Today we delve into the critical issue of teacher shortages – and how mentoring programs can be a game-changer. Lynette Thorstensen, a PD specialist in Brevard Public Schools in Florida, shares how her district is tackling this nationwide challenge head-on. Get an in-depth look at Brevard’s comprehensive approach to supporting new teachers, including alternative certification pathways and the powerful role of mentorship. From “Survival Orientations for Success” to mock classrooms and ongoing men...
Jul 09, 2024•24 min•Ep. 88
What is a Registered Apprenticeship Program in education? And how can it help school districts solve the teacher shortage? Andrea Dickson, Director of Talent Acquisition in Brazosport Independent School District in Texas, shares how their apprenticeship program enables them to open teaching up to more people who want to teach — but who may otherwise have encountered barriers to entering the profession. She describes how they structure the program and offers specific steps for any districts seeki...
Jun 25, 2024•31 min•Ep. 87
This episode of Field Trip looks at highlights from the inaugural edition of “K-12 Lens,” an annual survey report from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute. Rebecca Strott, Vice President of Market Intelligence for research firm C+C, looks at the highlights from the survey, and explores the pressing challenges and emerging opportunities within K-12. From staffing challenges and strategies for retention to concerns around student mental health and cybersecurity to the integration of AI...
Apr 18, 2024•23 min•Ep. 86
Diving into the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) in K-12 education, with a focus on its implications for educators, administrators, and students! Dr. Ellen Agnello, a former classroom teacher turned consultant and researcher, shares insights from her recent study on AI's integration into schools, addressing teachers' and administrators' perceptions, the potential uses of AI for learning and administrative tasks, and the challenges involved in adopting this technology. We also h...
Apr 03, 2024•29 min•Ep. 85
In this episode of Field Trip, we dive into the crucial role of parent involvement in special education. Dr. Kristen Williams, Executive Director for Disability Services in the San Antonio Independent School District, shares her extensive experience and passionate insights into the dynamics of educational support and parent engagement. With over three decades in special education, Dr. Williams offers practical advice for schools and educators on fostering positive, proactive relationships with f...
Mar 11, 2024•11 min•Ep. 84
In this 4th and final episode of our series on workforce oversight, Frontline Education’s Mitch Welch and Dr. Sundie Dahlkamp, Executive Director of Business Services at Pearland Independent School District, explore the intricacies of employee data visibility. Good data matters . Here is why position history is so key to making HR decisions in school districts. Takeaways: The Importance of Position History: Without a solid grasp of position history, the quality of employee data is compromised. M...
Feb 26, 2024•12 min•Ep. 83
Welcome to the third episode in a short series on workforce oversight in school districts! Once again, we welcome Frontline Education’s Mitch Welch and Dr. Sundie Dahlkamp, Executive Director of Business Services at Pearland Independent School District. This conversation is all about empowering principals. With the right processes, workflows, and technology, you can enable them to make changes to staff positions seamlessly and efficiently and ensure that any changes are communicated back to the ...
Feb 19, 2024•12 min•Ep. 82
“Position management” may not win the award for Most Exciting Phrase anytime soon, but it’s a vital concept in education — and has a real impact on employees. In this episode of Field Trip, we delve into the importance and mechanisms of position management (and position vacancies) in school districts. Dr. Sundie Dahlkamp, the Executive Director of Human Resource Services at Pearland Independent School District, and Frontline Education’s Mitch Welch explore the concept of position management and ...
Feb 12, 2024•11 min•Ep. 81
This episode of Field Trip is the first in a four-episode series about workforce oversight in K-12, with Mitch Welch from Frontline Education and Dr. Sundie Dahlkamp, Executive Director of Human Resource Services at Pearland Independent School District. Mitch and Sundie delve into workforce oversight and its importance and continued evolution in education. They also contrast the implications of workforce oversight with workforce insight, highlighting the need for both in achieving efficient data...
Feb 05, 2024•12 min•Ep. 80
In this conversation with Dr. Maria Vasquez, the Superintendent of Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida, we discuss the enrollment trends across the country. Dr. Vasquez delves into how these changing demographics affect schools, particularly aspects such as budgets, staffing, and infrastructure. She presents an informed view of this trend from her district's perspective, highlighting an upward trend in enrollment, the challenges and benefits of this growth, and the strategies OCPS t...
Jan 20, 2024•14 min•Ep. 78
‘Tis the season: as we approach the end of the year, families are preparing to gather over festive meals, students will head home for winter break... and department heads in schools everywhere will joyfully begin to put together their budgets for the next school year. For K-12 IT professionals, that not only means keeping accurate tabs on the devices in your schools, it also means making the case for a technology budget that the Finance department can get behind. In this episode of Field Trip, F...
Nov 20, 2023•26 min•Ep. 77
Sam Kirk is the Director of Finance and Operations at Armstrong School District in western Pennsylvania. As industry has dwindled, student enrollment in the district has taken a hit as well. In this episode of Field Trip, Sam shares his experience grappling with the financial realities these things bring to the district, and how they’ve started a new cyber school to compete for students that may otherwise have left. Plus, he shares how he’s creating transparency around district finances to keep ...
Nov 13, 2023•12 min•Ep. 76
In Hanover County Public Schools, there's a shift happening... something bubbling up from deep within the Curriculum & Instruction Department. Something exciting. In the past, teachers would complete their professional learning requirements in large part by participating in mandated sessions for two days every August. “The problem is,” says Dr. Steve Castle, Director of Professional Learning and Leadership Development, “it felt forced, and it felt like there’s no choice in this, and teachers...
Oct 30, 2023•14 min•Ep. 75
Portman Wills believes money is key to solving the substitute shortage — even if districts can’t raise substitute teacher wages. Substitute teachers want to be in the classroom, teaching and impacting lives. But finances — and more specifically, waiting anywhere from 2-4 weeks for payday — can force an uncomfortable choice. In a world where people can deliver groceries, drive for a rideshare service, or even work retail and get paid the same day, substitute teaching may take a backseat to other ...
Oct 04, 2023•15 min•Ep. 74
In 2022, Kelly Coash-Johnson joined a webinar with Frontline Education and EdWeek, and shared five “shifts” or practices that the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) believes are necessary to address the educator shortage: reducing barriers to careers in education, designing comprehensive human capital management systems, establishing transparent and equitable total rewards systems, strengthening educators’ sense of purpose, belonging, and connection, and delivering e...
Sep 28, 2023•14 min•Ep. 73
When trying to fill teaching positions, what can school districts do that goes beyond simply posting jobs in more locations? Dr. Jon Isaacson, Superintendent of Hillsboro R-III School District in Missouri, shares some insightful strategies for hiring and, just as importantly, retaining teachers – and the data he looks at to make some of these decisions. In this conversation with Frontline Education’s own Collin Osburn, Dr. Isaacson considers: His view of the current state of hiring in education ...
Aug 22, 2023•11 min•Ep. 72
The teacher shortage has been in the news for years — but especially since 2020, nationwide concern has reached new levels. But... Pennsylvania is not Florida. New York is not Texas. Every part of the country experiences the teacher shortage a little differently. The Frontline Research & Learning Institute recently published "The Local Teacher Shortage,” a report exploring job posting and candidate application data from Frontline Recruiting & Hiring to see how school districts in various...
Jul 23, 2023•11 min•Ep. 71
“If you don’t know where you’ve been, you don’t know where you’re going.” That’s what Derick Sibley, MBA, RTSBA, SFO, Director of Finance and Accounting at Pleasant Grove ISD in Texarkana, Texas, has to say about data. Establishing trends and examining historical financial data and other vital statistics is critical for any school district that wants to avoid financial risk. (That’s all of them, of course.) Today on Field Trip, Derick and Senior Analytics Advisor Travis Zander join us for a conv...
Jan 04, 2023•41 min•Ep. 71
School districts collect a wealth of data — data that often lives in various disconnected systems or spreadsheets that make it difficult to understand and work with. While many K-12 leaders recognize that data can be useful, the in-depth analysis that makes it possible to use data to inform strategic decisions about student programs or financial planning can often feel out of reach. Dr. CyLynn Braswell has spent 20 years in public education in roles ranging from teacher to executive director. Sh...
Aug 08, 2022•45 min•Ep. 70
School business officials have a crucial role to play for school districts. Not only are they in charge of balancing the budget for the school year, but they’re also tasked with anticipating future financial plans, sometimes half a decade down the line. Compound that with responsibilities you might not think come with the job – like, say, finding missing kindergarteners – and you have a position that’s integral to a modern district’s functioning. In this episode, John Brucato, Assistant Superint...
Jul 15, 2022•14 min•Ep. 69
School district negotiations with teachers unions can be challenging. School business officials not only have multiple stakeholders to work with and keep informed — including the school board, administration and staff, and the surrounding community — they are also tasked keeping the district solvent in the long term. Without a solid picture of the districts’ financial status both now and projected into the future, it’s hard to know how dollars should be allocated in union negotiations. In this c...
Jan 12, 2022•31 min•Ep. 68
Note: This episode was originally released in 2018, but with districts around the country facing a worsening substitute shortage in 2021, the story remains relevant today. When a teacher is out, a substitute to take over for the day isn’t a given. Many districts have a difficult time keeping a pool of substitutes that’s adequate to cover all vacancies. Today, we speak with Spring Grove Area School District about how they tackled this problem. With a focus on customer service, here’s how they bui...
Nov 17, 2021•21 min•Ep. 67
Schools are swimming in data — but there’s a difference between having data and using it to make better decisions. Since early 2020, most people have seen more charts and graphs than perhaps ever before, but using analytics in schools correctly is a developed skill. How do you take all those numbers in a spreadsheet and turn them into something useful for driving decision-making? How can schools avoid being data-rich but information-poor? Dr. Adam Cibulka has spent 15 years in public education, ...
Nov 03, 2021•26 min•Ep. 66
While most people might picture buses, crowded hallways, and teachers working in bustling classrooms, the behind-the-scenes work is just as vital. All the work that goes into making school happen: recruiting and hiring teachers, custodians, coaches, bus drivers, food service employees, nurses, and everyone else who makes it possible to open school each day. Onboarding those employees, and providing ongoing professional learning opportunities. Ensuring substitutes are in classrooms. Making sure s...
Sep 01, 2021•37 min•Ep. 65
The concern about student learning loss is real. Reduced classroom time, learning over Zoom, technology challenges, difficult home situations, mental health concerns, and heightened inequities have all contributed in one way or another to a difficult academic year. But of all the factors that affect student performance, one stands above the rest: teachers. Yet throughout the pandemic, supporting teachers’ growth took on a new wrinkle: how do you observe, evaluate, and provide feedback to teacher...
Apr 21, 2021•39 min•Ep. 64
It’s no secret that when students have teachers of the same race or ethnicity, they tend to do better academically. Yet people of color make up a relatively small percentage of the teaching workforce. Today we’re joined by Dr. Searetha Smith-Collins, a career educator and former superintendent and chief academic officer, to talk about workforce diversity in education: why it matters, and steps schools can take to overcome roadblocks to inclusive hiring practices. Related Resources: 4 Real-Life S...
Mar 24, 2021•42 min•Ep. 63
After nearly a year of remote learning, hand washing, and six-feet-apart staying, who’s doing not doing okay? The answer is… quite a few of us, kids and adults alike. This week, Dr. Rosanne Capanna-Hodge, a psychologist and author of The Teletherapy Toolkit: Therapist Handbook for Treating Children and Teens, explores the long-term impact the pandemic has on students, teachers, and school staff: Signs to look out for in kids who may be struggling with anxiety – and how to monitor mental health w...
Mar 03, 2021•36 min•Ep. 62
Leanne Sherred is co-founder of Expressable , a company that provides online speech language therapy services. In this conversation, Leanne shares what she observes and insights about: Why services for kids with speech and communication challenges are so crucial The added struggles kids face during remote learning What schools should keep in mind as they provide remote service delivery How schools can work with parents and families of students receiving teletherapy to better set them up for succ...
Nov 24, 2020•18 min•Ep. 61
School closures have been tough for everyone. Administrators, district leadership, teachers, and families raced to adapt to new teaching and learning conditions. Students faced an entirely unfamiliar school experience. Already-existing inequities grew starker, and English Learners faced extra hurdles as teachers and families often struggled to communicate. In this podcast, Dr. Jessica Hazzard, an EL specialist at Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware, shares how her district tackled these is...
Oct 21, 2020•28 min•Ep. 60
Over the past 10 years, anxiety disorders among adolescents has risen 17%. Serious depression has gone up 80%. Suicide attempts are startlingly common.[1] That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is an increasing awareness of the need for student mental health care, a greater focus on the whole child. Schools are taking more steps to provide this kind of care — and more and more, they’re becoming the primary providers of care for those students. But that’s a herculean task, and it raises...
Oct 07, 2020•44 min•Ep. 59
