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This one hits home: lack of substitute teachers as an issue for staffing resource rooms. Many times in my teaching high school have resource rooms been understaffed or not staffed.

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This one hits home: lack of substitute teachers as an issue for staffing resource rooms. Many times in my teaching high school have resource rooms been understaffed or not staffed.

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When Chicago classroom assistants take time off or quit, Stekeena Rollins steps in to fill a crucial void.

She guides students with disabilities through lessons. She helps them eat lunch and go to the bathroom. And she "puts out little fires" amid an uptick in disruptive behaviors, sometimes feeling like a one-woman trauma team.

During a school year marked by unprecedented support staff shortages, Rollins has been in high demand.

This school year has trained a spotlight on a dearth of substitute teachers in Chicago and beyond. But the district's special education classroom assistant, or SECA, substitute pool has also been stretched thin - even as the city hired more than 140 support staff substitutes last fall, growing that pool by more than 20%.

SECAs, who help students with disabilities with academics, behavior, and basic needs, have played a key role in navigating COVID's disruption, helping schools forge and shore up student connections tested by surges and quarantines.

According to data obtained by Chalkbeat Chicago, the district was able to fulfill slightly more than a quarter of almost 80,000 requests for a support staff sub so far this school year, compared with 68.5% of requests for substitute teachers. As with educator subs, data shows wide disparities in the rates of filled requests.

The staffing shortages and heightened student academic and mental health needs have brought renewed recognition of the key roles school support staff plays - and the importance of lining up backup.

At one Chicago school, a blind student skipped lunch because he didn't know what was on the menu and put off drinking water to avoid bathroom trips when his SECA wasn't around. At Englewood's Perkins Bass Elementary, special education teacher Adriana Gonzalez has seen classroom teachers trying to double as aides, standing by a student with disabilities to offer support even as they are teaching a lesson to the entire classroom.

"SECAs are an integral part of the school community," said Gonzalez. "You can definitely feel a shift when they are absent."

Amid increasingly stressful work and relatively low pay, many paraprofessionals and other school support staff members have been swept up in the Great Resignation, said Ritu Chopra, the executive director of the Paraprofessional Research and Resource Center at the University of Colorado Denver. Chicago Public Schools has almost 440 SECA and bus aide vacancies this month, compared with 250 around the same time in 2019, according to the SEIU Local 73, the union that represents both full-time and substitute SECAs and bus aides in the district.

Many school districts, including larger urban districts such as Detroit Public Schools, don't even have support staff substitute pools.

"I am hearing more about paraeducator shortages than ever before," Chopra said. "In some cases, they get paid more at a fast food restaurant, and it's less stress for them."

SECAs pick schools that communicate student needs clearly

Rollins, the substitute SECA, says schools desperate for substitutes have courted her like never before: She gets more phone calls directly from principals trying to enlist her. Teachers praise her work and ask if they can get her a coffee or a bite to eat.

Courtesy of Stekeena Rollins

"I need to clone myself 10 more times because I get so many requests," said Rollins, who subs in Chicago and neighboring Evanston. "It's almost like a bidding war."

Support staff vacancies and attrition have bedeviled Chicago Public Schools for years, but this year, the number of SECA vacancies are "a glaring concern," said SEIU Local 73 executive vice president Stacia Scott.

Some students with disabilities are entitled to one-to-one or part-time SECA support under their Individualized Education Programs, the binding documents outlining their needs. Scott says she has seen more robust efforts - in some cases in tandem with the union - to recruit and quickly onboard custodians and crossing guards.

"I'm not sure why there hasn't been the same full-court press when it comes to SECAs and bus aides," she said.

While the fill rates for substitute SECA requests have been low across the board this school year at about 23% on average, some schools have done much better than others, a data analysis by Chalkbeat shows.

About 45 of the district's roughly 500 schools had none of their requests for SECA subs fulfilled. On the flipside, almost 20 schools had fill rates of 70% or more. The Blair Early Childhood Center on the Southwest Side got coverage all 94 times it requested support staff subs.

Substitute teacher coverage data shows that schools in some North Side neighborhoods tend to draw those educators at much higher rates than high-needs campuses on the South and West sides. But the picture is more mixed when it comes to support staff subs. The neighborhoods with highest fill rates for SECA and other subs are largely on the South and Southwest Sides, including Oakland, South Deering, Riverdale, and Roseland.

Scott and SECA subs who spoke with Chalkbeat suggested that more of these substitutes live in South and West side neighborhoods and seek out opportunities to fill in close to home. Areas that are harder to reach by public transit, such as O'Hare, might be at a particular disadvantage.

Ciere Fisher started working as a substitute SECA in 2014 while she was attending community college and weighing a teaching career. She later joined the district as a full-time SECA but returned to subbing as she pursues a graduate degree in occupational therapy. She says she subbed at a handful of nearby schools when she lived on the West Sides. Now in Lakeview on the North Side, she again stays largely close to home.

But she also says that some campuses do a better job of helping substitute SECAs navigate the tough job of parachuting in to serve students with high needs in unfamiliar environments.

Following advocacy from the support staff union, full-time SECAs are expected to leave information on students' needs, schedules, likes, and dislikes for their substitutes in the district's system. But only some schools, such as Hawthorne Scholastic Academy, where Fisher works regularly, have fully embraced that practice.

In other cases this school year, Fisher says, teachers are surprised when she shows up in their classrooms - occasionally saying they didn't even know the district had substitute SECAs. And during a hectic school year, no one has the time to explain what she needs to do and how she can be most helpful.

She's had some overwhelming days, stepping in to cover absences or vacancies in several different classrooms on the same day and covering lunch duty.

"It's kind of like being thrown to the wolves," she said. "I end up feeling like I'm not being that helpful, and I'm just a body in a room."

Rollins also says she also gravitates toward schools that communicate clearly about student needs. Because of a shoulder injury, she often can't serve students who need to be lifted onto wheelchairs or changing tables during the day - and it's frustrating to show up at a school only to find out she's not a fit for their needs.

Schools in Chicago tend to be better about providing that information than Evanston, said Rollins, who also substitute teaches in that district. At $24 an hour for sub SECAs, the pay in Chicago is better.

Chicago has stepped up effort to hire substitute paraprofessionals

The district says it has stepped up efforts to recruit and retain both substitute teachers and paraprofessionals this school year. It touts monthly job fairs, a redesigned sub recruitment website, and a social media campaign to highlight the flexibility and rewards of these jobs.

The district hired more than 140 substitute SECAs in October and November alone to address support staff vacancies, increasing that pool to 430 people, from 350 on the cusp of the pandemic.

The district also offered a daily pay incentive at the height of the omicron surge in January. SEIU's Scott says the COVID spikes and delays in contact tracing earlier this year affected sub coverage: "The fear level is very high among our subs because of how transient they are."

Nationally, districts are paying closer attention to support staff recruitment and retention, and in some cases trying to expand their substitute pools. The 820,000-student New York City school district now has 10,000 paraprofessional substitutes, up more than 3,000 since before the pandemic, according to the United Federation of Teachers, the district's educator union, which also represents para subs. That district requires full-time paras to serve in that substitute pool first; it pays a daily rate of $166.67.

In Chicago, mental health and behavioral concerns have dominated calls to Equip for Equality's hotline, but staff attorney Luiza Quental says the nonprofit that provides legal services and advocacy for people with disabilities has also heard from families who say their children are entitled to a SECA - but it doesn't seem one is there, at least not consistently. Being able to line up backup for those crucial positions is key, she said.

"Some kids really can't be without a para," she said. "The day the para doesn't come, families don't send them to school or pick them up early."

Angelina Landaverde, one of the nonprofit's clients, has a fourth-grade son who is blind and shares a SECA with other students. She says the boy has had four different SECAs so far this school year, and she keeps hearing from him about stretches when he isn't getting much help.

The family is pushing for more support in hopes of seeing faster gains in his reading and writing skills. Landaverde said her son didn't eat lunch sometimes and avoided drinking water because he didn't want to impose on friends to help him with meals and bathroom trips.

"Those are not jobs for his friends," Landaverde said in Spanish. "That's where a paraprofessional comes in."

Gonzalez, the Englewood teacher, says she has definitely felt the shortage of backup SECAs this school year. In a self-contained classroom where she works with students with disabilities, missing a SECA for the day means that she struggles to accommodate students who need to take a break from the classroom during the school day.

Gonzalez took part in a recently released survey by Educators for Excellence Chicago, in which 83% of teachers polled said special education support staff shortages have challenged their school this year.

Some Chicago principals say in a school year filled with staffing and other challenges, finding support staff backup can seem like a lesser worry.

But, as one principal who spoke with Chalkbeat anonymously because he was not authorized by the district put it:

"If you can't find a SECA sub, how do you supervise lunch and recess? How do you provide attention and care to students with extreme behavioral and other needs? For families and for classroom teachers, it's a big deal."
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago's senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

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Chicago's support staff substitute pool stretched thin amid pandemic

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When Chicago classroom assistants take time off or quit, Stekeena Rollins steps in to fill a crucial void. She guides students with disabilities through lessons. She helps them eat lunch and go to the bathroom. And she "puts out little fires" amid an uptick in disruptive behaviors, sometimes feeling like a one-woman trauma team.

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It bothers me that communities that well know about inflation don't see how that impacts teachers, and that expecting schools to remain the same while cutting budgets may not work.

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It bothers me that communities that well know about inflation don't see how that impacts teachers, and that expecting schools to remain the same while cutting budgets may not work.

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A recent study by Education Week found that job satisfaction among teachers is at its lowest level ever. And more than half of those recently surveyed by the National Educators Association said they're more likely to leave their jobs earlier than they planned. Why? Teachers and other education workers are up against pandemic burnout, understaffed schools and wages that aren't keeping up with inflation.

And that's on top of the fact that teacher pay was already relatively low.

"We have a lot of data that show that teachers are underpaid relative to peers with comparable educational attainment, and that their salaries have not grown over time," said Emma García, a senior researcher with the Learning Policy Institute.

It's a pattern that Lakeisha Patterson recognizes. She's a third grade language arts teacher at a school outside of Houston.

"With rising cost of living, and we're not seeing increases, or significant increases, in salaries - that is part of what's leading to a teacher shortage or a teacher exodus," Patterson said.

But choosing to leave the classroom behind isn't easy.

"When you're forced to make decisions between 'Do I stay in the profession that I love, or do I, for my physical and mental health, leave because I can no longer sustain this?'" Patterson said.

She added that some districts have boosted starting salaries for new teachers, but veteran teachers are missing out on those higher wages. "We should also look at how are we compensating our teachers who have put in the most time, the most effort into our students, who have been loyal to the communities that they've served for 10, 15, 20 years."

Patterson said part of the solution is how much teachers are paid. But also, "a part of that is just gratitude for the work that we do. A part of that is respect - respect that we are doing the very best for our kiddos."

Otherwise she fears that experienced educators will continue leaving the field.
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For teachers, add inflation to the causes of burnout

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A recent study by Education Week found that job satisfaction among teachers is at its lowest level ever. And more than half of those recently surveyed by the National Educators Association said they're more likely to leave their jobs earlier than they planned. Why?

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I am not surprised that virtual schooling is not always solving the issue of chronic absenteeism; our culture is so distractible, "doing things on my own time" is a special skill.

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I am not surprised that virtual schooling is not always solving the issue of chronic absenteeism; our culture is so distractible, "doing things on my own time" is a special skill.

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The Detroit school district will tighten standards for enrollment in its virtual school to address sky-high rates of chronic absenteeism and academic failure.

The district also plans to expand options for elective courses, implement a midyear check-in for incoming students, and re-evaluate teachers in the online school.

The virtual school, which grew out of the online teaching systems used during the height of the pandemic, has been operating for nearly a year, with as many as 2,100 students in grades K-12. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said he's committed to keeping the school operating for families who are still uncomfortable with in-person learning, but he and others have raised concerns about how well the school is meeting student needs.

Parents have complained about overfilled virtual classrooms, teacher turnover, and inadequate instruction for children with special education needs. Some teachers have lamented their working conditions.

Meanwhile, district data show that about 77% of students in the virtual school are chronically absent, meaning they have missed more than 10% of the school year. That's even higher than the 69% rate for students who attend in person.

What's more, through mid-April, nearly half of students in the virtual school failed at least one core class and were chronically absent.

Under the new rules for next year, students in that category will not be allowed into the virtual school.

"Our expectations for attendance and passing rates will be higher starting next year," said Vitti.

"We want the virtual school to be offered," he added, "but we also want children to be successful, and we need students who can keep pace and be supported at home through the virtual school or we're setting up students for failure."

Vitti had proposed similar restrictions last year before the virtual school opened, but the district backed away from them.

The discussion about reinforcing Detroit's virtual school is happening as districts across the country look to beef up or create online options for the coming school year. A Chalkbeat review found that nearly all of the nation's 20 largest school districts will have a remote option this fall, with at least half offering more full-time online schooling than they did before the pandemic.

Los Angeles plans to expand its remote learning options this fall ahead of its implementation of a student vaccine mandate. New York City is moving forward with plans to launch two fully virtual schools that will serve ninth graders only next year. Chicago's Virtual Academy will return this fall despite concerns from families and advocates over lack of transparency about the school's curriculum as well as its lack of resources for English language learners and students with disabilities.

In Detroit, district officials agree that the virtual school isn't working the way it should, though they haven't always been able to agree on how to make it more successful.

This spring, Vitti considered limiting enrollment next year to grades 4-12, based on conversations with school leaders that suggested the virtual school may not be the right space for early childhood literacy. But concerns from the school board's academic committee about discontinuing early grades scotched that plan.

Attendance remains an overarching worry. Board chair Angelique Peterson-Mayberry said during May's board meeting that the attendance statistics are "not good from our students' perspective."

"There are things that we need to do differently going into the fall," Peterson-Mayberry said. "We do feel that we are failing young people if we know that they are not attending and we are not putting measures in place for them to attend."

Vitti said what developed as an alternative to in-person learning during the pandemic is due for a change.

"I think it is time to just rethink the virtual setting to make sure that we're screening students and frankly holding students and families accountable to attendance and achievement in a virtual setting," Vitti said.

Additional changes could include expanding course offerings for electives, reenrolling high-performing students with consistent attendance, and implementing a midyear check-in for incoming students to determine if they want to remain after the fall semester. Teachers would be reevaluated to determine if they are the right fit for online teaching.

Tom Van Hulle, a high school social studies teacher at the virtual school, said although the program is still a "work in progress," he believes the remote learning option is making an impact.

"I'm able to talk to students, and they're able to participate in ways a traditional school setting wasn't set up for them," Van Hulle said during a May school board meeting. "Whether it's for mental health, physical health, transportation ... there's just a whole host of issues I think Detroit's virtual school is really answering."

Others are losing patience.

Caregiver and special education advocate Sharon Kelso watches her nephews' virtual high school classes every day. Between witnessing teachers getting replaced midyear and larger class sizes, she's been concerned that her nephews and other students have lost interest in school.

"The kids are there, but when they come there's nothing for them to learn," she said of her ninth and 11th grade nephews. "They're frustrated, they're disappointed. Their morale is low, and they really hate going to school because they're not being taught."

Kelso plans to send both of the children to in-person school in the fall but worries that the district won't do enough to help online students make the transition back to in-person learning.

Aliya Moore, parent of a sixth grader who attends the virtual school, said she will be returning her daughter to in-person school this fall after dealing with "the instability of the year." Moore initially enrolled her daughter due to safety concerns, but grew reluctant to keep her in the school as she observed teacher absences during the fall semester.

Kendra White, a third grade teacher in the virtual school, described an unpleasant work environment. While students attend online, all virtual school teachers are required to teach in person at the former Communication and Media Arts high school. There isn't enough space in that building for each teacher to have their own classroom. So they share. That might mean three teachers in one room - all trying to conduct their own lessons.

"It's so noisy, you can't think, you can't focus," White said.

White says students are being shortchanged, too.

"We had so many students, we can't take care of them," she said. "We can't fit their needs. We can't do interventions for kids that need to read for their third grade reading law. There was no time to service these children, and that's a disservice to the families of third grade."

Vitti countered that the district is offering noise-canceling headphones for teachers. In addition, he said, under the district's $700 million facilities plan, more classroom space could be offered to teachers once DPSCD Virtual School is moved to the currently vacant Northern High School building.

"This is an evolution of improvement when it comes to the virtual school," Vitti said.
Ethan Bakuli is a reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit covering Detroit Public Schools Community District. Contact Ethan at ebakuli@chalkbeat.org.

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Detroit tightens virtual-school rules, citing poor grades, high absenteeism

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The Detroit school district will tighten standards for enrollment in its virtual school to address sky-high rates of chronic absenteeism and academic failure. The district also plans to expand options for elective courses, implement a midyear check-in for incoming students, and re-evaluate teachers in the online school.

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I've always embraced the whole child approach to education, so this post-pandemic wave confirms that belief.

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I've always embraced the whole child approach to education, so this post-pandemic wave confirms that belief.

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43 percent of parents are worried that their child is not learning the right skills in school to be successful in the future.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. , /PRNewswire/ -- Education nonprofit Gradient Learning has released results from a national survey, indicating that 91% of teachers believe students perform better when schools prioritize whole child learning.

Conducted in partnership with Project Tomorrow, the Gradient Learning Poll surveyed 1,418 teachers, of grades 4-12, across the country to better understand their views on the state of education. Participants span the national education landscape with 42% of responding teachers supporting suburban communities, 30% in rural communities, and 28% in urban communities.

Now more than ever, educators, families, and caregivers are calling for a broader focus on students' social and emotional needs as well as the development of future-ready skills. Reports indicate the past two years of the pandemic widened the skills gap, and many schools are responding to this demand by providing a whole child approach to education. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development defines whole child learning as policies, practices, and relationships that ensure each child, in each school, in each community, is engaged, supported, and challenged.

In addition to agreeing that students perform better with whole child learning:

88% said they believe schools need to adopt a broader definition of student success to include both academic and non- academic skills

62% shared that students are more comfortable asking for help with a whole child approach

Nearly two-thirds report their students take more ownership of their learning as a direct result of adopting a whole child approach

As one Colorado district leader shared, "students don't just come to school to take a test. They come to school to learn, work as a team, and build life skills. There's no better feeling than knowing you're meeting the needs of all your students."

Explore the full results of the Gradient Learning Poll: Educating the Whole Child.

The Gradient Learning Poll is a survey of teachers across the nation, measuring sentiment on topics of importance to students and educators alike. As part of its commitment to rebuilding education Gradient Learning has embarked on this initiative to listen to educators, understand their feedback, and provide actionable solutions to meet their needs.

About Gradient Learning
As a nonprofit organization led by educators, Gradient Learning is a trusted partner-to communities, schools, educators-that creates captivating solutions to meet the holistic needs of every child while fostering success for all. We are empowering an underpowered educational system to work for students of today and tomorrow. Our offerings include the Summit Learning program-a research-based approach to education designed to drive student engagement, meaningful learning, and strong student-teacher relationships-and

SOURCE Gradient Learning

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National Survey: Teachers Believe Whole Child Learning Gives Students The Skills Needed To Succeed

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43 percent of parents are worried that their child is not learning the right skills in school to be successful in the future. REDWOOD CITY, Calif. , /PRNewswire/ -- Education nonprofit Gradient Learning has released results from a national survey, indicating that 91% of teachers believe students perform better when schools prioritize whole child learning.

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This is not good news for English teachers -- if the high school graduation requirement would drop down to 3.5 units, that means fewer sections available for staffing. I also believe that the four units are essential, until teaching reading and writing skills across the curriculum is prevalent.

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This is not good news for English teachers -- if the high school graduation requirement would drop down to 3.5 units, that means fewer sections available for staffing. I also believe that the four units are essential, until teaching reading and writing skills across the curriculum is prevalent.

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A task force charged with evaluating Kansas' graduation requirements sees an opportunity to increase flexibility for the state's high school students.

The Kansas State Board of Education's Graduation Requirements Task Force on Tuesday briefed the board on the past year of its work.

The task force, co-chaired by board member Jim McNiece and Basehor-Linwood High School principal Jarred Fuhrman, told the state board it still needed a few more months to develop specific recommendations for the board to take up at a future meeting.

However, preliminary recommendations from the group would give students broader latitude in picking how classes count toward the state's credit hour requirement, while also requiring students to pick up experiences outside the classroom to supplement their high school transcripts.

All changes would rely heavily on Individual Plans of Study, or high school course plans that the Kansas State Department of Education strongly recommends school districts implement for each of their students.
More: Kansas was setting high school graduation records. Then schools had to teach in COVID.
Recommendation would keep 21 unit floor, re-organize how classes count

Currently, Kansas school districts must require their students to pass at least 21 units in specific subjects to graduate, although districts are allowed to require more than that.
More: Is Kansas Legislature underfunding special education? Advocates say the state is falling far short
In Kansas, a unit generally measures a year's worth of learning in a class, with two regular semesters adding up to one whole unit. The task force's initial recommendation would be to maintain the current 21-unit floor but adjust how various classes count toward that minimum.

Classes would be reorganized into a new classification system, to better align with the skill sets schools hope to teach students, rather than the specific subjects, said Christie Meyer, a subcommittee chair on the task force and principal at Eisenhower High School in Goddard.

Those groups include:

* Communications (4 units) -Instead of requiring four whole units of English language arts, that requirement would drop down to 3.5 units, with a half unit of communications (such as speech, debate, forensics or public speaking) rounding out the category to four units.

* Society and Humanities (4) -Rather than three units in history and government and one unit in fine arts, this requirement would be restructured around 2.5 units of social studies (world and U.S. history, government), 0.5 units of fine arts (music, dance, art, theater) and one additional "humanities/arts" unit.

* STEM (7) - three units of science and three units of math are needed to graduate under current requirements, and the task force recommends keeping those six and adding one unit of an elective in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Computer science could also fill this role.

* Employability and life skills (6) - Current graduation standards require one unit of physical education and six other electives. The task force's initial recommendation would be to require only 0.5 units of physical education but require students also specifically take 0.5 units of health, 0.5 units of personal finance or financial literacy, as well as 4.5 electives that align with their post-high school goals.

"It's just allowing a little bit more flexibility in (students') options, depending on how they meet the students needs," Meyer said.

Post-secondary assets could be new requirement for high school seniors

Since it was charged with evaluating graduation requirements, the task force has toyed with the idea of requiring post-secondary assets, or outside-the-classroom experiences that still hold value for students as they move into post-high school colleges and careers.

The task force's recommendation on Tuesday was to require students to earn two or more post-secondary assets from either of two categories, including:

* Career and real world - This would include experiences such as apprenticeships, community service, work and agricultural experiences, industry-recognized certifications, Eagle Scout and Girl Scout Gold Award ranks, Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and 4-H recognition, among others.

* Academic - These would be school-related experiences or accomplishments outside of specific letter grades, including higher-than-average ACT scores, college credit hours, high state assessment scores, International Baccalaureate program completion, etc.
More: Civics test in high schools? A new Kansas state assessment could be on the way
The key for either category is that districts would be given the ability to determine what could count as a post-secondary asset, Meyer said.

"What works in in western Kansas may not work in Kansas City," she said. "What's good for students in Topeka may be different than what's good for students in Wichita."

Graduation flexibility exists, but some school districts don't realize it

One of the key things the task force found is that while Kansas school stakeholders want more flexibility for students to be able to graduate, many don't realize school principals, superintendents and school boards already have the authority to make those decisions at the local level.

School administrators can already grant course credit for experiences and needs that aren't tied to specific class time, since units are tied to "successful demonstration of competency and knowledge of a content area," Fuhrman said.

As far as the overall initial changes, McNiece said the task force has only started "scratching the surface" of what a potential overhaul could look like.
More: Kansas high school seniors will soon take civics tests. Can you pass one?
He said the task force needs additional time to work with the state education department and other stakeholders to determine what changes could be both feasible and effective.

Members of the overall State Board of Education were receptive to the overall concept of the graduation requirement recommendations. But they emphasized that with any added flexibility, they'd want to maintain rigor.

"Some people might say, 'Well, the only thing you're doing is making it easier for kids to graduate,'" McNiece said. "No, actually, we're making it more difficult - not in the sense that it's difficult to accomplish, but that it's difficult in terms of challenging them to look at school differently and to think about their future differently."

The Kansas Board of Regents, which oversees the state's higher education system, in April had passed a resolution calling on the State Board of Education to require four units of math and English language arts each for high school students to graduate.

They also urged the State Board to require students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and to take at least one class in computer science.

Board member Ann Mah said the Regents' resolution seemed to indicate the higher education agency was shifting most responsibility for Kansas students' success in college to the state's high schools.
Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.
"The Board of Regents really laid it on us to keep the rigor in high school because they took it all away in college," she said.

Even a small change to the graduation requirements would be notable, since the last time the State Board of Education made any such change was more than 20 years ago, when it voted to add a fine arts credit.

A more recent task force charged with evaluating graduation requirements ultimately decided against recommending any changes.

However, any changes would only take effect after the current class of freshman at the time of the change graduate. In other words, a vote to change graduation requirements next school year would tentatively affect the class of 2027.

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More flexibility to Kansas' high school graduation requirements could be around the corner

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A task force charged with evaluating Kansas' graduation requirements sees an opportunity to increase flexibility for the state's high school students. The Kansas State Board of Education's Graduation Requirements Task Force on Tuesday briefed the board on the past year of its work.

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Yikes!! This district raises pay for subs, lowers requirements from having college degree to HS diploma. I can see how this may solve a spot teacher shortage, but this is a bad precedent for teacher education and could have a profound effect on learning.

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Yikes!! This district raises pay for subs, lowers requirements from having college degree to HS diploma. I can see how this may solve a spot teacher shortage, but this is a bad precedent for teacher education and could have a profound effect on learning.

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Substitute teachers within Shelby County Schools do not need a bachelor's degree and can now earn $112 to $172 per day depending on certification.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Wednesday morning, Shelby County Schools announced a daily rate pay increase for substitute teachers and they changed the qualifications.

Instead of substitutes earning $95 a day, they will now earn $112 per day. Certified substitute teachers will earn $172 per day. Initially, SCS subs were required to have a bachelor's degree with a 2.5 GPA but as of Wednesday, subs are only required to have an HS diploma.

In a statement to ABC 24, Shelby County Schools said, "The bachelor's degree requirement was removed from the non-certified substitute teacher requirements in order to extend eligibility. HR reviewed the job description which is not an uncommon practice. Upon review, the eligibility requirements were revised, approved, and expanded."

For the first time, Kelly Education Services is helping Shelby County Schools fill the classroom with teachers by supplying substitute teachers and classroom monitors. We spoke with Kelly Education Services Tuesday before the raise in pay was announced.

For the 2021-22 school year, Kelly Education Services is currently supplying SCS with 50 classroom monitors and 102 substitute teachers. Monitors mainly assist teachers who are working remotely so there's a teacher present in the classroom. But according to SCS, because of the shortage of teachers, those monitors are taking more of a substitute teacher role.

Kelly Education helps place teachers in several schools across the county, including Holmes Road Elementary, DoubleTree Elementary, Egypt Elementary, Manassas High School, and Ridgeway Middle School.

Kelly Education has more than 800 subs working in the Shelby County area.

If you are interested in becoming a substitute teacher, apply here on the SCS website.

‼️BREAKING: NEW compensation packages (increased daily rates) for Substitute Teachers!

Make a difference in the lives of @scsk12unified students. We're hiring dedicated people who are passionate about education.

Apply TODAY: https://t.co/svaowhv6Lt. #SCSis901 pic.twitter.com/lbMHZDyvS8
- Dr. Joris M. Ray (@SCSSuptRay) January 12, 2022

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Shelby County Schools increases pay, changes requirements for substitute teachers

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Substitute teachers within Shelby County Schools do not need a bachelor's degree and can now earn $112 to $172 per day depending on certification. MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Wednesday morning, Shelby County Schools announced a daily rate pay increase for substitute teachers and they changed the qualifications.

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Reading that some communities are subsidizing housing to attract teachers to fill positions is both inspiring and deflating.

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Reading that some communities are subsidizing housing to attract teachers to fill positions is both inspiring and deflating.

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Beau Toepfer.
Courtesy photo

Aspen School District is not the only district in the country facing teacher shortages as schools across the nation are struggling to find available staff to fill gaps in teacher positions.

Still, the district has faced challenges with teacher retention and replacement this year, and some educators have expressed concerns about the impact of that turnover and staffing shortages throughout this year. The challenge lies in part in hiring replacement teachers and finding substitutes.

As of the morning of May 24, the middle school had a total of 14 open positions, the high school had 13 open positions and the elementary school had two open positions including classified, certified and athletic coaching positions. Across the district there were 49 unique listings for different positions; numbers are subject to change as the district fills positions.

According to Aspen High School principal Sarah Strassburger, a possible solution to the problem, at least in the short term, could be reallocation and hiring one teacher for multiple positions.

At the end of the 2022 school year, Aspen High School lost two world language teachers. One Spanish teacher, Joseph Dziedzic, got his dream job with a baseball team in Arizona, and a French teacher, Eric Lamb, said he is moving to Roaring Fork High School to help his community and teach in the same district as his son, who is just starting kindergarten.

Lamb was partially involved in hiring his own replacement and reorganizing teachers to fill his position. One option that Lamb suggested was that instead of hiring a replacement for Lamb, Aspen High School could shift other world language teachers to fill that position and reallocate some of their duties to another new Spanish teacher so everyone gets a little more work, but no one teacher has to fill in. Both positions could then be filled by only one teacher.

"Jane (Larsen), for example, who teaches French and also teaches our English language learners support classes and instruction classes," could be a fit for that concept, Lamb said. "So we're looking to hire a Spanish teacher who can do both Spanish and teach English, which would mean that Jane could do more French and less of the teaching English, so there won't be another full-time French teacher hired."

With the entire job market for professional educators struggling, being able to fill more positions with fewer people can be a solution in the short term. Lamb also heads the Advanced Learning Plan Program at the high school. The program helps gifted students further their education and make sure they are sufficiently challenged. Lamb has been helping students in that program create learning plans that made sure they would be getting the best educational experience they could. Another teacher also leads the program at the middle school, but they seemed to be already quite busy with their other classes, according to Lamb.

"The woman who is doing it at the middle school, she seemed overloaded and I thought, well, why don't they just make it (a) full-time position and spread it over the high school and middle school and we'll have some continuity?" Lamb said.

The high school actually lost fewer teachers this year than in years prior, according to Strassburger, but the district has a harder time hiring than many other districts because of several factors. There is a smaller applicant pool and housing is a larger problem because of the sheer cost of living in this valley, among other things.

The district has put out marketing videos and even put an ad in Outside Magazine with the aim of attracting teachers to live in Aspen as well as work at Aspen High School. Housing is likely a significant limiting factor for teachers as rent in the Roaring Fork Valley is too high for a teacher salary. However, the Aspen School District owns a lot of property and continues to acquire more as part of a $114 million bond initiative.

"The idea is to offer people housing with a subsidized rent so it is below the free market. The free market is out of control for teacher salaries," Strassburger said. "We have some homes in Snowmass, we have some in Woody Creek, we have some in old Snowmass and Basalt, so there's kind of a variety and there are a variety of sizes. And we're hopeful that that will help bring people here."

The need for more substitute teachers is another beast to tackle.

Currently a main focus for the district is to ensure that the schools keep functioning. Having one teacher checking in between multiple classes or having regular teachers substitute if they don't have a class during that period is a short-term solution to the problem. Students still need a teacher in class, and having regular teachers sub is one of the only solutions right now. What really needs to be done is make pay better for substitute teachers and increase benefits to encourage more people to join the field of education.
Beau Toepfer is a sophomore at Aspen High School and news editor for the Skier Scribbler student newspaper. This is his first year with the paper.

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Teen Spotlight: Considering short-term solutions for teacher turnover

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Aspen School District is not the only district in the country facing teacher shortages as schools across the nation are struggling to find available staff to fill gaps in teacher positions, writes Teen Spotlight columnist Beau Toepfer. Still, the district has faced challenges with teacher retention and replacement this year.

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I have taught classes where older siblings are being asked to stay home and care for younger siblings, and this is a challenge that is likely going get worse with the wave of anti-work from home sentiments.

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I have taught classes where older siblings are being asked to stay home and care for younger siblings, and this is a challenge that is likely going get worse with the wave of anti-work from home sentiments.

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Chronic absenteeism rose 80% in Connecticut during the pandemic. See how a few districts are getting kids back to school

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As schools across the country continue to wrestle with a pandemic-driven increase in chronic absenteeism, small successes in Hartford and elsewhere are giving state education leaders hope for replicable solutions.

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I'm on board with assisting with children’s social, emotional, physical and mental health development; I worry that I have the training or the tools to be the right person for the job.

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I'm on board with assisting with children’s social, emotional, physical and mental health development; I worry that I have the training or the tools to be the right person for the job.

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South Carolina schools should embrace a whole-child education philosophy, meaning they should cater to a child's needs outside of academics in order to close the achievement gap, according to a report from the University of South Carolina's College of Education.

The college believes that by assisting with children's social, emotional, physical and mental health development and needs, schools can create a more equitable environment, giving more children the tools they need to succeed in life.

This is especially true for high-needs students, students of color and those from rural areas, said the report released last month.

"Schools alone can't address the myriad of challenges facing young people and their future, we need a community approach," said Barnett Berry, senior director of policy and innovation at the college and one of the contributors to the report.

More coverage

To read more in-depth stories from The Post and Courier's Education Lab, go to postandcourier.com/education-lab.

Currently over 61 percent of students in the state are "high needs," meaning they are eligible for Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, are homeless transplants or are in foster care, according to the report.

Over half the students in the state are not White, and one in six students attends school in a rural community.

The report, which was done in conjunction with Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative, said that the whole-child vision doesn't require teachers and administrators to do any additional work. It's about partnering with businesses and community organizations to meet students' non-academic needs.

The USC analysis found five elements to a whole-child education: executing a whole-child vision for teaching and learning; transforming learning environments; redesigning curriculum, instruction and assessment; building adult capacity and expertise; and aligning resources effectively and equitably.

South Carolina already has the basis for some of these elements in place. For example, the whole-child vision can be anchored in the profile of a South Carolina graduate that the state's Department of Education has already established.

A South Carolina graduate should have world-class knowledge, including rigorous standards in language arts and math for career and college readiness, world-class skills like creativity and innovation, and life and career characteristics such as integrity and self-direction, according to the Department of Education's website.

The researchers also highlighted gaps needed to be filled to enact a whole-child philosophy, such as how different agencies in the state have their own visions, which leads to a lack of coordination and collaboration. They also noted that while there is integrated data available, it remains largely siloed in different agencies and there are limited incentives to get them to share it.

The same goes for the other elements.

Going forward, the researchers recognized that educators, students and families are still suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic that greatly disrupted learning.

They outlined three main recommendations for policymakers and practitioners that include developing a clearinghouse of evidence-based practice of whole-child education in creating a venture capital fund for school communities to learn from each other in systematic ways.

They also advise these groups form a set of common performance metrics for monitoring progress as the whole-child system is developed, and that pilot school districts using the whole-child philosophy be established.

Follow Hillary Flynn on Twitter @HillarySuzane.

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USC says South Carolina schools should embrace whole-child education policies

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South Carolina schools should embrace a whole-child education philosophy, meaning they should cater to a child's needs outside of academics in order to close the achievement gap, according to a report from the University of South Carolina's College of Education.

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Requiring students to be eligible for 4-year college acceptance as graduation requirement is a strong position. I like the aspiration of this goal; I would be concerned how this impacts inclusivity.

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Requiring students to be eligible for 4-year college acceptance as graduation requirement is a strong position. I like the aspiration of this goal; I would be concerned how this impacts inclusivity.

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There hasn't been a school board election quite like this in Los Angeles Unified in more than a decade - no record spending, much less mudslinging - and no deluge of campaign mailers with candidates backed by the teachers union facing off against those backed by charter school advocates or a city mayor.

Still, there's a lot at stake leading up to the June 7 primary for three board seats: Topmost is overseeing the academic and emotional recovery of students from the COVID-19 pandemic. And that will mean getting the most out of record-high, short-term funding. The seven-member governing board also must navigate rapidly dropping enrollment, which could lead to school closures and worsen potentially serious long-term financial stress.

The two incumbents, Kelly Gonez and Nick Melvoin, face no well-funded challenge, even though the teachers union spent millions to oppose their first bids for office in 2017. This time the teachers union is endorsing Gonez and silently conceding to Melvoin.

The most competitive race is for the open seat in District 2 - which covers downtown and stretches north and east to include Los Feliz, Highland Park, Boyle Heights, El Sereno and East L.A. Four candidates are vying for the seat of termed-out school board member Monica Garcia: Maria Brenes, a longtime nonprofit director on the Eastside; Rocio Rivas, a senior aide to board member Jackie Goldberg; Erica Vilardi-Espinosa, a finance officer and school volunteer; and Miguel Ángel Segura, a district substitute teacher.

Major special-interest groups are split among three of the candidates. United Teachers Los Angeles is backing Rivas. Local 99 of Service Employees International Union, the largest union for non-teaching employees, is supporting Brenes, as are charter school advocates. Unions representing public safety officers have endorsed Vilardi-Espinosa.

Charter school supporters have not yet launched their familiar mega-funded, hard-knuckle independent campaign of past races. Instead, the two largest employees unions - UTLA and Local 99 - are pouring in the major money in District 2.

Two years ago, independent spending on school board races leading into the primary reached about $8.5 million. In the current cycle, independent spending is about $2.85 million, although that's still an enormous sum for anywhere outside Los Angeles.

Part of the explanation for the lower-key races might be that the major forces behind candidates faced a common enemy for the last two years: the pandemic. The crisis resulted in increased cooperation, a suspension of hostilities and an aftermath of lingering civic exhaustion, said Fernando Guerra, director of the Loyola Marymount University Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

UCLA education professor John Rogers suggested that a corner has been turned, partly by circumstance and partly by a decline of support for charters among some leading Democrats in a Democrat-dominated region.

"We have entered a Pax Los Angeles characterized by new shared concerns with addressing the great needs created by the pandemic," Rogers said. "There is much work ahead for the next board, but it need not be as divisive and destructive as in recent years."

All the candidates emphasize a need for an intense focus on academic recovery. Nearly all also want at least as intense a focus on student mental health. There's also broad support for "community schools," which offer a range of help to families and a voice for parents and students. And, collectively, there appears to be no enthusiasm for increasing the number of charter schools - albeit with subtle differences.

There are, however, notable distinctions when it comes to vaccine mandates and accelerating cuts to school police - the candidates answered questions on this topic before the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

The school board, including Gonez and Melvoin, has enforced a vaccine mandate for employees, while postponing enforcement of an earlier mandate for students 12 and older.

Melvoin and Gonez favored a first round of $25 million in cuts to the school police department, but said they are reluctant to cut further for the moment. Brenes said she wants to "uplift" the voices of student activists who favor abolishing school police; Rivas wants to bring the community together over the matter. The other candidates explicitly support having school police - either moderately or strongly.

No candidate has outright opposed the merit of the 20% raise that teachers are asking for, although some question its affordability. Melvoin said the district simply can't afford 20%; Gonez said she hasn't yet "run the numbers."

District 2

Brenes, 45, is the longtime leader of InnerCity Struggle, a student advocacy and family services group that operates out of Boyle Heights. Rivas, 48,conducts research, develops policy and works as a community liaison for school board member Jackie Goldberg, a labor ally. Vilardi-Espinosa, 46, who has worked as an entertainment industry accountant and chief financial officer for a small firm, has held leadership roles in local schools and the neighborhood council. In addition to teaching, Segura, 36, has worked as a logistics specialist for political campaigns.

Brenes, Rivas and Vilardi-Espinosa all are parents with one or more children currently in district schools. No board member in recent times has had a child in an L.A. public school, although Gonez has one that is about to enter an early education program.

Brenes is the candidate who identifies most closely with Garcia, although she'd like to nurture better ties to teachers. Garcia and Brenes worked together for years to identify and pursue priorities at Eastside schools. This included requiring all district students to graduate qualified for admission to a four-year state college. The policy ultimately was scaled back because students were not hitting the mark, although having the target probably resulted in more students completing the necessary coursework.

Among all the candidates, Rivas - whose varied career in education-related fields included work overseeing charters - embodies the strongest anti-charter sentiment. Rivas also is the candidate most critical of Garcia - who has been a steady supporter of charters.

In 2019, Rivas was among a large group that ran for the open school board seat in District 5. After Goldberg won that race, Rivas began working for Goldberg.

Vilardi-Espinosa has views that align closely with the teachers union, but differs with union leaders in her support of school police. She said that, since cuts were made to the police department, response times to schools have extended considerably, making campuses feel less protected.

Segura, a former student body president at Belmont High, notes he's the one person in the District 2 field with teaching experience. In addition to his current subbing, he taught for about four years in local schools shortly after graduating from college.

Districts 4 and 6

In their bids for reelection, Gonez, 33, and Melvoin, 36, each stress their stewardship of the district through the pandemic, their push for improved academic opportunities and better mental health supports.

All of those were selling points for retired businessman Bill Bloomfield, who once again is spending big in a school board race andhas set aside more than $2 million for an independent campaign on behalf of Melvoin, Gonez and Brenes, whom Bloomfield said he views as the person who would best continue Garcia's work. The vast majority of his funding has gone to a campaign on behalf of Melvoin.

This includes a negative campaign against Melvoin's two challengers, teacher Tracey Schroeder and parent Gentille Barkhordarian.

The teachers union's evolving stances on the two incumbents signals that the union "has learned that it can work with Melvoin and Gonez and therefore doesn't see the need to back an opponent," speculated Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education.

Melvoin and Gonez each were instrumental in the recent hiring of Supt. Alberto Carvalho, while Melvoin was more central in the hiring of previous Supt. Austin Beutner. During the height of the pandemic, both board members stepped back and let Beutner make major decisions. These actions put the district at the national forefront on safety measures, such as weekly coronavirus testing, and in close alignment with the teachers union. Critics said the results overlooked student needs for more services, a longer school day and a quicker reopening of campuses.

Both have favored pushing more resources to schools with the neediest students, even at the potential expense of schools with more middle-class students.

Gonez, who was elected school board president by her colleagues, represents District 6, which covers most of the east San Fernando Valley.

Her opponents, Jess Arana and Marvin Rodriguez - both district parents - align with her politically on many issues. Both are pro-vaccine, although Arana would not mandate it for either students or employees; Rodriguez supports the employee mandate.

Arana, 44, a district police sergeant who has filed for retirement, takes issue with cuts to the police department, although, like other pro-school-police candidates, he emphasizes that security needs must not come at the expense of counseling.

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The other challenger, Marvin Rodriguez, 42, drives with his daughter every day to Cleveland High, where she's a student and he's a Spanish teacher with 17 years of experience. He also has a younger child in a district school. Like Arana, he's a military veteran. His experience, he said, gives him the courage to make difficult decisions on behalf of students.

Melvoin represents District 4, which stretches westward to the coast from Hollywood and Hancock Park and north into a portion of the west San Fernando Valley.

His two challengers are Barkhordarian, 56, and Schroeder, 48. Both oppose any COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Schroeder has been an L.A. Unified elementary school teacher since 1998 and stresses her experience, her independence and love for her job.

Barkhordarian, a parent of two with an engineering background, said her experience as a business consultant, language skills and immigrant background provide a solid basis for board service. She opposes the cuts to school police. Recovering from learning loss and staffing shortages comes down to strengthening parent involvement, she said.

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L.A. school board races like no other in recent memory: less spending, little mudslinging

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There hasn't been a school board election quite like this in Los Angeles Unified in more than a decade - no record spending, much less mudslinging - and no deluge of campaign mailers with candidates backed by the teachers union facing off against those backed by charter school advocates or a city mayor.