Education Week - February 2, 2022 - 7

paid time off to teach temporarily.
More than half of Oklahoma
schools have had to close for a time
because of staff shortages this semester,
KOSU reported. Oklahoma state
Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, who
is running for governor as a Democrat
against Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt,
called the governor's action " a cup of
water on a raging fire. " She called on
Stitt to allow schools to implement
more precautions, like universal mask
requirements, to help slow the spread
of the virus. Some local superintendents
also said the plan devalued the
expertise of trained teachers.
In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper
approved Jan. 12 a plan that allows
state employees to use community
service leave to work in schools. But
that plan expires Feb. 15, and some
school leaders say it's not enough to
cover the need.
" I do think it's a nice gesture, " said
Kimberly Hager, senior executive
director of human resource services
for Durham schools. " Do I think it's
alright? Yes. Do we need more? Absolutely. "
The
district has heard from " three
or four " state employees since Cooper
announced the policy, Hager
said. On a typical day, the district has
about 200 teacher absences to cover,
and it may only find substitutes for 30
percent to 40 percent of those classrooms,
she said.
Other states have called on the National
Guard to serve as school bus
drivers, but New Mexico is the first to
ask them to substitute teach. Guard
members and state employees will
both substitute under the state plan.
Starting 'bidding wars,' appealing
to retirees
In December guidance to school
districts, the U.S. Department of Education
said leaders should consider
using federal relief aid to raise substitute
teacher pay or to offer sign-on
bonuses for new recruits.
Hager is skeptical that such a
change could help, noting that Durham
struggled despite having the
highest substitute pay rates in the
region. Palo Alto raised its substitute
pay from $165 to $185 per day for
short-term positions, Austin said, but
it soon realized it could end up in a
bidding war with neighboring school
systems.
" There are districts in the area
now paying $300-plus for just a daily
substitute, " he said. " There's a point
to where it doesn't move the needle.
You're just paying more. "
But that hasn't stopped schools
from trying. Last month, Montgomery
County, Md., schools approved
a plan to increase pay for certified,
short-term substitutes by 8 percent,
to $150 a day. The district also plans
to offer $60 stipends to subs on highneed
days, like those before three-day
weekends, when staffing shortages
are greater.
Some states have also sought to appeal
to retired teachers to take longerterm
substitute roles. In Michigan, for
example, a law enacted last year allows
recently retired teachers to return
to the classroom immediately without
risking a loss of retiree benefits.
But some administrators say retirees,
who have typically made up a
significant portion of their substitute
teaching pool, are reluctant to return
in classrooms, particularly in areas
with low vaccination rates, because
their older ages put them at greater
risk for severe illness.
Longer-term solutions to a
growing challenge
Even as leaders rush to address the
need for teaching staff, it can take a
while for those changes to affect the
reality on the ground.
In the Kansas City suburb of Olathe,
Kan., district leaders are still exploring
how much Kansas's relaxed certification
requirements will help ease workforce
burdens, a spokesperson said.
Amid climbing virus rates, the district
preemptively closed for two days following
the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Day holiday, citing " dire challenges. "
" Our dedicated principals, teachers,
and staff did their best to cover for one
another to make sure students could
learn, but it was a great challenge, "
Superintendent Brent Yeager wrote
in a letter to parents.
The current challenges highlight a
problem that was building long before
the pandemic, said Amanda von
Moos, the co-founder of Substantial
Classrooms, an organization that
advocates for improved training and
systems for hiring substitute teachers.
" Across the country, leaders are feverishly
working on a moving puzzle,
trying to figure out this staffing stuff, "
von Moos said. " Every day they solve
that puzzle feels to me like a minor
miracle, but it's hard to feel gratitude
for something we are used to counting
on. "
She estimated that schools could
make it work with about 20 percent of
teachers absent but, past that, they've
" maxed out " on what they can do.
School systems that have fared better
include those with permanent substitute
teachers, who draw a regular
salary and benefits and float between
classrooms throughout the year, she
said. Montgomery County, Md., said
it would pilot such a program.
Other districts have competed
against private employers as the country
experiences what some have called
" the Great Resignation. " And some
school systems that have worked to
build student support programs to aid
with pandemic recovery efforts may
have already hired would-be substitutes
to work as tutors, teachers aides,
or other roles.
In the long-term, school systems
would benefit from improving training
of substitutes and better integrating
them into their regular staffs so
they can find the support and autonomy
they need to succeed, von
Moos said.
" Substitute teaching has been sort
of a hidden part of the education
system for a while, " she said. " Prepandemic,
if we are being honest, we
didn't have any kind of systematic approach
or investment in making sure
it was good learning time. The chief
strength of our legacy model was that
it kept costs low. I think now we are
paying the cost of ignoring this part of
education for decades. "
The Science of Reading:
How Prevention Leads to Proficiency
Everyone seems to be
talking about the science
of reading, and with
good reason. The shift
towards the science
of reading has uncovered
major gaps in some of
the most widely used
programs and methods
of instruction. It's shaken
up the foundation of
how many of us were
trained to teach.
The good news is the
science of reading is not
a trend, a fad, or one
side of a reading war. It's
a body of research that
includes instructional
methods that actually
work to improve student
outcomes and prevent
future reading difficulties.
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 2-3 PM ET
https://edw.link/ScienceOfReading
SPEAKER:
* DEEDEE WILLS,
Instructional Literacy
Coach and Curriculum
Developer, Mrs. Wills
Kindergarten LLC
Content provided by
| WEBINARS
| WEBINAR
Shifting the Landscape of K-12
Attendance and Engagement
For the past two years, there
has been a dramatic increase
in chronic absence. Where
most see attendance as only a
problem, it also represents an
opportunity to rebuild learning
conditions and meaningful family
engagement pathways so all kids
can become more successful.
In this webinar, we will discuss
effective ways to strengthen your
student and family engagement
and communication strategies.
From necessary learning
conditions promoted through
restoring whole school supports
to the importance of effective
two-way family communication,
attendees will take away new
approaches to shift the landscape
and meet contemporary
attendance challenges head-on.
SPEAKERS:
* HEDY CHANG, Founder
and Executive Director
of Attendance Works
* PHILLIP SHAVER, Vice President
of Education, Impact, and
Community at AllHere
Thursday, February 3, 2022 2-3 PM ET
https://edw.link/K-12AttendanceEngagement
Content provided by
| WEBINAR
EDUCATION WEEK | February 2, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 7
https://www.edw.link/K-12AttendanceEngagement https://www.edw.link/ScienceOfReading http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - February 2, 2022

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