone in the middle.”

Solution:

One solution is to train evaluators to distinguish between the various ratings on the scale. Evaluators also should be trained on using precise feedback based on data-generated evidence. This is done formatively so the teacher can continually improve. These solutions help teachers receive accurate, helpful ratings rather than always being rated in the middle.

Issue 4: Error of Leniency

When evaluators tend to assign high ratings to a large sector of teachers when the ratings are not earned, this is known as leniency error. For instance, they might rate all or most of their teachers as highly effective, even when teaching performance or student growth and achievement measures do not justify these ratings.

While the reasons for this particular error are often well-meant, it causes similar problems as the error of central tendency. Leniency can frustrate high-performing teachers and keep lower-performing teachers from receiving the support they need to improve.

Examples:

  • “Everyone is superior…or better!”
  • “We are living in the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, where everyone is above average!”

Solution:

Train evaluators on distinguishing between the various rating levels so they can score teacher performance based on pre-defined criteria and the actual evidence collected. Evaluators likely rate teachers too highly when they do not clearly understand the differences between the ratings. Extra training will help them see the difference between effective and highly effective.

Issue 5: Rater Drift

With this, evaluators begin with a level of agreement on observations and ratings, but then gradually drift apart as they begin to apply their own spin to various criteria. Rater drift can happen at a collective level. For example, all evaluators might initially agree on what “student engagement” means, but over time come to define it differently. One evaluator might start to base it on how many students are looking at the teacher, while another looks at how many questions students ask and answer, and yet another focuses on student work from the lesson.

Rater drift also can happen to evaluators individually. A 2015 study by Casabianca and colleagues examined the ratings given to teachers based on observations. In the beginning, raters gave high scores. As time went on, however, they issued lower scores, even for the same teaching quality, ultimately dropping from about the 84th percentile to the 43rd — despite the fact that a teacher’s quality had not changed.

Examples:

  • “Although my co-evaluators and I were trained and calibrated at the beginning of the school year, I am going to add my own personal twists down the road!”
  • “I just read an interesting article about classroom management, and that changed my view of what productive classroom environment should look like. I will redefine the evaluation criteria!”

Solution:

This bias can be addressed by providing refresher training for evaluators and by using tandem reviews to ensure that evaluators are seeing things in the same way, making them less likely to drift away from each other in their ratings.

Bias and errors crop up when evaluators accidentally or habitually overlook, misinterpret, or distort what is perceived. Bias and errors confound the quality of evaluation, and that is why research-based calibration training is essential – training that prepares evaluators to know:

  1. What effectiveness truly looks like and what to look for,
  2. How to document teacher performance with objective evidence, and
  3. How to synthesize evidence and apply the rubrics to provide ratings.

A solid training plan involves more than a one-shot calibration dose at the beginning of the school year. It also needs ongoing refresher training sessions on a recurring basis to make sure that evaluators consistently and persistently follow the prescribed criteria.

How can you ensure your evaluators and observers are trained and calibrated to provide reliable and defensible evaluations? Learn about the Stronge Master-Coded Simulations and the Stronge Effectiveness Performance Evaluation System, powered by Frontline Professional Growth.

 

References:

Bejar, I. I. (2012). Rater cognition: Implications for validity. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 31(3), 2-9.

Casabianca, J. M., Lockwood, J. R., & McCaffret, D. F. (2015). Trends in classroom observation scores. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 75(2), 311-337.

This post was collaboratively authored by Xianxuan Xu, Ph. D. and Dr. James Stronge, Ph.D., President of Stronge and Associates Educational Consulting, LLC.

How One School District Manages Drastic Growth in Special Populations Each Year

Alvin Independent School District is a dynamic learning organization committed to excellence for each student and every program. Not far from Houston, Alvin is a rapidly growing district with enrollment increasing by well over 1,000 students annually. New schools are planned and built every year to keep up with projected expansion.

With Extreme District Growth Comes Extreme Paperwork

With such explosive growth, meeting the needs of all special education students can be challenging. In her role as a special education coordinator, Gaye McDaniel’s primary responsibility is compliance. Keeping up with the paperwork and making sure all student records are in order used to be incredibly time consuming. The technology the district had relied on for special education compliance just couldn’t keep up with the influx of students. English language learner (ELL), 504 and RTI were all tracked on paper, with each department using its own unique system. Knowing there had to be a better system out there, Gaye started the search for a provider that could meet their unique needs.

“Where some districts just need to plan for now, we have to plan for this growth that we’re going to have over the next 10 years,” said McDaniel. “We had to come up with a program that was going to be able to keep up with the growth.”

A Promising Shift in Strategy for Special-Programs Staff

The district decided that switching to an electronic, paperless system would solve the problem. After searching for solutions, Gaye and her team were convinced that Frontline Special Education Management would be a good fit for them. While it took some time to complete the process of uploading historic assessments, evaluations and records that had been filed as hardcopies in student folders, the special education staff is thrilled to now have all the documentation they need for every student at their fingertips.

New System Positively Impacts the Alvin ISD Community

Reliable service and access to records

After making the decision to go with Frontline and store their records electronically, Gaye needed assurance that the system wouldn’t go down. Frontline proved to have a reliable system of backup servers. When a fiber-optic line was cut 3000 miles away (unrelated to Frontline), the Frontline team immediately notified the district. The constant updates to the Alvin ISD staff reinforced to Gaye that they made the right decision.

“That was a huge component right there. We had already purchased the program, but that was reinforcement that we did the right thing,” said McDaniel.

The paper chase is over

Once the file-input process was completed and demographics were pulled in from the student information system, district staff could simply update records online as needed. Electronic documents for students who are ELLs or on a 504 plan are all stored in the same system. In the past, it often took up to an hour to search for folders that may have been kept at different locations and gather all the documents needed for a meeting. With Frontline, now it takes just minutes.

Compliance management is more accurate and efficient

Having the documentation in a single system makes the compliance process much easier and more accurate, and the special education staff feel confident that services and interventions are aligned to meet the needs of every student. Instead of having to go through each document in a student’s folder, coordinators for Special Education, ELL and 504 quickly spot-check student records online. Not only that, but when a staff member needs additional training on student-support-related tasks, it’s easy to review documentation and provide immediate feedback.

Benefits for teachers and students

Using Frontline saves time for busy teachers. Since working with hard-copies has been virtually eliminated, they no longer need to pull folders out of a file cabinet to work on student records or put them back to secure them.

Case managers can quickly input data or check students’ records to make sure that all their teachers have viewed the relevant documents, and send reminders when needed.

When a new student qualifies for special education services, the special education transportation coordinator is notified through Frontline’s system. Before the end of the school day, the classroom teacher already knows the bus number along with the pickup and drop-off schedule.

Student accommodations, goals and behavior intervention plans are uploaded to the district’s student information system, allowing the general education teachers easy access to information that will help them support their students. Teachers not only know they have a student with special needs, but also have all the relevant details and history about that student.

The group that truly benefits the most is the students themselves. Because staff have immediate access to accommodations, behavior plans, assessments and evaluations, they can provide direct support. If a student is struggling, it just takes a moment for a teacher to review their records and find out what instructional strategies would be most effective.

Improved workflow and communication

With increased efficiency and no hardcopy paperwork, teachers and support staff have more time to spend on students. As they realize how much using the online program helps them do their jobs, staff morale continues to improve.

Having all student records in one place means that if a student has a learning disability and is also a second-language learner, the committee has the information they need to determine how they can best meet that student’s needs. If a student was on a 504 plan before qualifying for special education, that history is in one place, making it much easier to track the progress the student has made over time.

If parents have questions or concerns, or plan to attend a meeting, information about their child is readily available to them. Since most Alvin ISD parents prefer email communication, staff members use Frontline’s system to securely email documents and forms to parents. When parents attend a meeting, they have access to their child’s records right on their phones.

Working together to prepare for tomorrow

Client support from Frontline gets an A++ from Gaye McDaniel. From the initial setup of the system to day-to-day questions, responses to questions are quick, and problems are usually fixed right away. Strong two-way communication provides regular opportunities for district leaders to meet with Frontline representatives to learn about current updates along with new and exciting things going on.

Does your district have the digital tools it needs to stay compliant and strategic as enrollment increases in special programs? Frontline Special Education Managements helps you efficiently manage state-specific regulations as you plan support for each learner.

What Districts Can Do About the Substitute Teacher Shortage

Everywhere you turn, there’s more news about the substitute teacher shortage because there just aren’t enough substitute teachers to go around. Even though districts work hard to try to increase their substitute pools — They reach out to news outlets, post on social media and attend job fairs.

But even when they do find new substitutes, it seems like there’s never enough. Maybe solving the substitute shortage isn’t just about having more substitutes.

Data from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute shows over half of all substitutes just aren’t working in any given month

Data from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute shows over half of all substitutes just aren’t working in any given month — and that percentage is even higher for small districts. The question is, why aren’t substitutes working? It could be that they just don’t know where to start, or don’t feel confident taking jobs.

In that case, districts can take steps to address potential substitutes’ concerns and help promote substitute teaching as a positive career choice.

Great results can be:

  • Increased sub pool from recruitment efforts
  • Higher fill rates for fewer empty classrooms
  • More engaged substitutes
  • Improve student learning

Understand the Struggles (and Rewards) of Substitute Teaching

It’s no secret that substitutes have it hard. Every day, they’re put into new situations with unfamiliar faces, and rarely have the chance to build a connection with the students they’re teaching.

One substitute described their experience like this:

“You know that scene in Fight Club where he concludes that the people he meets are single-serving friends? Subbing was like single-serving classroom management, single-serving relationships, single-serving emergency plans. It’s kind of like teaching, but everything is single-serving and thus a little different.”

For some, these “single-serving” experiences — one-off, short-term stints in different scenarios with different people — are perfect. Prospective teachers get to experience a variety of classrooms and grade levels, to see where they might fit best as a full-time educator. They can see how more experienced teachers work, too.

But for many people, that level of uncertainty is nerve-wracking, especially for those new to teaching. A lack of training for substitutes can make it even more challenging. had not receive any training from their school system before taking an assignment — not even a district orientation training. And of the substitutes who did receive some sort of training from the district, over seventy percent received a half-day or less of training.

So, it’s no wonder that Internet forums geared toward educators are filled to the brim with new substitutes begging for advice and encouragement.

“Tomorrow is my first day ever (!!!!) substitute teaching, and now I’m sort of realizing I don’t know what to do at all? I have very limited experience working with youth, and like zero classroom experience in general. I don’t know what grade I’ll be getting at all, either. But if any of you have any advice (as in what to do or what to definitely NOT do) that would be great.”

“I am testing the waters to see if I want to be a teacher, so I’m subbing for a year or so to see if I can handle it and or where I would like to teach. However, there was no formal training and I’m a little nervous and feel it’s a sink or swim situation.”

After spending some time in the classroom, though, many substitutes find the work to be rewarding. One substitute writes, “I get so much joy out of what I do. I love connecting with students, helping them grow, actually teaching them when the lesson calls for it.”

Another substitute writes:

“I’ve been a sub for 2 years and love it! It’s made me change my career path to pursue teaching. I love the kids, love that I can try out different grades and subjects, and decide my own schedule (my district uses an online job program where we can see all available jobs and decide where/when we work).”

What about substitutes in your district?

Consider sending a survey to all your substitutes — including those not currently working — and ask them for feedback about:

  • The challenges they face when substitute teaching.
  • What they would like to see as training opportunities.
  • and what they find most rewarding about their work.

Increase Retention by Supporting and Engaging Your Substitutes

But go beyond outreach to non-working substitutes. Support working substitutes, too:

These investments can make substitutes more connected, more effective, and more likely to take on more jobs in your district. Higher fill rates and fewer turnovers turnover means reduced effort on recruitment and onboarding each year.

Use Your Substitute Retention Strategy for Recruitment

Once your substitutes are engaged and working more often, you hopefully won’t have to worry as much about finding more. But there will always be a need for more substitutes as people retire or find other work. So, when you do need to recruit, think about the message you’re sending to prospective substitutes, and look for ways to attract more people to the job.

  • Promote substitute teaching as a rewarding job, and emphasize its strengths: flexibility and exploring teaching or working in a school as a career.
  • Tell your substitute story — publicly thank and recognize the substitutes in your district regularly to show that they’re appreciated
  • Market all substitute training and professional development offerings to make prospective subs feel more confident applying.
Annie Grunwell

Annie Buttner

Annie is a writer and part of the award-winning content team at Frontline Education. She’s passionate about learning, exploring data and sharing knowledge. Her specialties include substitute management, the K-12 staffing shortage, and best practices in human capital management.

How Hiring Is Like a Box of Chocolates

Every year, I go to the store a day or two after Valentine’s Day to load up on discounted chocolate. You know the ones I mean: those red, heart-shaped boxes of assorted chocolates in the clearance bin right by the cash register. But sometimes, the box doesn’t come with a map of which chocolate is which, and you end up with a coconut cream (ugh) when all you wanted was one filled with caramel.

Sometimes, hiring can be the same way — although, to be sure, filling a position with the perfect new employee is incalculably more important than filling your belly with candy. In either case, you look at your options and do your best to find the right match. And the more information you have, the easier it is to make the right decision.

But it’s time for a little levity, and a challenge! Test your matchmaking skills below — can you match each chocolate to its proper place?

Recovery & Innovation After Disaster: Livingston Parish’s Story

 

Originally published in February 2018, this blog post is still relevant in the face of a pandemic.

COVID-19 has produced unique challenges, but one impossible task remains the same: cut back on spending with minimal impact on instruction.

In August 2016, the town of Livingston was hit with severe flooding. Within 24 hours, the district received 33 inches of rain, leading to floods ranging from two inches to nine feet. Repairing the damage to the 17 flooded schools was estimated to cost up to $350 million, 90 percent of which would be covered by FEMA. However, Livingston Parish Public Schools was still responsible for funding for the remaining ten percent — a difficult mandate for a district with an annual budget of about $250 million.

With 90 percent of the district’s budget going to salaries and benefits, district leadership knew they had to come up with an innovative way to save money. Because many families, students and employees moved away from the area after the flooding, they were able to reduce their teaching workforce without changing their student-teacher ratio. But the district still needed to find other ways to save on salaries without impacting instruction.

Bruce Chaffin, Supervisor of Human Resources, knew he had to think outside of the box. While researching potential areas to save money, he found that the district was spending a significant amount of money on substitute teachers — about $220,000 a month. He said he was “blown away” by that figure, and as a former principal, he knew that the district’s principals weren’t aware just how much they were spending on substitutes.

“I can absolutely show every school exactly how many days were missed and how much it cost us at every school, every site, each month. That is data that we have never shared with our employees and our schools before.” – Bruce Chaffin

Incentivizing Better Attendance

So, he worked with the district’s IT director to come up with a tantalizing reward for the school with the highest employee attendance rate at the end of the year: a mobile computer lab with thirty devices on it. At the first principals’ meeting, Bruce shared how much the district was spending on substitutes and introduced a competition between schools. The school with the highest employee attendance rate at the end of the year would win the computer lab. The principals were extremely excited about the potential to get the $20,000 lab for free, and immediately began working on improving attendance at the school level.

Tracking and Reporting on Attendance

The most crucial part of making the strategy work revolved around tracking attendance rates at each of the 44 sites in the district. Frontline’s absence management system gives Bruce the reporting capabilities he needs to access each school’s attendance data, so he can keep a running tally to share with school leaders every month.

“I’m able to go in the report section and run a report each month. It takes me about 30 minutes to do 44 sites and come up with the percentages for the schools.” – Bruce Chaffin

The data has opened employees’ eyes to how much the district was spending on substitutes. Bruce found that within the first semester, Livingston Parish has already saved a significant amount of money.

  • Saved $80,000 on substitute wages in the first 39 days of school alone
  • Saved over $100,000 in the first 60 days compared to 2015
  • Saved $135,751 in the first 60 days compared to 2014

* No 2016 comparison, as the district lost a month of school due to flooding.

“When I say that compared to 2015, we’ve saved over $100,000, that’s not a guesstimate. That is hard money. That is actual, physical money that is in our general fund, that if we hadn’t had done this would not be in our general fund today… This is hard savings that is going to go back into our schools in the form of computers, in the form of books, in the form of initiatives that our principals want to start…. In the first 60 days of school, we’ve got an extra $100,000 to spend on our kids. That’s huge. That’s phenomenal.” – Bruce Chaffin

Moving Forward

The success of Bruce’s data-driven absence management strategy has reinforced the importance of data in Livingston Parish. Bruce says that when he visits schools, teachers and employees ask him what their attendance rate was for the month. It’s become a regular conversation, and has helped everyone see where they can make changes to ensure that the district’s funds go where they are most needed.

With strong community and staff engagement, bolstered by objective data, they have cut costs significantly and support student learning through higher attendance rates. Because of the higher attendance rates, the district has saved over $100,000 in the first 60 days of school alone — a strong sign that the rest of the year will bring even greater savings.

“I never anticipated that kind of savings. But, as a testament to our employees and our school leadership, no one has ever shared that specific data with our school people. And as a testament to our schools, they’re like, ‘Wait a minute. If we can save this kind of money, maybe it can help us rebuild our schools and get our kids back to our campuses faster. Or maybe we can do things for our employees down the road because we’re sixteen months into this flood and we still have people that are not in their houses.’ – Bruce Chaffin

In addition, keeping teachers in the classroom as much as possible is extremely beneficial to the district’s students. Their data has shown that when teachers are in the classroom, student performance and scores improve.

“We’ve got one particular high school that is the #4 ranked public school in the state of Louisiana. Their attendance rate for their staff for the first 60 days of school was almost 96%. That’s the highest of our high schools. Don’t you find that interesting that they’re the highest scoring high school in our Parish, and they also have the highest attendance rate among their staff?” – Bruce Chaffin

There’s no doubt that the combination of the district’s thoughtful strategies, dedicated educators and outstanding community support will allow Livingston Parish to overcome the setbacks they have experienced and prepare their students for success.

“Thank goodness we’ve got Absence Management, because that data is immediately at my fingertips.” – Bruce Chaffin

Want to see how your absence management strategies are making an impact? Frontline Absence & Time is K-12’s favorite employee attendance management system.

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6 Questions to Ask About New Professional Learning Opportunities

 

Each day, nearly 12,000 students walk into classrooms at Jenks Public Schools. Sitting just south of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the district places a strong emphasis on academic performance — a focus that stems from serving students for more than a century.

“At the classroom level, at the district level, we really want to understand our past, we really want to understand our present, and then we always want to push ahead,” said Mary Kathryn Moeller, Director of Professional Development at JPS.

Professional learning at Jenks Public Schools: “We really want to understand our past, we really want to understand our future, and then we always want to push ahead.” @jenksps http://bit.ly/2DpH0HR

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In December, we spoke with Mary Kathryn about the professional learning program at JPS. (You can hear the interview above, or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.) Her team’s desire to innovate while building on the decades of work at Jenks Public Schools was evident. We asked Mary Kathryn: What questions do you and your team ask when considering new professional learning opportunities?

Here are the 6 questions she shared:

1. What’s the purpose of this professional learning opportunity?

“One of our immediate questions, if something is new, would be about the ‘why’ of it… We start with what is our basis of need? What identified need has come up? What is the point of interest? Is there emerging research we’re trying to stay abreast of?” said Mary Kathryn.

That basis of need might also stem from student data, such as work samples or test scores. Their aim is to purposefully work toward a desired result, and not simply provide workshops for the sake of checking off boxes.

2. Will it overlay our existing practices? Or will it require us to abandon what we’ve already done?

“We always want to be faithful to the work that our teachers are doing and the work that exists. That’s one of the major things we look at.”

3. Will it open new opportunities for our students?

“We always want to honor our past, but we always want to be looking ahead, especially in the age we live in now. We’re preparing our students for jobs that may or may not actually exist at this given moment. We’re always looking to the future, but [not for the sake of simply] trying the latest and greatest thing or going off in an unusual direction.”

4. Where did the idea come from?

“We also really look at the source of it. Is this a speaker, a researcher, someone who is in the work and doing it? Someone who is out there speaking and sharing with teachers? Is it someone who really understands the many things that go on in a classroom?”

5. How will we implement this?

“We look at fidelity of implementation, which is always a question, always making sure that we’re talking about equitable distribution of the information and of the support that teachers need to implement.”

When implementing a new practice or strategy, the team works in an iterative cycle. “Next steps, more learning, implementation, data points, next steps, professional learning, implementation, data.” They’ll stay in this cycle until they see a new need or opportunity.

 

6 questions to ask when exploring new professional learning opportunities: http://bit.ly/2DpH0HR

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6. How will we collect data around this?

Mary Kathryn and her team highly value data. It takes different forms: perception surveys from participants, observations to see how learning is implemented in the classroom, student academic data, and even empathy research, because learning is such a personal experience.

“Asking questions about how people feel… ‘What are some of the things you hear, feel, think and see?’ That’s an odd data point because it’s not terribly formal, but when you ask those questions in the right way, you get some real personal responses in a way you might not get from a more formal type of survey.”

The team at Jenks works hard to collect multiple perspectives on professional learning, too. “Our baseline…is always collecting data or feedback from lots of different voices, trying to hear from everybody that this might impact. In May, we hold a visioning meeting around professional learning for the next year. We always invite parents to that as well, which may seem odd, but in fact, having the parents as part of that conversation is really valuable, because they know what’s going on in the classroom as they work with their own child. In the end, we’re all working together for the benefit of the students, so the parents are an essential part of that.”

When planning a new professional learning initiative, identifying how to collect data provides a map to help the team identify next steps to take: “How did that go? What could we do better? What do we need to change?”

Mary Kathryn and the rest of the team at Jenks Public Schools work hard to be intentional when introducing new initiatives. They don’t shy away from taking risks and exploring innovation — but they want to be wise about it.

“That’s really been our process… because our teachers are very busy and they’re pulled in lots of directions. We want to be really intentional before we introduce something new or ask them to make a shift or a change.”

Looking for a better way to support teacher growth through professional learning and an evaluation process focused on improving practice? Want to take the next step toward educator effectiveness? Find out why so many districts use Frontline Professional Growth.

Infographic: An Equity Roadmap for Special Ed Classification

In the report series Crossing the Line, published by the Frontline Research & Learning Institute, we’ve been exploring special education classifications. In Part 1 of the series, we looked at educator perceptions versus reality in regards to the appropriateness of classifications.

In Part 2, we dig a little deeper, zooming in on educators’ perceptions of how and why two factors – policy and resources – impact both over- and under-classification of students for special education.

Explore the results and engage with key questions in our Equity Roadmap below.

crossing the line infographic

Learn more and get the full report at https://www.frontlineinstitute.com/reports/special-ed-report/.

Bring Clarity to Section 504

Bring Clarity to Section 504

For many educators, understanding Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 remains difficult and raises several questions, such as:

  • What is the practical intent of this law?
  • Are Section 504 accommodation plans simply “light” IEPs? How can this law ― passed in the waning days of the Vietnam War ― apply to public school students and employees today, when the original meaning of the law was to protect disabled veterans returning from the conflict?
  • Is a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) related to Section 504?
  • Are the rights of special education and Section 504-eligible students different?
  • How is Section 504 different from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), when these laws use the same terms, but appear to impose different requirements on schools?

Since the great majority of states do not provide Section 504 regulations, and the federal law itself does not establish clear process rules, educators today are left grappling with the practical implementation of this near 50-year-old law without clarity.

But as a disability accommodation “gatekeeper” in your school, how do you decide which accommodation vehicle to use ― IEP or Section 504 plan ― without clarity? How do you identify and follow 504-related best practices to help you determine eligibility?

Gaining a better understanding of the background of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and how that history can inform your planning for students today, can help.

What is 504’s Goal?

 

A common misunderstanding of Section 504 is that the law intends to expand rights of public school students. That, in some way similar to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), Section 504 students receive additional process and instructional rights, which make their daily education something different or something “more” than general education students. Educators need to understand that Section 504 students are general education students, and that, differently than the IDEIA, which aims to create specific, individualized learning experiences for special education students, Section 504 simply aims to ensure access to the same general education for eligible students that all public-school students are entitled to receive.

504 vs. Special Education

It’s important to understand how we apply the Section 504 eligibility criteria, and how the criteria differ from the special education formula. Do we find eligibility simply when a student produces a doctor’s note? Understanding the intention of Section 504, and how it’s different from special education, is crucial in compliance today. When we speak to 504’s direction, we ought to be mindful that, similar to our best practices in IDEIA, focusing on individual need, process and progress, 504 also focuses on individual need ― there has to be a need. Section 504 eligibility and accommodation isn’t driven solely by a medical diagnosis.

An Important Takeaway to Help You Manage 504 Requirements

Practical implementation for Section 504 responsibilities is difficult because the law does not provide process rules. Unlike the process established under the IDEIA, Section 504 prohibits discrimination, but does not explain how ― the law provides no definition of the decision-making body or notice and consent rules; it doesn’t identify who or how data should be collected, or set a review time period or process.

Perhaps most surprising, the law does not use the words “Section 504 Plan” even once. Because of this lack of specific guidelines, your school should rely heavily on strong internal procedures and understand and apply best practices. Arm your district staff with the relevant and current information they need to ensure access for our disabled students. In this way, our colleagues remain compliant, and together we avoid risk.

Hiring Process Deal-breakers

Hiring Process Deal Breakers

There’s a lot to look for when you’re hiring a new teacher: great communication skills, a passion for teaching and learning, a positive attitude and patience. But it can be tough to see all the qualities of a great teacher when you’re busy thumbing through resumes, especially if your district is fortunate enough to have a surplus of applicants.

The truth is, you have to start somewhere when you start the selection process. And for most of us, the first step involves trimming the list down by identifying who you don’t want to hire. This can actually be one of the most nerve-wracking parts for some job-seekers — they’re afraid that something in their application will turn out to be their Achilles’ heel, and they won’t even be considered for a position.

That begs the question — are there any characteristics that make you automatically disqualify a candidate for a teaching position?

Take the live poll below to see if you agree with any of these common hiring process deal-breakers. Try not to overthink the questions, and go with your first reaction.

Two Sides of the Coin

While we’re on the topic of deal-breakers, this might be a good time to think about the other side of the coin: the job-seekers considering positions in your district. Just like you, they may have specific characteristics they look for in a school or district, and the most talented teachers may write off an organization before even applying. This means there may be opportunities for your district to improve its brand as an employer and attract more candidates.

Here are a few ways you can remove potential job-seeker deal-breakers and deepen your applicant pools:

  • Review your job descriptions. Your job postings may be a candidate’s first experience with your district, so make sure they are clear, accurate and highlight the outstanding opportunities available to high-performers.
  • Make it easy to apply to positions online. The most sought-after educators might not have the time or inclination to jump through hoops and navigate an outdated application process.
  • Communicate! Make sure that when teacher candidates search for news or information about your district, they see the most complimentary results first. Work with your communications or public relations department (if you have one) to get the word out about the outstanding things happening in your classrooms, and make sure everyone sees how wonderful it is to work in your schools.

No matter how many applicants you have, it’s crucial that you find the right people to work in your classrooms. The prescreening assessments in Frontline Recruiting & Hiring can help you identify candidates with the most potential and weed out unqualified applicants.

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