Substitute terms getting longer...

The use of long term substitutes as a story is getting legs. As school districts continue to experience severe shortages, the practice of using substitutes to fill positions grows. And the students suffer. The US DOE says that we now have double the number of long term subs in the classroom since 1994 and that over 20% of schools now use long term subs every year.

The article then dives into the anecdotal abyss. But the example of the teacher who was in a car accident bringing in his lesson plan every day is pretty heroic. He was obviously concerned with his student’s regressing while he was recovering.

But if you have a long term sub taking over the class for a year, the sub is supposed to be planning the lesson except they may not realize their responsibility or even have the most basic knowledge of the subject.

This provides yet another opportunity for a shameless plug for our program. Why are you using a long term sub when you could be using a teacher recruited, prepared and certified by us? The reason is that people continue to let politics get in the way of common sense.

And for those who repeatedly oppose us – look at the data on our program, talk to the principals who hire our teachers and ask them if they would rather have a long term sub.

If you still don't agree, then go explain to the students that they can't have a good teacher right now because you need to make a political point.

Math: there is no substitute

Schools continue to use long term subs as a way to mask the critical issue of a shortage highly qualified teachers – especially in math and science. The latest is from Michigan which hired 20 long term subs even as they close schools and teachers graduating from schools of ed are leaving to find jobs in other states.

The quote from the Dominque - the student representative on the school board in Flint Michigan highlights the issue:

"That was my most difficult year of math," she wrote in an e-mail to The Flint Journal. "The long-term sub made the learning experience very challenging because the class was not understanding him. Sometimes he made it clear that he didn't understand himself."

Wow. Here is a school district in a state that has a teacher surplus yet they cannot find enough math teachers. It also highlights that having good teachers, who don’t know the math, try to explain complex math concepts does not work.

In Clark County, we heard from one person that some schools have more than 50% long term subs teaching. It is time to crack down on the use of long term subs and open up the certification routes to accept more qualified math and science teachers.

With teachers like this – no wonder we are falling behind the rest of the world.