No Substitute for Quality.

School leaders try pay incentives, consortiums and temp firms to fill their thirst for substitute teachers

The worst day in Bob Minthom's administrative career was Nov. 12, 1999, a balmy Friday when almost 2,000 teachers in Hillsborough County, Fla., called in sick to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the possibility of a long weekend.

"The weather was just spectacular," recalls Minthorn, who serves as the school district's coordinator of substitute teachers. Thursday had been a district holiday, he adds, "and everybody just said, 'I don't want to go to work."'

With more than three times the usual number of absences that day, almost 400 classes went unfilled.

Even on an average day, Minthorn struggles to fill all the requests he gets for classroom replacements. Of course, Hillsborough County is not alone in this predicament. While some estimates suggest there are as many as a million people who work as substitute teachers nationwide, increasingly there are not enough substitutes to go around. School districts large and small are being hit by serious shortages of substitutes. Frustrated by low wages and difficult working conditions, some substitute teachers are even joining unions (see related story, page 11).

New Tactics

To be sure, substitute teaching remains a low priority in many school systems, even where severe shortages exist. Competing demands for attention and resources often force those in charge of substitutes to make do with a shoestring budget.

Many districts still rely on the school secretary to find substitutes each morning and continue to use handwritten index cards to keep track of which substitutes might be available.

However, the magnitude of the staffing shortfall is compounded today by heightened concerns about the effects of substitute teaching on student learning and a small but high-profile set of cases where substitutes have been accused of unprofessional and even criminal conduct. These factors have generated top-level attention to the issue of substitute teacher quality and are prompting some districts to take steps previously considered unnecessary or impossibly expensive. In these districts, cutting-edge technology, privatization and private-sector style recruitment efforts are all on the table.

The rationale behind these efforts is clear. At worst, an inadequate substitute teacher system can poison broader efforts to raise academic standards and establish accountability. "It's not just a warm body you need, you need a quality warm body," said Susanne Murphy, who coordinates substitute assignments in the 2,500-student Ansonia, Conn., schools. "Someone who cares and has a sense of humor about school kids and what they are like."

Escalating Needs

While substitute teachers make up a largely informal, often-marginalized part of most school systems, their role in educating students can be surprisingly large. Experts estimate that, on average, a student is taught by substitute teachers for 187 days--more than a full year of school--from kindergarten through 12th grade. In districts with higher faculty absentee rates, the cumulative amount can be as much as two full years of schooling.

Fueled by a strong economy and scattered shortages of permanent teachers, the need for substitute teachers is rising. For workers with college credits and other job opportunities, fast-food wages and a notoriously difficult working environment make for a hard sell when it comes to attracting qualified candidates.

The pool of qualified substitutes who are looking for permanent assignments has diminished in many parts of the country. Increased professional development has only expanded the need for substitutes and the amount of time they spend in classrooms. As a result, almost 90 percent of school districts report having problems when it comes to covering all classrooms daily, according to a recent national survey conducted by the Substitute Teaching Institute at Utah State University.

Of these districts, 56 percent report having "serious" problems with their substitute program. In some cases shortages are so severe that classes are regularly cancelled or combined, in-school professional development is severely limited and teachers, administrators and school staff are dragooned to fill the void.

Five Strategies

Superintendents and school personnel directors who've scratched their scalps raw in pursuit of adequate numbers of qualified substitute teachers suggest five coping strategies that follow:

* Strategy 1: Make the Job More Attractive.

One common initial approach is to try to increase the appeal of substituting. Yet the most obvious means--a pay raise--may nor be the most effective.

When shortages become apparent, many school districts first attend to their substitute teacher shortage by raising the daily pay rate, sometimes by as much as 10 percent. While costly, this is a simple way of attracting or retaining substitutes who might otherwise choose assignments in neighboring districts or perform other types of temporary work. Though rates vary widely by region and type of districts, the Substitute Teaching Institute says noncertified substitutes on average nationally are paid about $65 per day, which is sometimes not enough to be competitive in a tight labor market. Rates below $40 per day are not uncommon, according to the reports collected by STI from substitute teachers around the country.

In addition to across-the-board pay raises, some districts offer retired teachers health insurance coverage instead of pay or create "frequent substitute" programs to reward those who work regularly throughout a school year with slightly higher pay.

Last year, the Boston Public Schools began offering health insurance benefits to substitute teachers who consistently work at least three days a week. To improve coverage at notoriously chaotic middle schools, schools in neighborhoods perceived to be less safe and in fields such as special education, the 21,500-student Racine, Wis., school district is considering a proposal to pay a $15 per day premium to substitutes in exchange for guaranteed availability, "no matter when we call them or where we ask them to go," says Racine's Superintendent Dennis McGoldrick. The Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colo., serving 23,000 students, already offers $6 per day in extra pay during spring months when demand is highest. In Houston, substitute teachers in high-need specialties have been paid as much as starting teachers, even though they often lack teaching certificates.

However, few school districts find a strong or permanent response to the financial incentives, and not many can afford to pay significantly more. Experience and research conducted by STI suggests that low pay is not always the top factor for substitutes deciding where to teach. In many cases, pay raises seem to be a catch-up measure used when a district's daily rate has fallen behind its neighbors' pay scale. The impact on the number and quality of substitute teachers is modest. "They're really not subbing for the money," says McGoldrick, whose district surveys substitute teachers about their experiences every other year.

In reality, the challenge of enhancing the job's appeal goes much deeper than minor improvements in pay. To address the more fundamental issues that make substituting unattractive, a small but growing number of districts are making a sincere push to improve the substitutes' experiences in classrooms.

"What substitute teachers need most--more even than salary increases--is a sense of well-earned dignity," says human resources administrator Danny DeGuire of Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas.

Places that have implemented "sub-friendly" programs--where substitute teachers have identification badges and access to faculty lounges, permanent teachers regularly leave adequate lesson plans and principals welcome substitutes to their schools--have reduced turnover and improved the continuity of learning for students. "This is really stuff that doesn't cost a lot of money," McGoldrick says (see related story, page 14).

Easing Entry Points

* Strategy 2: Increase the Pool of Potential Substitutes.

In addition to attracting and retaining those already interested in substitute teaching, some districts focus on trying to expand the overall pool of potential substitutes. Increasing the pool can help deal with growing demand and limited availability of substitutes.

School districts approach this in two ways. The most common way to expand the pool has been to lower the education requirements for substitute teaching. Most states require no more than a high school degree for substitutes, and many states still require at least some college will grant waivers for schools to downgrade educational requirements on a temporary or emergency basis to fill critical shortages. The state of Wisconsin two years ago began allowing districts to hire substitutes with four-year degrees but no teacher training, a practice now widespread. In fact, a high school diploma was the most common minimum requirement reported in a recent survey of 500 school districts. Iowa is the only state that still requires substitutes to be fully certified teachers. Just last year, the California Commission on Teaching and Certification reported a 14 percent increase in requests for waivers.

The benefits of this approach are mixed at best, and many districts already have dropped their hiring requirements as low as they can. "The major shift [toward lower minimum requirements] has already been done," reports STI's Executive Director Geoff Smith. And the results are not always stellar. In Nebraska, easier hiring standards resulted in just 64 additional applicants statewide. In addition, lower standards raise liability concerns among teachers and parents, who fear the disruption and lost learning time that could result from having under-prepared substitute teachers in the classroom.

While the vast majority of districts still passively rely on substitutes to apply for work, some districts now aggressively recruit additional candidates through face-to-face group presentations and innovative advertising. Retired teachers, undergraduate education majors, parents, public employees and vacationing retirees are among those commonly targeted in district recruiting programs.

In Mesa, Ariz., more than 100 of the district's 800-strong substitute pool are vacationing retirees who have been recruited as substitutes during the winter months through movie theater advertisements and recruiting visits by school personnel to recreational vehicle parks in the area. In Chicago, about 50 firefighters and police officers work as substitutes on their days off. In Rogers, Ark., a number of college students responded when fliers went up in their dorms as part of an enhanced recruiting program started in 1999. The pool of substitutes also increased when the district started offering dinner coupons to school staff who provided referrals to possible candidates. In Poudre, Cola., retired teachers and parents are recruited at school and through the mail.

Reducing Competition

* Strategy 3: Collaborate Rather than Compete.

Even the most creative and aggressive recruiting will get you only so far when all the neighboring districts are clamoring for the same substitutes each morning.

Many school districts have responded to the competition for the best-qualified by hiring a few as permanent substitutes--also known as "daily" or "floating" subs in some places--rather than gambling each day. Approaches vary, with some districts hiring a certain number of permanent substitutes while others staff each school with its own full-time sub. Permanent substitutes also can be hired according to which types of substitutes are most needed or hardest to find.

In Poudre, Cola., the district hired four special education paraprofessionals as floating subs in order to meet an area of severe need. Even with a higher pay rate than regular substitutes, as well as benefits, the district chose special education paraprofessionals because their field had vacancies hard to fill. As paraprofessionals, their pay scale was relatively tow.

However, permanent substitutes are an expensive way to lock out the competition, as well as an easy way for principals to add clerical staff. Permanent substitutes sometimes limit the flexibility of building administrators in deciding whom they want to fill vacancies. For these and other reasons, the 11,000-student Rogers, Ark., Public Schools abandoned its permanent substitute teacher program in 1996 after only one year. The district had hired five certified elementary school substitutes and five more high school teachers certified in various areas, paying them for a 150-day school year at a rate $15 per day over the standard rate for substitute teachers plus benefits. The plan failed in large part because the permanent substitutes didn't teach the full 150 days, making the program unjustifiably expensive. In addition, the system for monitoring and allocating subs within the district wasn't sufficiently flexible.

"The principals still wanted to be able to request favorite subs," says Jane Webb, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources. "What it cost us didn't make up for the fact that it just didn't help that much."

Instead of competing, some districts have taken the opposite approach by banding together to increase the pool in their region. Last August, seven of the 10 districts in Wisconsin's Fox River Valley conducted a regional job fair that attracted 150 new substitutes, according to Bill Fitzpatrick, superintendent of the Little Chute Area School District, one of the smaller districts in the consortium with 1,400 students. With districts as big as the 14,650-student Appleton school system, the seven cooperating districts serve almost 35,000 students combined. "There was some skepticism about acting together," he acknowledges, but no one wanted to start a bidding war.

To make the fair more successful, the participating Fox River Valley districts developed a streamlined application process that includes a common application form, on-site medical and criminal background checks and pre-service training for those without teaching certification. The districts also collaborate in staging a two-day training session for substitute candidates and provide additional training for special education. The training rotates from district to district each semester. The regional job fair will be held every year.

Temp Staffing

* Strategy 4: Bring in Outside Expertise.

Given the size and complexity of the challenge, school leaders increasingly turn to external expertise for help, usually in the form of computerized calling systems or outside staffing agencies.

Automated calling systems usually are the first stop when it comes to outside help with substitute teacher shortages. Computerized calling systems speed the calling process and ensure that as many potential subs as possible are contacted. "We have used the computerized system for about 10 years now," says Danny DeGuire, who is responsible for handling San Antonio's staffing needs, "and even on days when the computer wheezes and burps, the schools are better off than when they had to find the substitutes on their own."

Another appeal of the automated systems may be that they ease substitutes' fears of being hounded by a teacher or principal to take a vacancy they don't want to accept. With the automated system, says Linda Lambert, who is the substitute teacher coordinator for the 3,000-student Park City, Utah, schools, "No one is trying to coerce them into taking the position. It makes them a little more willing [to be substitute teachers]."

In addition to computerized calling systems, some districts have resorted to electronic mail and the Internet to fill their classroom needs.

Like higher pay and lower hiring standards, automated systems don't always make a real difference. As Hazel Gibbs, executive director of human resources in North Carolina's 9,600-student Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District, puts it: "Automated systems don't make more people."

A more radical form of outside assistance is hiring a temporary staffing agency to take over the entire process of recruiting, screening, training and placing substitutes.

That is exactly what administrators in Ansonia, Conn., did. Unsatisfied with the number and quality of substitutes that were being generated through traditional means, school administrators in the 2,500-student district decided to give Kelly Educational Staffing a try last spring. Though the district usually needs just six to eight substitutes on a typical day, according to assistant superintendent Susanne Murphy, the school board agreed to a systemwide pilot that was successful enough for the district to commit to the firm this year.

Despite the increased costs, according to Murphy, "the clincher is quality subs, where you need them, when you need them and instant responsiveness to any problems that come up." The district no longer uses the telephone service that had been responsible for daily calling. Several other districts, including Gulfport, Miss., are pleased with the service being provided by outside staffing agencies.

How much of a premium is added on top of the substitutes' daily rates ranges from district to district and company to company. (In addition to Kelly, at least five other firms provide substitute teacher placement services to districts, and more firms are entering the market.)

Edinburgh, Ind., Superintendent Ron Mayes says the contract his district had with Kelly added about 40 percent. That's much more than it cost Gulfport, Miss., Superintendent Carlos Hicks, who reports that his staffing contract costs an added 12 percent. In general, district officials with experience contracting for staff estimate added costs at 20 to 40 percent, not counting personnel and other savings that might come from farming out the task.

Not everyone is willing to pay the tab, however, and some of those who have hired a temporary services agency were not satisfied. In some instances, these districts already had invested substantially in automated systems, and other districts dropped the outside help after the agency failed to generate a promised increase in the pool of substitute candidates. In Edinburgh, Ind., a rural district of 1,000 students, Mayes recommended his board discontinue its contract with Kelly Educational Staffing following a pilot run last spring.

While Kelly performed well, Mayes says the labor pool needed by the firm "just doesn't exist in our little neck of the woods." Based on his experience, Mayes believes staffing agencies work best in more populated areas.

A Basic Rethinking

* Strategy 5: Look at Systemic Issues.

When all other measures don't satisfy the need, a handful of progressive-minded districts have made deeper changes in the way they use and conceive of substitute teachers.

Instead of trying to improve existing processes or make marginal changes to expand the pool of qualified substitutes, these districts are rethinking the fundamental assumptions surrounding substitute teachers and making far-reaching changes to the way things are done at the district level.

One obvious area is training and evaluation of substitutes, which is becoming more affordable and more necessary, given the lack of educational training of many substitute candidates. For cost and other reasons, most districts have not required or provided any training or orientation for substitute teachers, much less formal evaluation. More than three out of four school districts don't require orientation or training for substitutes, according to a recent survey of 500 school districts by the Substitute Teaching Institute. Of those that do, few provide help with teaching and classroom management skills.

However, districts that have implemented substantive training programs for substitutes have enjoyed the results.

"The training has stopped a lot of the complaints we had been receiving from the principals," says Gerald Lowery, benefits coordinator in Hardin County, Ky. He credits the district's eight-hour pre-service training program with a 50 percent increase in retention from year to year.

Much the same is true in Hillsborough County, Fla., where a series of serious and highly publicized incidents involving substitutes three years ago created momentum for a training program. Almost immediately, the 175,000-student district surrounding Tampa saw an increase in applications from interested substitutes and a decline in the number of written complaints filed by substitute teachers from almost 500 a year to fewer than 200 two years later.

"We're attracting people we didn't attract before," observes Minthom, who coordinates Hillsborough's substitutes. Retention also improved with only 200 of nearly 1,400 substitutes dropping out from last year to this.

Potential substitutes have responded with similar enthusiasm to the substitute teacher training program that is being implemented in Maricopa, Ariz., for candidates who lack college credits. More than 400 candidates have signed up for the course, which is being provided at a local college. Their average age is 38, and nearly three-quarters of those signed up are parents, school staff and others already involved in the schools, according to district officials.

Fewer complaints and higher retention aren't the only benefits of better training and higher respect. Extensive training also enables schools to use candidates with fewer qualifications. Hillsborough County developed an expanded version of its developmental program in which substitutes without college degrees received 10 full days, or 60 hours, of training before entering the classroom. The normal amount of training for substitute teachers in Hillsborough is three full days.

Training also can help provide permanent teachers for the future. In Dumas, Texas, substitutes teach three days a week and attend college for two days, paid for by the district in exchange for a commitment to teach in the district for five years following certification.

Reducing Absenteeism 

In the end, however, one of the most effective--and perhaps most difficult-ways of addressing the substitute teacher issue is to reduce the need for substitutes by reducing absences by teachers. "As an educator," says Nancy Slavin, manager of substitute services in Chicago, "I see a correlation between the days the teacher is in the classroom and the achievement of the students." As for substitutes, she adds, "no matter how great they are, they're still not the regular teacher."

The first step is raising awareness about staff attendance issues. Reporting faculty attendance rates, either internally or publicly, documents the problem and can spur needed changes. In Chicago, a new program to report faculty attendance internally was started in September. Three states-New Jersey, Ohio and Rhode Island-already require districts to publish staff attendance rates as part of mandatory school report cards, according to the 1999 edition of Education Week's "Quality Counts."

One popular method to reduce the need for substitutes is to coordinate and even cap staff development scheduling. After studying the effects of outside staff training on teacher absences, officials in Mesa, Ariz., decided to prohibit attendance at outside training events during the school day. "We were our own worst enemy," says Janice Ramirez, district administrator of the substitute teacher program. The change resulted in a first-year drop of 15 percent in teacher absences.

When administrators in Racine, Wis., realized that almost 30 teachers were out doing professional development on some days, especially Mondays and Fridays, the district set a ceiling of no more than 20 scheduled absences per day. Eventually, they lowered the cap to 12 and implemented an exemption process in which principals can request a leave of absence above the cap.

The 3,000-student Park City, Utah, schools have restricted professional development on Mondays and Fridays to address the problem. And administrators in Poudre, Colo., have built in limits to teacher absences on "variance" days into the contract. Based on data from the previous year, a list of these peak-demand days is published at the start of the school year, and requests for teacher absences for those days must bereviewed and approved by the district.

Setting limits on staff development schedules is not always easy, however, and in school districts with collective bargaining agreements in place, such a change may not even be allowed without adding professional days.

In the most serious situations involving teacher attendance, incentives may be warranted. In DeKalb County, Ga., the incentive program recognizes staff members who are absent fewer than four days a school year, with modest awards in the form of savings bonds and letters of recognition.

DeKalb's assistant superintendent, Franklin "Dean" Grant, who created the program, says his district's attendance incentive plan saved more than $150,000 in its first year of use almost 15 years ago and regularly saves the district almost $1 million in lost services per year.

A Possible Tradeoff

No single approach is a sure-fire winner, and none of them is cheap or easy. Some may even bring with them unintended consequences. For example, a centralized or privatized substitute teacher system may lead to a loss of ownership and responsibility at the school level. Limiting professional development to regular staff can stifle needed changes in classroom instruction. And once substitutes are more easily available, teachers might be more inclined to miss school than they would when substitutes were scarce and the burden was on them to find a replacement.

Still, the need to provide quality substitutes is increasingly clear, and where shortages become extreme and the impact can be documented, some school boards seem willing to provide the resources.

"You find the money to do whatever you want to do," says Grant.

Alexander Russo is a Chicago-based freelance writer.

On Deck: The Unionization of Substitutes

Shirley Kirsten may be the Al Shanker of substitute teachers. A fast-talking, constantly networking New York City transplant to sunny Fresno, Calif., Kirsten led a prominent and ultimately successful effort to unionize substitute teachers in Fresno--without the support of the local teachers union. She recently became president of the newly created National Substitute Teachers Alliance.

At the first National Conference of Substitute Teachers in Washington, D.C., last summer, roughly 50 to 60 substitutes from 16 states discussed how to form a united front for better working conditions. They created the National Substitute Teacher Alliance.

At present, only 5 percent of substitutes are represented by a bargaining unit, most of them in large urban districts, according to Kirsten. While recent organizing efforts in some parts of the country have gained wide publicity, substitutes already are members of the union or represented by the union in bargaining agreements in many others. Teachers unions have incorporated substitutes to their ranks in several large California districts, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Fresno, San Francisco and Oakland, as well as Madison, Wis., Dade County, Fla., and Boston, Kirsten says. Substitutes in parts of New York, Oregon and Michigan are also represented by collective bargaining units.

Minimal Effect

While higher costs are an obvious and perhaps unavoidable fear, the Fresno experience suggests that unionization of substitutes need not be disruptive. According to Assistant Superintendent Gordon Lindberg, unionization hasn't made that much of a difference, largely because the schools already work with so many other organized employees. Fresno also already had due process procedures in place.

"We would just as soon not have had the union, but I don't want to be on the record saying that it's a bad, bad thing," says Lindberg.

"On a day-to-day basis, I do not think that the administrators here feel that business has changed due to the union for subs," reports San Diego Unified School District's Deberie Gomez, deputy administrative officer for human resources.

The number of substitutes who are unionized could rise quickly if the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers decide they would rather organize the substitutes than have another union represent them. For instance, the substitute teachers in Fresno joined Service Employees Union Local 535. In Springfield, Mass., substitutes joined the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1459. Organizing activities are under way in San Bernardino, Calif., the Pajaro Valley Unified District in Watsonville, Calif., and the Gary, Ind., Community School District.

The motivating issues in Fresno were wages and dismissals, not shortages, according to Lindberg. Substitutes had been paid the same $65 per day for a decade and organized successfully despite a last-minute proposed increase to $75 per day and belated efforts by the local teachers union to represent them. The rate eventually was negotiated at $80 a day, with higher rates for extended assignments and cost-of-living increases built in.

Beyond Pay

The goals of those who want to organize substitutes go far beyond pay increases and better preparation. Among other objectives, they want health benefits, sick leave and protection from unfair dismissal. Their efforts are modeled on a recently passed Oregon statute that links substitutes' pay to those of full-time teachers and Michigan's substitute teachers bill of rights.

However, organizing substitutes is not an easy feat, especially without the support of the local teachers union. Reluctance from district officials, along with state statutes that prohibit substitutes from organizing, are serious obstacles to widespread substitutes' units. Private staffing agencies are also seen as a threat to unionizing efforts.

"I think it's wrong that districts abdicate the responsibility of placing subs in the classroom," said Liz Sanders, who heads the National Substitute Teacher Alliance in Michigan. "Whatever they're paying Kelly, maybe they could pay the subs."

In addition, a solid working relationship between a district and its substitutes also can limit the latter's interest in unionizing. In Racine, Wis., a substitute teachers unionization vote went against the union in large part because of the long and contentious history of strife between the union and the district, including a series of strikes in the 1970s. "They just didn't want to be a part of that," according to Dennis McGoldrick, Racine's superintendent.

Making Schools Substitute Friendly

BLAINE L. SORENSON

Are you finding the number of substitute teachers available to work in your district's schools is slowly dissipating? You can stem this exodus of substitute teachers by identifying why they no longer are willing to serve at your schools or in your district before taking corrective actions.

That's precisely what Ray Timothy, superintendent of Millard County schools in Delta, Utah, did when he was a principal. Timothy recalls being told by the school district's coordinator of substitute teachers that "every day, fewer and fewer substitutes are choosing to return to your school." The coordinator was concerned that the school would exhaust its supply of substitutes before the school year was over.

Timothy reported this concern to the school faculty. The teachers were at a loss to explain why substitutes were not interested in returning to their school. After all, the teachers said they left detailed lesson plans and expressed clear expectations to students about appropriate behavior during their absence.

Timothy carried his investigation directly to the source--the substitute teachers. At first, they were reluctant to share why they no longer wished to work at his site, but the principal persisted in his questioning. The reasons for their reluctance soon became evident. The substitutes comments included these: "The classrooms are always locked"; "No one visited the classroom during the school day"; "I eat by myself in the staff lunchroom"; and "No one welcomed us to the school."

Concerned about the implications, Timothy set about to make his school more substitute friendly. Room keys were made available to substitutes. Other staff personnel made it a point to visit with each substitute. The substitutes were invited to sit with other staff members during lunch. These small matters were obviously important to the substitute. By addressing their concerns and implementing modest changes in practices and policy, Timothy was able to change the substitute teachers' feelings about working at his school and he improved his retention of substitutes.

Relationships Matter

Other educators, like Timothy, are coming to realize that schools can and should do more to make the school environment more accommodating to their substitute staff. Dorothy Clore, a substitute teacher in grades 6-12 in Michigan, echoed this sentiment in the spring issue of Sub Exchange, a newsletter published by the Substitute Teaching Institute at Utah State University. Clore described what happens when substitute teachers receive little or no recognition and appreciation.

"It is in the teachers' lounges where public relations with subs could be improved," she said. "Initially I went into the lounges at lunchtime thinking I could meet some of the staff members. But I was greeted with such indifference that I don't even bother going in there anymore.

Many school districts have begun the practice of assigning mentor teachers at each school to ensure the substitute teacher has someone to assist him or her during the school day. This individual checks in with the substitute teacher to see how things are going and offers accompaniment to the staff lounge or cafeteria during lunchtime.

A popular misconception about why substitute teachers choose to leave teaching is the pay they receive. Yet studies suggest pay is not the No. 1 or No. 2 reason why substitutes leave. Research by the Substitute Teaching Institute has revealed that a substitute teacher's perceived lack of success in the classroom and lack of appreciation do more to hasten their departure from the classroom than the daily compensation they receive.

The research indicates that substitute teachers don't perform well in school settings where they are made to feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. Substitute teachers may view themselves as lacking the skills necessary to be successful in the classroom.

Easy Practices

Every staff member plays a part in making the teaching experience at the site both rewarding and meaningful for the substitute teacher. Districts that are experiencing success in recruiting and retaining substitute teachers are implementing substitute-friendly practices.

Some recommended practices include these:

* Make sure a principal and office staff greets the substitute teacher at the beginning of the school day;

* Visit the substitute teacher in the classroom during the school day;

* Conduct a brief exit interview with the substitute teacher as he or she leaves at the end of the teaching day and ask all substitutes to complete a short report about their experiences;

* Make sure classroom teachers prepare their students for the visit of the substitute teacher and provide materials necessary to carry out the lesson plan;

* Provide skills training and positive feedback to the substitute teacher;

* Gather feedback from the substitute teacher about the teaching day and lesson plans;

* Include substitute teachers in social groups in staff lounges or lunchrooms;

* Announce "guest" teachers over the public address system and recognize long-term or frequent service at a school board meeting; and

* Grant substitutes free access to district and school events.

During his years as a superintendent, Timothy adopted several of these practices and found they helped him to double the number of substitute teachers available for service in his school district while improving retention.

Additional details about substitute-friendly practices are available at subed.usu.edu/tips.

Blaine Sorenson is an administrative/secondary education specialist at the Substitute Teaching Institute, Utah State University, 6516 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322. E-mail:[e-mail]

Graduate Interns: A Substitute Source

RALPH M. BURKE JR.

One of the greatest challenges for any school district is the need to have a cadre of well-qualified substitutes.

Students need a replacement instructor for each absent teacher. Long-term absences further exacerbate the meager substitute pool. Last year, the Fairfield, Conn., Public Schools had extraordinary substitute needs with 35 young women out on maternity leave for six to eight weeks. These lengthy absences often overlap, quickly diminishing the bank of substitutes.

Now with an increasing number of full-time faculty, an emphasis on smaller class size, a greater commitment to staff development and the need for specialized staffing to meet specific needs of a school or a particular child, the role of substituting takes on a more meaningful role.

Educating and training graduate students in teacher education and deploying them as substitutes can be a win/win/win situation: a win for the university whose teaching candidates need experience, a win for the local school district that has ongoing needs for qualified staff and a win for the graduate student who gains real classroom experience and financial assistance en route to the teaching ranks.

The Fairfield school district has operated its Graduate Internship Substitute program in conjunction with several nearby universities for nearly 25 years.

The program meets various objectives. The universities cooperate with the local school district to develop a well-trained educator and provide academic support and research. The school system gains the necessary substitutes who ultimately become candidates for full-time positions. The graduate students develop a long-standing relationship with the school district, obtaining positive exposure while gaining monetary support to defray tuition.

The nearby Norwalk, Conn., Public Schools at one point bolstered their substitute teaching ranks with nearly 40 graduate interns from the University of Bridgeport. Many other universities in Connecticut, including Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University and the University of New Haven, have united with their neighboring school districts to develop similar graduate substitute programs.

How It Works

Participating graduate students sign an agreement to work the 186 days of the school year in an assigned school. They are available to provide substitute coverage within the building for the 182 student days and attend faculty and department meetings. The school district sends a $9,000 stipend in the name of each graduate intern to the university.

In turn, the university uses this novel research lab as another recruiting tool for graduate candidates in education. The district markets employment opportunities among the participants.

The graduate interns are typically individuals pursuing first-time teaching certification, but some are former teachers who might have left the profession to raise a family and now desire retooling before returning to the profession. Some are fine candidates who might not have been hired but in whom the district remains interested for future employment. They are encouraged to pursue a master's degree as a graduate intern.

The graduate student commits to a full day of work as a substitute, then attends graduate classes in late afternoon or evening.

For the district, the per-diem cost for substitute coverage by graduate interns might be considered the breakeven cost of a daily substitute. The school district offsets the tuition payment by the time it has obtained 113 days of substituting by the individual intern. Fewer days served results in a slightly higher than the normal per diem of $80. The merit of the program significantly outweighs the modest increased rate.

A Familiar Presence

The permanent substitute becomes one of the school "family" members. Like full-time teachers, they become knowledgeable of the daily school routine and expectations. the graduate interns also develop relationships with other faculty, students and parents and gains an understanding of the philosophy of the district and the school. They also learn the curriculum, the textbooks in use and any special needs or exceptions.

Consider, too, how advantageous for the substitute to meet with certified professional who can review the lesson plans for the day and provide minute-by-minute directions on what and how to teach the lessons during his or her pending absence.

When the graduate intern arrives on the date of assignment, he or she exudes greater confidence about performing effectively as a replacement teacher, The regular staff, including the administration, can be assured that the classroom will be well served in the absence of the regular teacher. The children benefit from continuity of instruction. The typical disruption brought on by the use of a substitute is mitigated significantly.

The graduate student is not required to complete his or her graduate degree during the year of the internship. The money remains in an account at the university for the individual to draw against during graduate study. Any balance remaining upon completion of the degree is issued directly to the intern. While this often doesn't occur, there are situations when an individual joins the substitute internship program midway into the degree program. One university issues a small additional stipend to the individual.

The graduate intern programs at each participating university run a seminar as part of the academic studies, providing an excellent networking forum for those who are working as substitutes in various school districts. They can share experiences and learn from each other. The weekly meetings identify best practices from various districts.

A Talent Source

The program serves a major role today in the Fairfield Public Schools. At least one and sometimes as many as three graduate interns are assigned to each elementary school annually, while each middle school has one to two graduate interns. The 1,930-student high school assigns minimally one permanent substitute to each of the three houses.

The intent at the secondary level is to balance the academic background of the various interns across the curriculum to provide an availability of substitute talent in different subject areas. At least one intern serves as a first-called substitute in each building.

Many have expanded roles beyond the daily substitute assignment, particularly when not providing coverage for absent staff. They might team with an elementary grade-level teacher whose class size is large, assist in the school media center or technology laboratory or work in a special education setting.

At the conclusion of a school year, the substitute intern is on the doorstep for consideration as a permanent hire. These individuals have received mentoring, training and observation for a full year as they have served as substitutes for at least 130 days with many approaching the 182-day full year. Some have filled long-term assignments.

While full-time contracts are not a guarantee, most graduate interns are offered a contract to teach the following year either in the district they have served or in a neighboring community.

While the graduate substitute program does not satisfy all the district's need for substitutes, it does provide a cadre of quality substitutes.

Ralph Burke retired last summer as assistant superintendent for personnel in the Fairfield, Conn., Public Schools. He is a post president of the American Association of School Personnel Administrators.

Additional Resources

Print and Web Resources:

"Not Just a Warm Body," by Ismat Abdal-Haqq, ERIC Digest, September 1997, available from U.S. Department of Education, 800-822-9229 or 202-293-2450, www.ed.gov

"School Improvement and the Availability of Substitute Teachers in Ohio: An Irony of Professional Development," by Phillip A.Griswold and William Hughes, SubJournal, Spring 2000, subed.usu.edu

"Should We Hire Subs Through Temp Agencies? Yes, Everyone Wins, Including Students," by Carlos Hicks, American Teacher, February 2000, available from American Federation of Teachers, 202-879-4430, www.aft.org/publications/american_teacher/fe bOO/speakout.html

Substitute Teacher Homepage includes anecdotal information on pay rates and procedures in various parts of the country, my.voyager.net/garmar/

"Substitute Teacher Quality, Training, and Evaluation: A National Perspective," by Jim Dorward, Amber Hawkins and Geoffrey Smith, SubJournal, Fall 2000, subed.usu.edu

"What Are the Needs of Substitute Teaching to Be Effective?" by M.E. Galvez-Martin, paper presented at the Association of Teacher Educators conference, 1997, available through ERIC (Document ED 412 187), 800822-9229 or 202-293-2450, www.ed.gov

Organizations:

The Substitute Teaching Institute, 6516 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322 -6516, 800-922-4693, subed.usu.edu

The National Substitute Teachers Alliance, 1128 W. San Ramon, Fresno, Calif.93711, 559-435-5715,www.geocities.com/nstasubs/