5 Ways Virtual Teachers Can Enhance School Offerings and Address Staffing Needs
According to recent analyses by the Learning Policy Institute, over 400,000 teaching positions (more than 1 in 8 total teachers) nationally are either unfilled or filled by teachers who are not fully certified for their assignment. While shortages vary by location, and some states are experiencing more stability in teacher staffing in most subjects, every state has shortages in multiple areas.
Challenges with the teacher pipeline have led to persistent shortfalls in hard-to-staff areas including special education, math, and science. Career and technical education (CTE) and language arts, likewise, are among the subject areas with the most total vacancies nationwide, or with positions filled by those teaching out-of-certification.
These challenges are significant, but there are solutions designed to help. Strategic use of virtual instructors ensures students have access to the courses they desire, taught by certified teachers, while also alleviating a number of burdens faced by on-site educators working in understaffed schools.
Here are five ways virtual teachers address staffing needs:
1. Expand Course Offerings & Specialized Learning Opportunities
Districts often struggle to staff specialized classes such as CTE, AP, and world languages with qualified teachers. This scarcity of qualified instructors can result in limited course offerings and diminished learning opportunities for students.
Virtual teachers provide a practical solution to fill these hard-to-staff positions, ensuring students receive high-quality instruction from a state-certified teacher of record.
Determine what kind of support best fits your needs: curriculum, a certified teacher, or both, and partner with a provider that can deliver. That flexibility will make it easier to keep specialized and credit-bearing courses available, even when hiring timelines, enrollment changes, or vacancies create challenges.
Virtual learning also allows a district to offer more course options than they may have been able to on-site. Flexible virtual options don’t require you to first meet class-size requirements or navigate additional course schedules.
Schools can now teach specialized subjects like robotics, coding, and digital marketing thanks to robust resources and qualified teachers. This allows students to explore their interests and passions while also preparing them for the ever-evolving job market—factors that, in turn, help districts retain critical enrollments.
Not only can districts offer more courses, but they can also offer expanded learning opportunities tailored to individual student needs. Whether it's intervention to get back on grade level or engaging opportunities to advance learning, virtual educators can deliver targeted instruction, accommodating specific instructional needs to maximize individualized growth.
2. Keep Students on Track for Graduation
Delivering a promised path to graduation is critical, but what happens when you lose a chemistry or world language teacher and find yourself unable to fill the position? Virtual teachers can help keep learning on-track.
Virtual learning with a dedicated, highly specialized teacher can be a quick-turn solution to keep courses open and students learning without compromising the quality of curriculum and instructional practice. You can offer flexible learning options that allow students to work on their own schedules, or provide synchronous instruction aligned to your bell schedule while you continue recruiting for a local teacher. Either way, students can stay in the courses they need and remain on pace for graduation.
The versatility of virtual instruction also helps you bridge gaps across your campus. Missing an upper-level high school English teacher in two of your buildings? While you continue your search for a local teacher, one virtual educator can support both needs with the benefit of virtual and intentional scheduling.
3. Enhance Instructional Capacity with Scalable Solutions
While schools across the nation battle staffing gaps, veteran educators are asked to do even more.
It’s no surprise that teachers continue to struggle with burn out and feelings of fatigue. Ensure classroom teachers receive the equitable support they need to succeed by safeguarding their time or expanding their capacity to do their jobs well.
Instead, virtual instruction can help you respond to changing enrollment needs without asking more of already busy on-site educators. If a popular course fills up quickly, you can add virtual support to make room for more students without overloading the classroom teacher or turning students away.
It can also help you offer specialized courses with smaller enrollment. Rather than asking a teacher to take on another class and the added planning that comes with it, you can still give students access to the courses that interest them with support from a state-certified virtual teacher.
For hands-on electives, virtual instruction can complement the expertise already in your building. In an advanced robotics course, for example, a virtual teacher can handle core academic instruction while the on-site teacher leads labs and hands-on activities. A team approach like that can be especially helpful for teachers who are new to the profession or teaching a new subject area.Additionally, managing fluctuating enrollment demands can be a daunting task for district administrators. However, virtual instructors provide a scalable solution to meet these dynamic needs with ease.
By harnessing the power of virtual teaching resources, districts can swiftly adapt to accommodate increased enrollment without sacrificing the quality of education. This agility ensures that all students receive a positive and enriching learning experience, irrespective of changes in the student population.
E-learning solutions provide a seamless platform for virtual teachers to engage with a larger number of students simultaneously. Teachers can create a community and encourage interaction among students in remote learning using virtual classrooms, discussion boards, and collaborative projects.
4. Address Teacher Absences
Long-term teacher absences don’t have to disrupt the flow of learning or impact students' educational journey. Instead, with the strategic integration of virtual teachers, schools can ensure uninterrupted learning experiences.
A dedicated virtual teacher can be a reliable partner, stepping in to fill the gaps created by long-term teacher absences. Supported by on-site staff, they leverage direct instruction, one-on-one conferences, and small group interactions, ensuring students remain actively involved in their learning. Virtual educators can lead whole-group instruction or complement a long-term sub’s efforts with added content area expertise—whatever is necessary to ensure learning is uninterrupted. Whether you need coverage for one course or several sections-- an entire semester or whole year--you can adjust support around your schedule and the needs of your students without having to redesign your whole program.
Through virtual solutions, instructors go beyond traditional teaching methods, embracing technology as a powerful tool to enrich the educational experience. By blending interactive content, real-time assessment, and collaborative learning opportunities, virtual teachers create a vibrant and dynamic learning environment that sparks students' curiosity and inspires a lifelong love for learning.
5. Provide Additional Support with High-Impact Tutoring
Compelling research strongly supports the impact of tutoring, but at least a third of school leaders say they don’t have the staffing or scheduling capacity to provide the necessary tutoring to meet student needs.
Virtual teachers can provide the necessary expertise, consistency, and teacher-student relationships without the logistical constraints of in-person staffing, allowing schools to match students with the right certified educators regardless of location. This benefits students by providing them with the high-quality, individualized instruction they need to make significant academic gains.
Integrate Virtual Teachers in Your District with Edmentum’s Instructional Services
Simply put, virtual teachers are an essential part of modern education systems. They bridge staffing gaps by expanding learning opportunities, meeting enrollment demands, and managing staffing gaps smoothly.
Edmentum's EdOptions Academy provides the flexibility you need to address staffing shortages and keep courses on schedule. Our program offers personalized learning with over 500 courses in core subjects, AP, electives, and career and technical education. Edmentum also provides a robust approach to high-impact tutoring and intervention, taught by the same certified teachers who deliver virtual instruction across subjects.