Field Trip Podcast

‘Tis the season: as we approach the end of the year, families are preparing to gather over festive meals, students will head home for winter break... and department heads in schools everywhere will joyfully begin to put together their budgets for the next school year.

For K-12 IT professionals, that not only means keeping accurate tabs on the devices in your schools, it also means making the case for a technology budget that the Finance department can get behind. In this episode of Field Trip, Frontline’s podcast for leaders in education, resident asset management expert AnnaMaria Gallozzi joins us to look at how Technology departments can set themselves up for success in the next budgeting season and ensure students and staff have access to the tools they need for teaching and learning.

We explore:

• Pitfalls to avoid during budgeting season

• How to make the case to Finance for your technology budget

• Short-term and long-term timing considerations

• The single biggest thing you can do to position yourself for success in the coming year

• Case Study: Faster Device Collection and Distribution, Increased Accountability, and Less Asset Loss — How South Huntington School District manages and tracks devices and makes better financial decisions with Frontline’s Asset Management.

• 5 Ways Collaboration Between Tech and Finance Departments Can Create an Impact

Sam Kirk is the Director of Finance and Operations at Armstrong School District in western Pennsylvania. As industry has dwindled, student enrollment in the district has taken a hit as well.

In this episode of Field Trip, Sam shares his experience grappling with the financial realities these things bring to the district, and how they’ve started a new cyber school to compete for students that may otherwise have left. Plus, he shares how he’s creating transparency around district finances to keep the community informed and in agreement — even when it makes consolidating schools.

Listen now to hear:

• How Sam uses data to educate community members, gain buy-in, and have productive conversations about emotional issues like school closures

• Why starting a cyber school was key for supporting the district’s bottom line

• How the Finance Department approaches staffing decisions when enrollment drops

• Better understand enrollment shifts with location-based data: How Frontline’s Location Analytics can provide a better picture of enrollment at the district and building levels.
• Video: Business Analytics at Mansfield Independent School District: How the Associate Superintendent of Business and Finance explores enrollment history, per-student cost vs. academic outcomes, and school budgets over time.

In Hanover County Public Schools, there's a shift happening... something bubbling up from deep within the Curriculum & Instruction Department. Something exciting.

In the past, teachers would complete their professional learning requirements in large part by participating in mandated sessions for two days every August. “The problem is,” says Dr. Steve Castle, Director of Professional Learning and Leadership Development, “it felt forced, and it felt like there’s no choice in this, and teachers were given the things that were required.”

So, for the past several years, Dr. Castle and Chris Biagiarelli, Instructional Technology Project Coordinator, have been on a mission to change the culture around professional learning — so teachers select the learning opportunities that will most help them in the classroom. In this podcast, we ask them how they’re making that happen.

Listen to this 14-minute conversation and hear:

• The steps they’ve taken (and continue to take) to change mindsets around professional learning within the district

• Why the right technology is crucial to making this change

• What they’ve learned, and what they would change if they were starting this journey all over again

Be sure to check out these resources about professional learning and supporting teacher growth and voice and choice:

• [Case Study] Culture Change: Moving Toward Teacher-driven Professional Learning — How Hanover County Public Schools uses Frontline Professional Growth to offer teachers a voice in their learning and bid farewell to a ‘check the boxes’ mentality.

• Effective Professional Learning Strategies (that Actually Work) — A look at the national landscape of professional development, best practices for an effective professional development program, resources for getting started, and more.

Portman Wills believes money is key to solving the substitute shortage — even if districts can’t raise substitute teacher wages.

Substitute teachers want to be in the classroom, teaching and impacting lives. But finances — and more specifically, waiting anywhere from 2-4 weeks for payday — can force an uncomfortable choice. In a world where people can deliver groceries, drive for a rideshare service, or even work retail and get paid the same day, substitute teaching may take a backseat to other employment options.

Portman is a co-founder of Wagestream, which allows employers to offer flexible pay and enable employees to access earned wages immediately. In this podcast, he and Emily Trant, Wagestream’s Head of Impact and Inclusion, share some research about flexible pay and what it means for school districts who want to encourage substitutes to accept more jobs.

• The explosion of the gig economy and the impact it has on substitute teaching

• How unsteady income makes waiting weeks for payday difficult or impossible for some substitute teachers

• What flexible pay can mean for school districts

• “Unlocking the American Pay Cycle”: A research report from Wagestream examining the behavioral and wellbeing impact of offering workers a flexible pay cycle

• Frontline Education & Wagestream: Revolutionize pay for substitute teachers right within Absence Management

• Case Study: Recruiting Substitutes with Flexible Pay: How Azle ISD uses Wagestream through Frontline’s Absence Management to support substitute teachers, raise fill rates, and expand its substitute pool.

In 2022, Kelly Coash-Johnson joined a webinar with Frontline Education and EdWeek, and shared five “shifts” or practices that the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) believes are necessary to address the educator shortage: reducing barriers to careers in education, designing comprehensive human capital management systems, establishing transparent and equitable total rewards systems, strengthening educators’ sense of purpose, belonging, and connection, and delivering exceptional employment experiences.

Kelly joined us on the Field Trip podcast at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year with an updated perspective. What is the state of hiring in education now?

Take a listen for a look at:

• Factors influencing the teacher shortage today
• What steps some states are taking to address the teacher shortage, and which of the five shifts mentioned above are more difficult to address
• Actions that school districts can take today to be better positioned to hire in the future
• What makes Kelly hopeful about education (and hiring in education) as we look to the future

• Recruiting the 21st Century Teacher: How to position your district for success in hiring, why it's critical to diversify your recruiting efforts, and 4 suggestions if you’re new to 21st century recruitment.

• On-demand Webinar: Be the Change: Strategies to Make Year-Round Hiring Happen

• The Quick-Start Guide to Retention-focused Recruitment

When trying to fill teaching positions, what can school districts do that goes beyond simply posting jobs in more locations? Dr. Jon Isaacson, Superintendent of Hillsboro R-III School District in Missouri, shares some insightful strategies for hiring and, just as importantly, retaining teachers – and the data he looks at to make some of these decisions.

In this conversation with Frontline Education’s own Collin Osburn, Dr. Isaacson considers:

• His view of the current state of hiring in education

• Why it’s crucial for districts to focus on the things they can control, not the things they can’t

• What a 20-mile radius around his district means for hiring and retention

Dig a little deeper:

• Looking for more? This interview is an excerpt from a longer conversation between Dr. Jon Isaacson and Collin Osburn. You can hear the longer conversation here.
• “The Local Teacher Shortage”: A report from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute about the state of hiring in school districts in various areas of the country.

• Video: Pottsgrove School District Doesn’t Waste Any Time Hiring & Onboarding

The teacher shortage has been in the news for years — but especially since 2020, nationwide concern has reached new levels.

But... Pennsylvania is not Florida. New York is not Texas. Every part of the country experiences the teacher shortage a little differently.

The Frontline Research & Learning Institute recently published "The Local Teacher Shortage,” a report exploring job posting and candidate application data from Frontline Recruiting & Hiring to see how school districts in various parts of the country are experiencing the teacher shortage. In this episode of Field Trip, we spoke with Laura Neier, Human Resources Director at Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District in New York, about what the data shows about hiring in the Northeast — and whether what she sees at Briarcliff Manor matches up.

In this conversation, Laura shares her perspective on:

• The reasons for increased demand for teachers and why she sees fewer people entering the teaching profession

• The strategies her district employs to attract and retain new teachers

• Predictions for the future of hiring in K-12 education

Other Resources:

• The Local Teacher Shortage: An investigation into varying degrees of labor shortages by region.

• Recruiting the 21st Century Teacher: How HR departments can position themselves for success, why diversifying recruiting efforts is critical, and 4 suggestions for those new to 21st century recruitment.

• Case Study: Queen Creek Unified School District: How this HR department uses data analytics to improve hiring practices and respond to rapid growth.

“If you don’t know where you’ve been, you don’t know where you’re going.”

That’s what Derick Sibley, MBA, RTSBA, SFO, Director of Finance and Accounting at Pleasant Grove ISD in Texarkana, Texas, has to say about data. Establishing trends and examining historical financial data and other vital statistics is critical for any school district that wants to avoid financial risk. (That’s all of them, of course.)

Today on Field Trip, Derick and Senior Analytics Advisor Travis Zander join us for a conversation about key performance indicators. In particular, there are eight that every school business official should track over time.

Tune in to find out what they are, and what insights they can provide for your school district as you make decisions with an eye toward the future (and the past).

School districts collect a wealth of data — data that often lives in various disconnected systems or spreadsheets that make it difficult to understand and work with. While many K-12 leaders recognize that data can be useful, the in-depth analysis that makes it possible to use data to inform strategic decisions about student programs or financial planning can often feel out of reach.

Dr. CyLynn Braswell has spent 20 years in public education in roles ranging from teacher to executive director. She now works for Frontline Education, helping schools use the data at their disposal to evaluate student programs, identify at-risk students, increase equity, and ensure that resources are allocated for maximum impact.

We sat down with her to explore:

• The obstacles that often stand in the way of using data to inform decisions
• Key issues that school districts should be thinking about they welcome students back in the fall — and how using data can help set them up for success
• Current trends at the intersection of education and analytics
• The single biggest question that district leaders can ask and answer with data to drive greater student outcomes and achievement

Join us for this exciting, practical look at how data can be used to make a meaningful difference in the lives of students!

Also check out:

• Case Study: Compton Unified School District uses Frontline Student Analytics to identify students who would benefit from intervention.
• eBook: Moving the Needle: Improve Student Performance by Correlating and Analyzing Multiple Indicators
• Frontline Student Analytics: Close the digital divide, address learning gaps, eliminate equity and achievement gaps, and more. See it in action.

School business officials have a crucial role to play for school districts. Not only are they in charge of balancing the budget for the school year, but they’re also tasked with anticipating future financial plans, sometimes half a decade down the line. Compound that with responsibilities you might not think come with the job – like, say, finding missing kindergarteners – and you have a position that’s integral to a modern district’s functioning.

In this episode, John Brucato, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations at Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District in New York state, gives us an enhanced view into what a school business official thinks about— and the importance of data not just in the short term, but for predicting the future as well.

We’ll discuss how being prepared with a view of the district’s data helped him land his current job, along with:

• Why being a school business official is about more than just numbers

• How data impacts an SBO’s day-to-day

• The importance of refining a long-range financial plan as you go