Education Week - February 9, 2022 - 5

WHAT THE
RESEARCH SAYS
High-Quality Substitute Teaching: What We Know Now
By Sarah D. Sparks
In response to the worsening staff shortages and
increasing teacher absences caused by COVID-19, U.S.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona last month urged
districts to use pandemic relief money to " recruit and
train high-quality substitute teachers. "
While many districts are offering bonuses and wage
increases to bring in more substitutes, less is known about
how effective substitutes are in the classroom or how
schools can better help those fill-in teachers succeed.
" Teaching already is a high-stress job-it's relentless-and
then when you're a sub, it's just compounded because you
are working usually in new environments, " said Terrie St.
Michel, the author of Effective Substitute Teachers: Myth,
Mayhem or Magic, who served as a substitute for 30 years
in Arizona and studied the profession. " There have to be
different ways to think about including them in the school's
learning community. "
There's relatively little direct research evidence in
the last several decades of how substitute teachers
contribute to student learning, though studies on teacher
absenteeism suggest students lose ground in both math
and reading when when they have uncertified short-term
substitutes for long periods of time.
According to STEDI, the Substitute Teaching Institute,
40 percent of substitutes have a permanent teaching
license. The pandemic accelerated moves to expand
the labor pool. In the last year, states and districts have
recruited everyone from parents and college students to
National Guard reserves.
Several states and districts have also lowered the bar for
new substitutes. Kansas and Missouri, which each required
60 college credits before the pandemic, began allowing
high school graduates to be certified-with a 20-hour online
course in Missouri and an application and background check
in Kansas. Under a temporary executive order, California has
an emergency substitute teaching license to allow anyone
with a bachelor's degree, basic skills, and a background check
to substitute for up to 30 days or 20 days in a special education
classroom; normally applicants must go through a full
credentialing process.
And the Education Commission of the States finds
many states had faced substitute shortages well
before the pandemic, and already had started to relax
substitute policies to broaden the candidate pools.
Tennessee since 2017 has allowed retired teachers to
substitute without renewing their teaching license,
while Arizona in 2017 and Hawaii in 2019 launched
substitute-to-teacher college pathway policies, such
as allowing substitutes to count their classroom
hours toward requirements for standard teaching
certification.
Low expectations create 'self-fulfilling prophesy'
All that adds up to incoming substitutes who
may have limited teaching experience with any
particular grade or subject. Experts say substitutes
are significantly less likely to participate in a district's
normal professional development for its permanent
teachers-whether because they are not invited, not
paid, or don't have time. Likewise, the National Board
for Professional Teaching Standards, which provides
nationally recognized certification for teachers, has no
similar training for substitutes.
As of 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
estimated substitute teachers earn on average a little
more than $36,000 per year, with those on the West
Coast and in New England earning the highest wages.
One analysis suggests districts can boost the morale
and effectiveness of substitute teachers by integrating
them more into professional development, such as:
* Including, and paying for, subs in district teacher
training for standards, instruction, content, and
class management.
* Creating " mentor substitutes " of returning
teachers and veteran substitutes, who can help
support those with less instructional experience.
* When possible, assigning subs to specific schools,
grades, or content areas to create continuity.
Research also suggests school leaders and other
teachers can create a " self-fulfilling prophecy " of low
expectations for substitute teachers, by providing
little opportunity for incoming subs to get to know
other staff members and relying on worksheets or
other make-work lessons when teachers are away.
" What I found when I observed subs is that kids
cannot sit and be quiet for an entire class period, and
there are subs coming in with the expectation that
they'll tell kids what to do, and the kids will just do it, "
said St. Michel, an adjunct education faculty Maricopa
Community College and teacher at South Mountain
Community College. " It's not about whether teachers
leave lesson plans. It's the fact that kids are active, ...
so how do you get their attention and do something
meaningful so that there is a progression of learning
occurring? "
" Whether it's Shakespeare or quadratic
equations, the content of the engagement isn't
nearly as important as actually looking at kids,
speaking to them, and interacting with them during
the class period, " she said.
Shannon Holston, chief of policy and programs
for the National Council for Teaching Quality, said
some districts have started trying to provide more
consistent assignments and support for substitutes.
" District [staff] are, if they didn't see subs before
as a valuable part of the workforce-given the fact
that that shortage has been so dire in this past
year, I think districts are starting to see the value
in onboarding their subs a little differently and the
value in keeping good substitutes to help them run
their schools more efficiently, " she said.
From remote learning for young children to playground infection risks, schooling under the pandemic is raising a lot of questions for teachers and education leaders. This research column aims to help readers
understand what the research says-and doesn't say-about our new context for learning. If you have a question, please send it to ssparks@educationweek.org.
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