Finance+Week+4,+Part+3

Analysis of Differentiated Staffing - final report for Group 4 is attached at the bottom of this page

Our district and high school campus uses differentiated staffing when feasible. More times than not it is a specific staff member for specific needs. However, sometimes our needs can best be met by manipulating job responsibilities as such that employees with special skills are given time to fulfill specific responsibilities. Our professional staff breakdown is 195 teachers, and 28 instructional aides. The bulk of our differentiation is in these two categories. District wide, our professional staff for instruction constitutes 58% of our employment.
 * Rob's input:**

Our high school (Huffman-Hargrave) is unique in that it is the only 3A school in Harris County (amidst all the super 5A’s in the Houston area). I personally love it but it does not come without challenges. Many times they include sharing staff members with our middle school. There is a careful balance that has to be weighed and many times each and every class slot is important. Additionally, unlike most or possibly all districts, we actually staff our DAEP. We have teachers coming and going left and right to fulfill direct instruction obligations over there. All this may initially lend itself to just the opposite of differentiation. But in a sense that is just what it is. Although it may ultimately be the same staff member, they actually take off their hats on certain days, and take on a completely different role on others. We utilize true differentiation in special education quite regularly through the use of inclusion aids and co-teach models. I am happy to say that we have neither a full time staffed content mastery, nor a full time staffed AB unit. We have the ability to staff them at the drop of a hat, but choose to serve our students in the regular classroom whenever possible. It is in this sense that we truly mainstream our students. Additionally, we differentiate through the use of part time teacher/part time counseling support. Also part time teacher/part time intervention coordinator. Both play major roles in testing and dropout prevention. Again, because of the size of our district, this type of differentiation best serves our students needs


 * Shirley's input:**

I can think of several ways Differentiated Staffing would benefit any district budget. However, it would mean a mindset change among teachers, students, and parents. A district would have to hire and retain EXCELLENT teachers in order for students to benefit and in some cases would have to have adequate facilities to accommodate this endeavor.

One goal of ours is to add 1 math and 1 science teacher to these departments. To do so means that I have to look for ways to shift current personnel in a way that opens up a few teaching spots that I can shift to math and science.

One scenario that could work on my campus is with the case of our AP English 3 and 4 classes. I have a fantastic teacher for these courses. If I have 40 students sign up for AP 3 and 35 for AP 4, I have to give up 4 sections to these 75 students; our typical classrooms can only accommodate about 30 students in one class. However, we have a teaching forum that can accommodate up to 300 seats. So, if I used the teaching forum and created only 1 section of each AP course, I would have that teacher available to teach other English classes. I could do the same for the preAP Eng I and Eng 2 classes that we have. But, combining these classes and giving these 2 English teachers additional English classes would mean more students that each of the English teachers have overall to grade for – grading can be exhausting to English teachers. I could consider hiring instructional aids to work with these 2 teachers to assist in the classroom during instruction and to assist with grading. If the English teachers trained the aids properly (and we hired just the right aids), then it would be very similar to college courses…professor and teaching assistant relationships. I could easily cut back on the number of English teachers I need. However, I would have to utilize the teaching forum for 4 periods when it’s needed for theater classes – we have a facility issue.

Another scenario would be with our PE classes. If I utilized teacher aids to assist in those classes, I could put more students in a PE class and could reduce the number of PE teachers I needed; I could hire teachers certified in PE and either math or science. Hiring part-time teacher aids is much less expensive to the district than hiring a full-time teacher. This is a valid option, as facilities are not a barrier.

Hiring instructional aids in both situations above requires a way to fund these positions. I would likely have to squeeze another teaching unit out in order to fund the number of aids I would need.

A third scenario: Currently, we have a need for an additional counselor. Our Board will not approve an additional counselor because on paper, our numbers look appropriate. Reality tells me that our counselors need help, especially with all the testing responsibilities they have now. I was able to take one of my teachers (she’s currently seeking her counseling certification) and split her duties. She teaches a few classes, then performs the extra duties needed in our counseling center. It’s been a huge help to our counselors and teachers.

We look for teachers with multiple certification areas because in a school our size, I may need a teacher to fill a few classes in a situation where a full-time teacher is not warranted. If I am smart in my hiring practices, I am looking for teachers who can fill multiple roles and needs for us. It’s important to know where you are headed in your scheduling so that when you do hire personnel, you can get the most for the dollars your are spending.