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A Massive Difference: How District Support Impacts Professional Development for Teachers

A Massive Difference: How District Support Impacts Professional Development for Teachers

One conundrum that isn’t new to K-12 district and building leaders: “Why aren’t our teachers more engaged in the professional development opportunities that we provide?”

It’s a good question. Professional learning departments work tirelessly to provide activities and learning opportunities that meet teachers’ needs, help to advance their strengths and ultimately impact student outcomes.

Why aren’t teachers more engaged?

But there’s also a good answer.

Juvenile vs. Adult Learning

It helps to consider the difference between juvenile and adult learners. “Everyday learning” for children is more intense, because every experience is new, from walking and talking to fretting over who to take to the school dance. And students spend a huge amount of time in formal learning: seven hours a day, five days a week, and possibly more. Learning is their primary responsibility, but outside school, their responsibilities quickly diminish.

Juvenile versus Adult LearningThe adult learner, however, still has a long list of responsibilities outside of the workweek. Taking care of family, home maintenance, exercising, paying bills, the list goes on…and on. We’ve used up most of the hours in our day already — and we still haven’t taken any time to go for a hike, relax on the back porch or watch Stranger Things.

Don’t get me wrong: adults learn all the time, enthusiastically and by choice. But it’s only when we’ve handled all of our other responsibilities that we’re able to take time to do so.

Support for Teachers is Desperately Needed

Support for Teachers is Desperately NeededThat helps to explain this: in 2013, the National Center for Education Statistics conducted a survey of professional development participation rates of lower secondary education teachers, across many countries. In the United States, 95.2% of survey respondents reported that they took some type of professional development over the previous 12 months. But when asked if they had engaged in professional development without any institutional support, the number dropped dramatically, to just 1.7%.

Those are extraordinary numbers.

When adult learners are asked to voluntarily engage in activities to improve their professional skills, the uptake is minimal. To expect teachers to do so flies in the face of everything we know to be true. But it’s not apathy. When teachers receive support in their efforts, they engage at a very high level.

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These are busy adults, with more requested of them outside of the work day than of employees in many other occupations. Teachers need to know how the professional learning being offered to them will be worth their time, and they deserve all the support we can give them.

What that support looks like is a longer conversation, and involves setting a realistic bar for professional learning time requirements. Our comprehensive guide on professional learning strategies  looks at this topic in-depth.

Have you seen success in increasing teacher engagement? We’d love to hear about it. Let us know on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

 

 

Can You Make the Right Match?

You open a box of assorted chocolates, only to find that there are no labels — and no way to pick the perfect candy to satisfy your sweet tooth. You choose one, heart filled with hope, pop it in your mouth.. and quickly realize you made the wrong choice — it’s the one flavor you detest.

When you’re working your way through a box of assorted candies, that kind of uncertainty is okay… and maybe even enjoyable. It’s not the end of the world if you bite into a coconut cream instead of the cherry cordial you were expecting.

But when you work in education, you need to know exactly what you’re getting into, whether you’re hiring new teachers or finding the right substitute. There’s just no room for uncertainty — you have to be confident that you chose the right person for the job.

Do you have a knack for making the right match? Test your match making skills below, and don’t forget to share your results with us!

The Reason so Many Black Teachers Leave the Job Early

This story appears courtesy of The Hechinger Report.

New report probes why African-American teachers become frustrated with a profession that desperately needs them

What will it take to get more black teachers to stay in the classroom?

School administrators will have to explicitly address the racial biases and stereotyping that stifle black educators’ professional growth, argue researchers Ashley Griffin and Hilary Tackie in a new report from The Education Trust, a national nonprofit advocacy organization.

As the nation’s classrooms become increasingly diverse, with non-white children now making up the majority of public school students, schools have made inroads in recruiting more teachers of color. But those educators tend to leave the profession at much higher rates than their white counterparts. Teachers of color currently represent only 18 percent of the nation’s teaching force and black teachers comprise just 7 percent of that workforce.
Increasing those numbers matters because research suggests students do better in school when exposed to teachers who share similar backgrounds and experiences.

Griffin and Tackie’s report explores why African-American teachers are more prone to abandoning the profession. The researchers used a focus group of 150 black teachers, choosing participants representative of the experience levels and teaching environments of the nation’s black teachers, and found several patterns.

The very reasons schools were eager to hire black educators — that is, their perceived ability to work well with African-American students, particularly black students that other teachers were having trouble reaching — often morphed into career roadblocks. While other educators were allowed to advance and take on more challenging work like teaching Advanced Placement courses, black educators said they were often relegated to teaching low-performing students and taking on disciplinarian roles.

While many educators relished their roles acting as formal and informal mentors for their black students, and even pointed to those relationships as being a key reason for staying in the classroom, they also reported feeling pressure from administrators, fellow teachers and even students, to build and maintain relationships with every student of color.

“We become the representative for every child of color, I mean, whether we relate to them, whether our culture is the same or not,” one teacher told the researchers. “We become the representative for all of those children.”

Many of the teachers reported that because of these relationships, they were often in a unique position to deal with students with behavioral challenges, a fact that often led to them taking on disciplinarian roles.

“[B]eing able to easily discipline students often led others to see them as enforcers rather than educators — a reductive stereotype that we heard throughout the focus groups,” the researchers wrote. “These teachers were assumed to be tough and strict instead of being able to connect to their students and use that connection to establish order and create a classroom environment conducive to learning.”

In fact, a recent study showed that African-American students are less likely to be suspended when they have a black teacher. But African-American educators reported that once they took on disciplinarian roles they were locked out of other opportunities to advance their careers. Instead of spending their free periods mastering new content knowledge or pedagogical techniques, they handle other educators’ discipline issues. Many black educators also told researchers that they were consistently assigned students who struggled academically and weren’t given opportunities to teach more rigorous content.

“‘You do it so well, let’s just keep you here.’ If I’m doing the ABCs every day, I never really get to do anything of a higher caliber,” a teacher reported. “I think a lot of times, as African-American teachers, we get stuck in a certain group, because you do it well.”

In addition to these education-specific challenges, the researchers found that black teachers reported many of the same challenges that face black workers across economic sectors. Black teachers told researchers that superiors, coworkers, and customers — in this case, parents — often viewed them as less competent than their white peers.

“I think one of the challenges I dealt with was convincing parents that our decisions are the right decisions,” a black educator told researchers. “And I say that because a lot of parents would look to the white teachers and whatever they say was golden. There was no questioning them.”

The report ends with a call on administrators to start the often-fraught work of addressing these “deep-seated” career impediments for black educators: “[I]t will take honest and critical examinations of school cultures and systemic processes in order for school and district leaders to develop the trust, support, and collegial working environments needed to recruit and retain teachers of color.”

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

Is RTI Making a Difference?

Is RTI Making a Difference?

4 Stories about Substitutes as Heroes

Every day, substitutes enter classrooms across the country, ready to tackle new challenges and bring new learning opportunities to every student. And it takes a lot of courage to face a brand-new class of unfamiliar faces every single day, so we think that all substitutes are heroes.

But we’ve put together a list of substitutes who have gone above and beyond – from kidney donations to free lunch programs, read on to see the heroic feats these substitutes have accomplished.

Cindy Santos

To the Ernst family, Cindy Santos is more than a substitute teacher — she’s an angel.

Cindy first met Katelynn Ernst while working as a substitute at Richmond Elementary. And only two weeks later, Cindy was spurred to help after recognizing the kindergartner’s photograph on the Katelynn’s Kidney Journey Facebook page. After months of testing and waiting, she donated a kidney to Katelynn — freeing the little girl from needing 10 hours of dialysis and 12 medications every day.

The transplant was a success, and Cindy and Katelynn now celebrate their “kidney-versary” every year as close friends.

Kristina Buhrman

When Kristina Buhrman filled in as a substitute bus driver for Discovery Academy, she never expected to be a hero. But when the bus caught on fire on the highway, she had to act fast to save all 38 students on board.

She pulled over as flames appeared in the back of the bus, and led the students to safety across a steep ravine — all while on the phone with emergency dispatchers. As a result of her bravery and ability to stay calm, the Florida Highway Patrol awarded her a certificate of appreciation — recognition she considers unnecessary.

“I don’t necessarily feel that I did anything that anybody else wouldn’t do. I was just put in a place that I had to protect the kids that I’m there to protect and that’s what we do.” – Kristina Buhrman

Phyllis Shaughnessy

While working as a substitute, Phyllis Shaughnessy learned that cuts to her district’s lunch program meant that many low-income students would be going without lunch over the summer. Phyllis knew that local families wouldn’t be able to fill the gap left by summer meal program, and decided to take matters into her own hands.

She acquired a caterer’s license, started collecting donations on GoFundMe and began bringing lunches to over 200 children every morning, calling the program “Green Lantern Lunches” after the local restaurant that volunteered its kitchen. It’s been extremely successful: over the course of the program’s first summer, Phyllis and her team of volunteers delivered 10,003 lunches to children in need. The program has grown, with nearly 17,000 lunches delivered in the summer of 2016.

Keren Morrell-Kiernan

After losing her daughter to a MRSA infection in 2007, Keren Morrell-Kiernan coped with her grief by dedicating her life to helping children. She became a certified grief counselor, substitute teacher and founder of Shae’s Place, a safe haven for children where they can receive counseling, tutoring and homework help.

As a result of her hard work with Pascagoula School District’s students, she was honored with the Kelly Educational Staffing National Substitute Teacher of the Year Award. Shirley Hunter, a principal who has worked with Keren extensively, says:

“She is always a wonderful addition to our staff and always has a positive influence on the students and staff… She went above and beyond what a regular sub is expected to do. She was always ready, eager, and willing to help with duty, tutoring in-between planning time and classes. She was team player with our staff.”

Joshua Hallman, a second grader at Lake Elementary, agrees. He brought a bouquet of pink roses to Keren’s award ceremony as a way of showing his gratitude for the daily tutoring Keren provided him throughout an entire semester — bringing his reading proficiency from a 0.9 to a 2.0 and giving him confidence in his abilities.

Know of a substitute who should be on this list? Let us know on Twitter @FrontineEdu

Flipped Professional Learning in K-12: A Crash Course

You know how creative learning strategies help your students learn. You see the benefits when students absorb teaching outside of classroom time, then come together with teachers and classmates to practice and apply what they’ve learned. Trying (and sometimes failing) in a safe place solidifies the lesson.

“Flipped learning” is clearly good for students. Why don’t we offer it for our teachers?

Flipped learning: a crash course

Flipped professional learning for teachers is the equivalent of flipped learning for our students. In a flipped learning model, teachers can learn on their own time. They explore whatever information, courses and educational experiences they want (or need) — based on personal goals, evaluation results or areas for growth.

Tweet: Flipped learning is good for students…so why don’t we offer it for our teachers? #FlippedLearning http://bit.ly/2eI1GfQ

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But it doesn’t stop there. The key to a flipped learning model is following up with practice and collaboration.

The flipped learning cycle

flipped learning cycle

  1. Self-reflect based on feedback and evidence of practice.
  2. Identify areas for growth.
  3. Engage in an initial learning experience that provides information and assesses retention.
  4. Set goals and create a plan to apply selected skills, techniques or behaviors you believe will have the most impact on students.
  5. Share your plan with others — a principal, instructional coach, mentor, department or PLC. It’s often helpful to get feedback at this stage.
  6. Implement your plan.
  7. Self-reflect — how did it go?
  8. Provide evidence of your implementation to others — this may be a video of classroom instruction, or perhaps a classroom observation.
  9. Meet with others to whom you’re accountable to reflect and get feedback on your implementation so far.
  10. Reflect, Plan, Act, Do… then repeat. It’s the cycle for continuous improvement.

Using this cycle over time, you can transform skills, techniques or behaviors into more effective instructional practices. This is evident through observation, feedback from others and student outcomes that reflect growth.

Is flipped learning just another instructional fad?

You might be tempted to think that. But in fact, flipped learning is simply a form of blended learning. And blended learning is here to stay, because — when implemented well — it makes the cycle of learning more possible and more effective.

Providing targeted, personalized content for all of the teachers in your district is a huge task. Often, districts are so strapped for time and money that they’re limited to covering their own core initiatives, leaving it to teachers to seek out additional, more personalized learning. But thanks to online learning, you can offer targeted content to many different people — without taking up valuable time during the school day.

Here’s some hand-picked content you may enjoy

White Paper: Flipped Professional Learning: How (and Why) to Structure a Flipped or Blended Learning Model for Individuals and Groups 

New to a topic? Then it’s often best to explore that information at your own pace. Teachers can explore coursework, online lessons, videos and eBooks in the order that works best for them — and at a pace and time that fits into their schedule and learning style. Once they’ve absorbed that information, they’re ready to take it out for a spin — putting it into practice and getting feedback from peers, mentors, coaches and observers. This is where blended learning shines.

Evidence suggests that teachers like it, too. In 2015-2016, Montour School District in Pennsylvania started the Montour Learning Network for EdTech and Innovation. Using a flipped learning model, teachers and staff pursue individual learning opportunities while collaborating to support each other. The result? Montour saw a 600% increase in participation in digital professional development.

Flipped learning for individuals, coaching and mentoring, and large groups

When we think of a “flipped” form of blended learning, we often picture groups of learners, like students. But it’s ideal for individuals as well. A teacher, for example, could use the steps outlined above to address areas for improvement that have been identified in a classroom observation. And it can also be used by mentors or instructional coaches — even by principals who may use flipped learning to support professional development initiatives for their entire building.

Tweet: Flipped learning can be useful for individuals, coaching and mentoring, and groups. #FlippedLearning http://bit.ly/2eI1GfQ

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The concept is simple but flexible. And the benefits are nothing to brush off: time that would have been required teach a workshop can now be reclaimed (saving money on substitute teachers) or used for collaboration and application.

What would it look like to apply some of these ideas to professional learning? To move past the sit-and-get workshop? To find creative ways to provide the kind of learning opportunities each individual teacher needs and wants? Let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

 

5 Examples of Outstanding District Marketing

When you invest in your district’s brand and marketing strategy, everyone benefits. It becomes easier to attract more students and talented teachers, improve community engagement and maintain an excellent reputation.

If you need a few ideas for marketing your own district, take a look at what these five diverse districts are doing to build up their brand and achieve their goals.

Blue Valley Schools – Marketing for Recruitment

This Kansas district’s motto of “Education Beyond Expectations” forms the bedrock of the Board of Education’s goals: staffing every classroom with an exemplary teacher and focusing on personalized learning experiences for their 22,000+ students.

First, the Human Resources department developed a new brand based on the qualities they seek in top-notch educators: dedication, collaboration and innovation. They strengthened their employment webpage by showcasing the district’s expectations, professional learning opportunities and stress-free hiring process.

“Having an exemplary teacher in every classroom is one of our top priorities… It is imperative that our website has everything prospective employees are looking for at their fingertips in order to attract great talent.”– Bob Kriefels, Executive Director of Human Resources

Once the website was updated, they used social media and YouTube to highlight the incredible work being done in the district and market themselves as an employer.

Has it worked? Definitely. The district’s educators are highly regarded in the community and have received numerous awards: Kansas Teacher of the Year, Kansas School Psychologist of the Year and Kansas School Counselor of the Year, just to name a few. And these incredible staff are having an impact — student achievement has skyrocketed.

Fall Creek School District – Stellar Social Media

This tiny rural one-building district in Wisconsin may only serve 850 students, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have big dreams for their brand. Led by Superintendent Joe Sanfelippo, author of The Power of Branding, the district maintains a trailblazing digital outreach policy around a single hashtag: #gocrickets.

So far, their initiative has been a tremendous success, with tweets reaching hundreds of thousands of unique users. Sanfelippo’s Twitter account alone has 13,500 followers — a number over ten times higher than Fall Creek’s total population.

With this focus on social media, Fall Creek hopes to boost community support, highlight the learning taking place in the district and improve parental engagement.

Sanfelippo tells the Hechinger Report:

“As a parent, if you send a newsletter to my house, I’m not going to see it until the next morning when I’m cleaning out my kid’s backpack in a rush… But if I can just check out that hashtag and see the cool stuff my kid is doing during the day, it makes me feel more like I’m part of it.”

Fraser Public School District – Smart Marketing

Pandora Radio listeners in Michigan might hear a few unexpected advertisements between songs. Fraser Public School District places advertisements on the internet radio service to convince parents in the area to send their children to one of Fraser’s public schools.

Pandora might seem like an odd choice for ad placement, but it’s a very sophisticated strategy. During high enrollment periods, Fraser Public Schools can zero in on the people most likely to switch schools by targeting zip codes in the area — including those in neighboring districts — and tell listeners about the vibrant education available within their classrooms.

Of course, the district relies on plenty of other channels to get the word out about their student programs. They have advertisements in newspapers and on local television, supported by high-quality videos about how they’re working to redesign education.

Westonka Public Schools – Early Outreach

This Minnesota district, nestled on the western bays of Lake Minnetonka, faced a decline in student enrollment due to the state’s open enrollment policy and nearby charter schools. So they began marketing the district’s academic programs in local newspapers, magazines, television channels and radio stations.

In addition, they started a marketing initiative to spark interest in the district while prospective students were still in diapers. Their “Warm Westonka Welcome” program sends a baby bag to new parents in the area. These gift bags include:

  • A personal welcome from the superintendent
  • A tote bag and onesie emblazoned with the phrase “A Westonka real-life success story in the making.”
  • A coupon for a free baby board book from the local library
  • Westonka Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) and Westonka Community Preschool brochures and course catalogs

Afterward, the district follows up by sending young children birthday cards through their fifth birthday. The program reinforces the district tagline:

Small School Advantages. Big School Opportunities. Real-Life Success Stories.

So far, their marketing initiatives have led to success, with enrollment numbers improving significantly. But the Executive Director of Communications, Janet Swiecichowski, doesn’t think their success is entirely due to their marketing strategies. Instead, she attributes the improving enrollment figures to the district brand they have built up.

She explains:

“They’re probably Googling ‘great education’ and finding Minnetonka… We want families thinking of their school choice to think of Minnetonka as their first choice.”

Kirby School District 140 – Unity in Branding

This Illinois PreK-8 district may have seven different schools, but their brand identity clearly positions them as one unified organization. The district’s site shares a common layout and color scheme with each of the individual school websites, lending a feel of continuity to the entire school system. This consistency stretches across their online hiring system and social media pages as well, which feature custom branding and are actively updated with need-to-know information for stakeholders.

On their site, KSD 140 also makes it easy to find the information you need, whether you are a student, parent, community member, employee or board member — all while prominently featuring their mission statement, messages from the superintendent and student-focused imagery.

Think your district should be on this list? Tell us about your district’s branding and marketing successes on Twitter @FrontlineEdu!

eSped & eSTAR FAQs (Now Frontline Special Education Management)

Questions about eSped/eSTAR becoming a part of Frontline Education? You’ve come to the right place!

Here are a few of the most frequent questions we hear from school districts who are wondering what the move means for them. Don’t see your question here? Don’t hesitate to contact us!

Why have the product names changed?

Since becoming a part of Frontline Education, eSped’s products have been rebranded as Frontline Special Education Management. The name change helps align eSped’s products with the rest of the K-12 software solutions Frontline Education offers.

How is Frontline Special Education Management different from eSTAR?

eSTAR helps districts overcome the same special population data management and compliance challenges that Frontline Special Education Management does, while adding to the robust state-specific data validation process, further protecting districts against non-compliant and incomplete data. eSped becoming part of Frontline Education – and the change to eSTAR, powered by Frontline Education – brings greater resources and advantages to our customers.

We continue to invest in and prioritize all of our state products.

How does Frontline Special Education Management help to streamline special education management?

Frontline Special Education Management will recapture staff time and help your school district contribute toward improved outcomes for children with special learning needs by:

  • Developing high-quality special population documents, including IEPs, progress reports and ARDs
  • Improving compliance with federal and state special education regulations
  • Reducing the time spent on paperwork and meetings
  • Eliminating redundant data entry
  • Minimizing hands-on administrative tasks
  • Enhancing tracking of timelines and tasks
  • Providing secure access to student and staff information for data-driven decision making

Does Frontline Special Education Management integrate with my other software systems?

Yes! Our integration server supports a broad range of import and export operations, including SIS integration and data loading profiles, for optional integrations such as student rosters. The system’s report writer can also export, via a CSV file, based on any report created across any user data or user accessible system data.

Internally, the object-oriented architecture was designed to allow the exchange of any data elements interactively or in batch. Integrations, including real-time, event-based or batch, can easily be added as required by LEAs.

Frontline Special Education Management also provides a state compliance data management and export capability, unique to each state as required. All of these mechanisms are in place to integrate with EOE systems and today we are currently providing these services directly to LEAs.

In Texas we integrate with Test Hound and Texas State Billing Services, and in Massachusetts we integrate with NE Billing.

How does the system help to manage programs for other special student populations (RTI, ELL, Gifted programs, 504)?

Frontline Special Education Management helps teachers and administrators get a better handle on data management and compliance, so they have more time to track student progress, plan individualized interventions and provide critically needed instruction for RTIs and Gifted or ELL students.

Our web-based RTI/MTSS Program Management software guides users through each step of the RTI process, pre-loading biographical and demographic data, revealing exactly which data to enter for each intervention and displaying archived data in graph format to help teachers see problem areas faster and intervene sooner.

A toolbox of integrated collaboration features makes it easier to implement intervention plans for each student, as a team, from school or home, and provides reports at the student, school or district level to enable administrators to measure program impact and make data-driven decisions for resource planning.

Our solution is built to be a secure base of operations for your English Learner and Gifted & Talented programs. Each state has unique data validation methods. This helps ensure that the student data you capture is fully compliant. Integrated translation tools help you get parental consent faster, and it’s easy to find the documents you need, because each signed form is attached to that student’s record.

Also, district, school or student-level reports can be pulled in minutes. All of these tools work together to reduce the time and effort it takes to prepare for EL meetings or determine the efficacy of your Gifted and Talented programs.

Additional Reading:

Checklist to Elevate Each IEP
6 best practices to help create compliant, individualized, and relevant IEPs
Download Now  

How does using an integrated IEP/Medicaid reimbursement tool save my district time and money?

Frontline’s Medicaid Management software pulls IEP data into Medicaid screens and vice versa, optimizing reimbursement. The two applications communicate with each other, meaning less data has to be entered by hand, saving staff and provider time and reducing the risk that inaccurate data will lead to claims being rejected.

Providers have direct access to IEP information to help them plan services, and administrators have a live view into encounter information and claim status. Data errors are flagged before claims are submitted and can be addressed quickly.

You can say goodbye to costs associated with paper forms and increase efficiency in all Medicaid claiming processes. You’ll also save time and valuable resources by giving LEAs direct insight into Medicaid data.

Can you track related services in the system?

Yes. Frontline Special Education Management (formerly eSped) includes screens to log related services. Additionally, Frontline’s Medicaid billing software provides enhanced functionality for coordinating, tracking, and monitoring the delivery of related services, including tools to:

  • Accurately forecast resource needs based on IEP mandates and other factors that impact provider time
  • Equitably allocate resources to schools and minimize travel time for providers
  • Automatically create optimized service calendars and student groups
  • Efficiently track student service encounters and monitor and report progress against IEP goals
  • Proactively monitor compliance with IEP mandates
  • Streamline data collection for SHARS Medicaid reimbursements

What hardware or software do I need to install?

Frontline Special Education Management is a fully web-based solution, which does not require any additional hardware or software.

Plus, our knowledgeable client success team will work with your district’s technology team to support each step of the implementation process.

How much does Frontline Special Education Management cost?

All Frontline Special Education applications are available on a per-pupil annual subscription basis. A Frontline representative can consult with your district to understand your needs, align them with our solutions and provide a proposal customized for your district. You can contact us here for more pricing information.

Can I still access my eSped/eStar account?

Yes! You can visit this page to login.

What are the benefits to using Frontline’s solutions vs. other companies?

At Frontline, we are actively pursuing a vision to bring the K-12 education community a comprehensive, integrated portfolio of solutions. Special education management is a key component of this portfolio, and eSped was a clear leader in this area with a strong set of solutions and industry expertise. Bringing these solutions together will open even more opportunities for K-12 organizations to make connections and gain insights across various operations in the district.

 
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Buckle Up: FLSA Lawsuits Looming over School Districts

With the expanded overtime regulations on hold, you may think your school district has been granted a reprieve.

In that case, you’re only half right.

Whether the overtime regulations are passed, blocked or modified, the renewed focus on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) could pose issues — in more ways than one. Now that the media has brought wage and hour laws into the spotlight, school districts could face a mounting number of Department of Labor investigations and lawsuits (both class action and private).

Department of Labor Investigations

The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division has already audited school systems in every state, as you can see from the interactive map below.

Every investigation into K-12 organizations is marked, including those where no FLSA violations were found. Investigations uncovered violations in nearly 2/3 of organizations.

Mouse over the map to see how many violations were found and how much noncompliance cost each organization.


Source: Wage and Hour Compliance Action Data, U.S. Department of Labor. Accessed October 2016.
Note: This data is representative of DOL investigations into FLSA compliance across K-12 organizations only. It does not include private or class action lawsuits filed in federal or state courts.

So far, these investigations have found over 15,000 violations — costing American school districts nearly $33 million in back wages and penalties. In one case, a district was assessed almost $1.75 million in damages.

You don’t want your district to be next. If your district hasn’t been found noncompliant in the past, don’t get complacent: repeat offenders account for only 3% of violations and 4.5% of damages.

And with the spotlight on employee wages, chances are good that the Department of Labor will continue to aggressively audit employers of every kind, regardless of any changes that may (or may not) be made to the overtime rules.

Employee Lawsuits

The last time the Department of Labor became involved with changes to FLSA, lawsuits surged — even before the changes were formally adopted. Ed Bergmann, senior partner of international law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP, tells Legal News Line that having labor laws in the news tends to spark an epidemic of lawsuits.

“‘Whenever you have that going on, there’s a heightened interest in the field, and people become familiar and more aware of the FLSA and what types of claims can be made under it, so you tend to see an uptick in litigation during these periods when there’s a lot of discussion,’ Bergmann said. ‘We saw that in 2004 during the last time the [regulations were updated] … Plaintiff’s lawyers in general see this as a very fertile ground in litigation, so they’re gravitating toward this area more and more.’”

This graph, courtesy of The Day Shift, shows a clear upward trend in FLSA lawsuits filed in federal courts over the years. Also visible is a spike in cases filed before new regulations were implemented, and soon after. Unlike the map above, this data includes all FLSA cases, not just those against K-12 school districts. But here’s something to consider: in 2002, over 40% of all FLSA lawsuits involved public school systems.

FLSA cases filed by calendar year Source: Hass, Douglas A. “FLSA Minimum Wage, Overtime Lawsuits Set New Record in 2015, Filing Growth Continues.” The Day Shift. 4 Jan. 2016.

School districts are obvious targets for FLSA lawsuits for a few reasons:

  • Many school districts allow nonexempt employees to volunteer at district-sponsored events or coach athletics teams. If a stipend or small fee is provided in return, the opportunity for litigation arises.
  • School districts without a defensible time tracking system may only pay for the hours employees are budgeted and scheduled to work — not their actual hours worked.
  • Some staff may work multiple jobs with different pay rates, such as bus drivers who also work in the cafeteria.

A Cautionary Tale for School Districts

In the early 2000’s, while the DOL discussed making overtime modifications, a consortium of attorneys called the School Litigation Group brought wage and hour lawsuits against hundreds of school districts.

The attorneys targeted nonexempt school staff by advertising their services on a website vowing to “try to help get you the money you deserve” and leaving flyers on employees’ personal vehicles in school parking lots. Determined to leave no stone (or potential case) unturned, they also held town meetings and placed ads with local newspapers and television channels.

Their efforts worked, and they represented thousands of school employees — leading districts to settle for $15 million in Mississippi alone. Their successes even led to the Department of Labor calling school districts’ pay practices a “systemic failure of school districts to understand and comply with basic wage and hour laws.”

It’s not far-fetched to believe that something very similar could happen again due to the recent high-profile media coverage of America’s federal labor laws.

Protecting Your School District

There’s no question about it: with school systems being perceived as easy targets, you must act now to ensure that your processes and recordkeeping are undisputable.

Here’s how.

Validate employee classifications.

Your district’s employee classification is one of the first things auditors will validate. Classifying employees as exempt from overtime simply because they’re paid on a salary basis is not compliant with FLSA regulations, but this is a common error in many school districts. You can visit the DOL website to see what constitutes different types of employees as exempt.

Organize your paperwork.

Another key requirement to preparing for an audit is to make sure you’re storing the required information, and that it is accessible if the auditor requests it. Download our guide to audit preparedness to see the list of records the DOL requires districts to keep.
Make sure you never offer the original records to the auditor. Instead, give them a copy, as any records you give them may not be returned.

Effectively manage employee records.

Organization — or disorganization — makes an impression on an auditor. You don’t want to be left scrambling for missing pieces of paper, or worse, telling an auditor that you can’t find certain records. You need an easy way to securely organize your district’s records.

Accurately track employee time and attendance.

Overtime is the most common FLSA violation committed by employers, so carefully tracking the actual hours employees work is crucial. And if your district still has payroll personnel calculating and entering payroll data by hand, stop! Instead, consider using an online time and attendance system to help ensure accuracy and more defensible records.

To All Working in Special Education: Thank You

thank to you those working in special educationAcross our nation, unsung heroes of our children patiently educate, care for and respect thousands of students with special needs. These Special Educators are far more than meets the eye. They educate children with the highest needs, often putting in hours far beyond the regular school day to plan and execute lessons with modifications to meet individual student needs and abilities.

“Individualized instruction” is one reason we owe thanks to the Special Educators across the country. We recognize all educators put in tireless hours — but today on National Special Education Day we want to highlight the work of those working in special education and the lengths to which they go in order for children to realize success. Special Educators are often the difference between a student feeling included and successful instead of excluded and defeated. This can be an overwhelming task, yet our Special Educators consistently deliver. What an accomplishment! The additional insights necessary to guide students with disabilities through the sometimes-confusing maze of K-12 education is balanced by the sheer delight Special Educators feel when they see, firsthand, a student achieving what they thought was unreachable.

We certainly have a lot to be thankful for in Special Education. I have experienced the additional hours, patience, planning, meeting preparation, concern and elation throughout the last twenty-plus years: I have the honor of being married to one of the many Special Educators in the USA. I am humbled by what she accomplishes in a day, and the positive impact she has on her students.

Please join me in expressing our sincere gratitude to all of those working in Special Education to make a difference in the lives of children everywhere. We know your career is not an easy path, and we are blessed to have you teaching our children.

Quiz: Are you teacher shortage savvy?

standing teacher writing in notebook about teacher shortage
The teacher shortage isn’t a new problem. But over the past year and a half, the situation has ramped up drastically, leading to more research on the state (and future) of teacher shortages. Now, a lot of information has come out around teacher shortages over the past few months, including our own updated survey and report.

How well have you been keeping up? Here’s your chance to quiz yourself on your shortage smarts.

Want a higher score?

Study up and stay up-to-date with our latest teacher shortage report. We asked hundreds of school and district leaders for their take on teacher hiring, and exposed a level of nuance generally left untouched by the media — as well as some surprising new statistics.

 Get the Report

Famous and not-so-famous subs

Did you know that Albert Einstein worked as a substitute teacher for two years in Switzerland? Or that John Scopes (of the Scopes Monkey Trial) was a substitute biology teacher in 1925 when he suggested the concept of evolution to his class, broke Tennessee law and found himself front and center in the trial of the century?

Just as surprising are these three examples of “substitute teachers” who made history more recently.

Japan: Robot worked as substitute teacher

Japan, the civilization that brought the world the first remote-controlled toilet flusher, unveiled the first robotic substitute teacher. Her name is Saya and, in anime fashion, she is young with shoulder-length black hair and big, saucer eyes. Wearing a professional, if somewhat dowdy, lemon-yellow suit, Saya subbed for fifth and sixth graders in April 2009, where she displayed the six emotions with which she had been programmed and which are familiar to many subs: fear, disgust, anger, sadness, surprise and happiness. On her first day, Saya took attendance and shouted, “Be quiet!” which sounded a lot like my first day.

Montana: Regular teacher asked to fill in for himself

Newspaper editor Laura Bell, of rural Montana’s The Big Sky Weekly, reported the following story on March 18, 2009. In Ophir School, located a couple miles from Yellowstone National Park, high-school music teacher Dave Johnson was fired because he let his certification lapse. The school board agreed that finding another music teacher in rural Montana would be difficult, but they had to let Johnson go; they could lose their accreditation if they kept him on. Pay attention to the next part of the story. In Montana, a person with only a high school degree can work as a substitute teacher. Johnson asked if he could substitute for himself through the end of the year, when his two last credits would be completed. (The answer was yes, although Bell later informed me that Johnson chose not to return to his classroom.)

London: Crowd control experts sought as substitute teachers

London’s Guardian education editor Polly Curtis reported this story on April 13, 2009. In an unidentified north London school, described only as being not particularly rough, bouncers, prison officers, policemen and soldiers — all people with experience in crowd control — were being recruited to fill in for absent teachers. One advertisement read, “You might be an ex-Marine, police officer, bouncer, fireman, sportsman or actor. Whichever it is, we need someone who thinks they can get involved in a school environment and control the kids in schools.” It was a cost-savings measure. Newer teacher contracts were limiting the number of hours that teachers were required to cover for absent colleagues and more outsiders were being hired to lead classrooms.