Substitute Shortage in the U.S. and how training can help decrease it

Chances are if you’re working in K12 education, you’re already aware of the current substitute teacher shortage, but are you familiar with the why behind the shortage? And, more importantly, are you aware of proactive ways to prevent a shortage at your school or in your district? One particularly successful way of reducing the shortage is through virtual substitute training. Read on to learn how App-Garden’s Virtual Substitute Training can keep you ahead of the curve when it comes to substituting teacher shortages.

Educators are among the most undervalued and underpaid professionals in modern-day America. As a result, fewer college graduates are queuing up to fill the vacancies left in education as they leave college burdened with all-time highs in student debt. In turn, substitute teachers are being converted to full-time teachers leaving the substitute pool scant. Even for school districts with higher substitute teaching interest, the pool remains reduced until training can be completed. This is generally true because training occur at specific, dedicated intervals throughout the year and require in-person attendance as well as significant resources from the district to support training.

eLearning is giving rise to a new, cost-effective and attractive alternative: virtual substitute training. Many districts implementing virtual training have found this alternative to not only be more attractive due to convenience but also because quality control is inherent in the process meaning substitutes are more adequately prepared to step in when needed.

If you’re looking for further benefits beyond convenience and quality control, virtual sub training also assists in reducing the substitute teacher shortage by allowing substitutes to train at their leisure without required in-person attendance for training. This gives schools and districts the power to have rolling streams of substitutes added to the sub-pool rather than waiting and admitting subs in a cyclical sum fashion. Ultimately, if you’re waiting for the next in-person training to beef up your sub roster, you’re missing out on subs who are ready today.

When you opt for App-Garden’s Virtual Sub Training, App-Garden will work closely with you to customize the training modules and tailor the content specific to your needs. As substitutes are ready for training, you provide the substitute candidate with a link to your training portal. The substitute completes training on their time, at their convenience, and at their pace, ensuring maximum retention of information. To tie it all together, once the substitute completes the training modules, testing and compliance can be built-in to confirm the substitute not only completed the training but also absorbed the important material.

 

Ready to avoid a substitute shortage? Request a demo from App-Garden and witness firsthand the benefit of virtual sub training.