URGENT: Teacher Shortage Crisis in Schools Everywhere!

The past year has been rough for everyone, especially for students and school communities feeling the immediate effects of the learning loss and lack of engagement opportunities at school. With the teacher shortage crisis being reported in the news on a daily basis, I am focused on outlining the magnitude of this problem on the ground for all to understand. We have a huge opportunity ahead of us to make lasting change in our communities as we build back to a new normal that provides much needed support to students and school staff. The need to address this issue is not new, but the pandemic has progressed this problem to a new level of urgency. 

I want to share a story that took place during the 2021-2022 school year. Below is based on a true story with names and location protected for privacy reasons.

Meet Jaden…

Jaden (6th grade student) walks into math class.  His math teacher, Mrs. Washington showed up today, but due to COVID, one-third of the other teachers are absent.  This means that his teacher is forced to watch over 2 classrooms at the same time standing in the doorway of both classrooms.  She passed out a work packet to both classes to give them practice. Unfortunately, Jaden is stuck on the second question.  So he raises his hand, but Mrs. Washington asks him to wait while she tends to two students arguing in the other classroom. She starts to raise her voice directed at the students who are misbehaving, but the situation continues. Meanwhile, Jaden notices the next 5 questions are all related to this fundamental Math skill that he doesn’t remember, and remains stuck waiting for assistance. His arm gets tired, and he begins to grow impatient.  Eventually Mrs. Washington forgets about Jaden’s request for support without his hand raised, and continues to multitask as she helps other students and manages classroom behavior.  As he continues to wait, Jaden loses motivation to complete his practice packet. He pulls out his phone to show friends funny TikTok videos which leads him to getting sent to the principal's office.

Now picture this parallel scene taking place in 8 other classrooms throughout the school on this same day because 30% of school staff is absent.  The Principal starts looking for creative solutions that provide student and teacher support.  She learns about Coaching4Change, an organization that brings college mentors to the school to provide additional academic and social emotional support to students.  65% of C4C college students are people of color and grew up in the area and/or lived very similar experiences to the students they serve.  Coaching4Change trains their college students on how to provide academic support, de-escalation/conflict resolution, and small group facilitation.

Coaching4Change trained and placed Kevin (C4C College Mentor) in the school to serve as the classroom student support aid in Jaden’s Math class. Kevin works with Jaden and five other students two times per week during Math, providing individualized support on tricky math concepts and leads small group time at a collaborative learning station.  Mrs. Washington is able to make her lessons more dynamic with the extra support of a trained adult in the classroom to support student learning and activity implementation.  The Principal and Mrs. Washington appreciates this mentor placement opportunity. Students are already 2-4 months behind coming into this school year, and the limited staffing presence in the building sets them up to fall farther behind. Forming these positive relationships between students and adults keeps Jaden and his friends engaged in productive learning behaviors in school. They stop getting written up and sent out of class, and feel motivated to attend school and see their mentors every day.

This scenario is happening at thousands of schools across the country.  This is why we’re on a mission to recruit, train, and place 10,000 college mentors to work directly in school buildings to support K-12 students during the school day, after-school, and in summer.
Visit Coaching4Change to learn more about the work we do in partnership with local schools and communities in Massachusetts & Rhode Island. You can follow us on social media.