Franklin Schargel’s Blog

If you can’t fly then run. If you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Words to remember and live by.

According to Fortune Magazine, (May 1, 2019) using data from OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development), “In most industrialized nations, the average number of childbirths per woman has fallen below 2.1- ‘the replacement rate’  at which population growth levels off. For businesses and governments,  it’s a looming crisis. One impact of declining fertility- a shrinking ratio of working-aged people to retirees – is already eroding social safety nets in the U.S., Europe and Japan.”

As population falls, society will become more dependent on well-educated, well-trained workers who, in turn will be dependent on highly-effective educators. Yet we continue to lose highly-effective educators at an alarming rate.

My book, Who Will Teach The Children? Recruiting, Retaining, & Refreshing Highly Effective Educators details strategies to stop this impending crisis.

The following quiz appeared in Education Week. See how well you do with this quiz:

ANSWERS TOMORROW

1. Which of the following areas of instruction have experienced teacher shortages in every state?
   1. Special education
   2. Foreign Language
   3. Nath & Science
   4. All of the above
2. True or False. The number of people completing teacher-preparation programs is declining.
3. True or False. Though a majority of students in American public schools are children of color, non-white teachers comprise less than a quarter of the teacher corps.
4. Which of the following areas of instruction has experienced the most recurrent teacher shortages?
   1. Special education
   2. Math
   3. Computer science
   4. Foreign languages
5. True or False. Most college students who consider teaching end up pursuing the profession.
6. What percentage of U.S. teachers think that society values teaching as a profession?
   1. 22 percent
   2. 36 percent
   3. 51 percent
   4. 79 percent
7. True or False. Teachers make 90 cents for every dollar paid to people in different professions with the same level of education.

 

 

 

 

Franklin presented his best-selling new book, “Who Will Teach The Children? Recruiting, Retaining & Refreshing Highly Effective Educators” to the governor who indicated that she was looking forward to reading and having her state’s Secretary of Education to implement the strategies the book recommends to slow the educational exodus.

I am honored to become a member of the BlueScope Collaborative. BlueScope works with several states including Texas, Louisiana and Massachusetts.

 Their mission is to build a national collective of education consultants (organizations, independent consultants, and individuals with full-time positions that may be open to moonlighting opportunities) to curate best-fit teams for specific projects. If you are interested in learning more about the collective or more about BlueScope’s work, please visit their website, bluescopegroup.com through the link below.

 

The United States is not the only country having difficulty attracting and retaining classroom teachers

I received the following from Joan Schmidt, Editor/Author, Copenhagen, Denmark:

“One in three teachers left the elementary school classroom since 2017. We do not have a shortage of educated teachers; we are facing the problem that they find elementary school as a working place and educational environment short of qualities. There is little individual freedom to plan and conduct teaching and long working hours. Forty-one percent of call entities are in want of qualified staffers leaving many with substitute that are less qualified than the ordinary teacher.”

My latest book, Who Will Teach The Children? Recruiting, Retaining and Refreshing Highly Effective Teachers” deals with this problem and proposes numerous strategies to stop this critical loss.

Therapist Retention in Schools

It is a strange fact that there are more police officers in schools than support personnel like school counselors, social workers and speech therapists. The problem is not only recruitment but also retaining support personnel. Schools need to not only recruit but also to retain support personnel.

The following article is from Janet L. Courtney, MS, CCC-SLP, Founder/ CEO, Lighthouse Therapy LLC. Janet is an experienced Speech-Language Pathologist and  has demonstrated in the past 8 years, skills in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Hearing Impairment Disorders, Language Disorders, Articulation Disorders, Customer Service, Pediatrics, and Public Speaking. I am delighted to offer her an opportunity to give her viewpoint on the shortage of speech therapists.

How can schools keep or attract more quality, certified  therapists? What internal changes can reduce high turnover? Lastly, what other options are available to reduce burnout? When recruiting therapists, is it all about the money? The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) asked members to indicate the three most important factors for accepting or staying in a job.  Compensation/pay was in the top three, but flexibility was considered more important.

1. Flexibility to balance life and work
2. Compensation/pay
3. Meaningfulness of job

Job flexibility can look as different from one person to the next.  Having the ability to work part-time, job sharing, the number of assigned locations, caseload size, and student population served are areas to explore to give therapists the desired flexibility.Keeping communication open and options available allows therapy staff to feel more in control of their position.  Knowing their opinion is heard and given consideration goes a long way toward retention because they are given options from year to year. Growth and development opportunities give quality staff a way to reach their full potential.  This may include a therapist interested in a technique or new service delivery model.  It can be mentorship of newer staff members.  Another option could be assistance with school committees in which they can help impact school policy or community interactions.  Giving your therapy staff trust and recognition is also extremely important.

There is a nationwide shortage of therapists . The US Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics, 2018, reported that there are an estimated 6.7 million public school students in the United States currently receiving special education services through an IEP. (U.S. Department of Education & National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). With the need for related service professionals going up and the continued shortages, it has become more critical to retain quality therapy staff.  Therapists are having to work with higher caseloads and additional responsibilities. Caseload size matters.  Having large caseloads, the therapists have difficulty collaborating with teachers and parents because they are too busy trying to get to all their students. Then add in transportation time for getting students to the therapy room or drive time between school sites and it becomes a recipe for a quick burn out.

The use of telepractice has been shown to be an effective way to alleviate therapist shortages. By choosing to add a telepractioner to your team, you can alleviate the caseload numbers for on the ground therapists, thus reducing the risk of burnout. Many studies have been done that support the use of telepractice. Nobody should have to experience therapist shortages.  By choosing to add telepractice services you are eliminating shortages and geographical constraints for your district and reducing the risk of losing great therapists.

 

Leadership is the #1 cause of why teachers leave the profession. Or rather the lack of leadership is the #1 cause why teachers leave. Too many teachers are thrown into classrooms and expected to “sink or swim’ on their own.

It the workshops I’ve conduct I ask, “how many of you were prepared to teach the day you you graduated from your school of education?” Few attendees reply in the positive. College teachers cannot prepare potential classroom educators for every challenge they will meet.

In my latest book, Who Will Teach The Children? Recruiting, Retaining, & Refreshing Highly Effective Educators, the longest chapter is about school leadership. I believe that it is the primary key to the retention of educators.