Key factors:
The demand for particular schooling providers is rising, significantly within the wake of the pandemic. The employees who present these providers, nonetheless, have gotten fewer and farther between. In 2023, 65 % of colleges throughout the nation reported problem in hiring particular educators. Now, colleges are exploring new approaches, like teletherapy, that effectively tackle service gaps and elevated scholar studying wants.
Dr. Barbara Jenkins, who has over 30 years of expertise serving the various wants of scholars, together with as the previous superintendent of Orange County Faculties in Florida, says the decision to motion is easy: “If Ok-12 schooling shouldn’t be solely to outlive however thrive, we now have to pursue new and modern methods of offering providers.”
On this Q&A, Jenkins overviews a number of the hurdles college leaders and particular educators face and gives insights on embracing expertise to serve all college students. The interview was carried out as a part of the Visionary Voices video collection. It has been edited for readability and brevity.
What classes have you ever discovered popping out of the pandemic?
I don’t suppose we are going to know for some years what the precise affect of the pandemic was on our younger individuals. What we do know is we see elevated behaviors and elevated wants for help.
Many districts used ESSER {dollars} to offer extra psychological well being help, counselors, and people who might assist kids with behaviors and assist them overcome a few of these points that they have been coping with.
Whereas there have been {dollars} out there, there weren’t sufficient counselors out there. These challenges proceed in Ok-12. Increasingly more there’s a necessity for some various options aside from having sufficient counselors in place.
Employees shortages proceed to plague colleges throughout the nation. What are a number of the methods and options that you just’ve seen colleges discover and be efficient?
I don’t know that we’ll within the close to future discover options to the pipeline shortages, and so we now have to be artistic round the usage of expertise to increase and multiply the power to offer these providers. In Orange County, in addition to in different districts, we now have needed to discover the usage of digital providers for our youngsters in an effort to meet their wants–whether or not it’s occupational remedy, bodily remedy, psychological providers, psychological well being counseling, and even tutoring.
How do you see teletherapy being helpful for colleges?
Teletherapy shouldn’t be solely helpful; it’s important. There isn’t any method to offer the providers wanted by the archaic technique of some poor college psychologist or speech pathologist or occupational therapist going from college to high school to high school. We’re dropping time in journey time. We’re dropping time within the effectivity of scheduling on the college website. It simply won’t enhance until we reap the benefits of expertise.
You’ve been an early adopter of expertise and converse concerning the position of rising applied sciences. Are you able to share ideas on how AI can and must be thought of in an schooling setting?
Ignoring synthetic intelligence could be like ignoring and denying the web when it first turned. It must be our future or we are going to get run over by that prepare.
It has the power and the potential to rework Ok -12 schooling as we all know it. I consider it as a device for lecturers–not as a substitute for lecturers–however a method of multiplying exponentially good practices of particular person lecturers to serve extra college students.
Why do you suppose extra colleges ought to embrace technology-based options?
Faculties ought to embrace the usage of expertise to offer scholar providers as a result of it’s the solely means we now have out there to beat the shortages of employees and supply individualized providers with precision.
Dr. Barbara Jenkins has been devoted to serving the wants of scholars for over 30 years. In 2012, she was named superintendent for Orange County Public Faculties, the eighth largest district within the nation, and obtained each a presidential appointment to the Nationwide Board of Training Sciences and The Baldrige Basis’s Award for Management Excellence throughout her tenure. Dr. Jenkins is presently a chief in residence and leads the Chiefs for Change Ladies in Management initiative, a nationwide bipartisan group of district and state schooling leaders devoted to the success of our nation’s youth.
