Frontline Blog

Remember when introduction of the COVID-19 vaccines seemed to present the bright light at the end of the tunnel from this global health crisis? After closures and a school year of hybrid and remote instruction, remember when we thought the 2021-2022 would be close to normal?

The status of absence management within school districts throughout the pandemic has been a consistent topic on Talk Data to Me. As teacher absence rates have consistently climbed back to pre-COVID levels this school year, states have had varying success in rebuilding their substitute teacher pools and increasing the proportion of available substitutes who actively fill absences.

As funds provided to school districts for the use of technology continue to grow, it will become even more important that the business office and technology departments work together.

The Frontline Research & Learning Institute is revisiting to see if these visions for strategic human capital management hold true for districts, schools and states today. Here’s what we’ve learned.

As school districts across the country are beginning the process of developing their 2022-23 school-year budgets, the world is still reeling from the impacts of COVID-19. New revenue, lost revenue, rising costs, labor market shifts, and a changing educational landscape all together make it a challenging time to predict and plan for the future.

The use of data analytics is increasingly part of modern life, whether you’re talking about headlines like vaccination roll-out efforts, practical matters like tracking hours at your job, or daily routines like the average height and weight chart at a pediatrician’s office. K-12 education is no different, a topic Dr. Adam Cibulka is deeply familiar with.

There is no denying that a school’s greatest resource is its teachers. Good teachers who deliver quality instruction help produce greater educational outcomes for their students. A school or district that can recruit many of these highly effective teachers can create a climate of success, providing students with lasting learning.

Substitute teacher shortages have been widely reported in national and local media outlets across the country. The shortages are so severe in some areas that they have forced school closures. Data from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute has consistently shown pandemic-induced drops in absence fill rates (the percent of teacher absences being filled by substitute teachers) and smaller than usual substitute teacher pools.

Believe it or not, data wasn’t always a factor in decision-making in schools. A lot of decisions were made subjectively. Lacking efficient digital records, educators didn’t have the data needed to make objective decisions. Fortunately, teaching has evolved into a science based on facts.