Teacher Appreciation Week Should Be EVERY Week
06 Mayo 2024 - 9:33AM
Business Wire
How Learn4Life appreciates – and keeps its
teachers
Students and parents are acknowledging the dedication and hard
work of teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week (May
6-11), but what are schools doing to attract and retain
teachers?
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Learn4Life’s personalized learning model
enhances not only the student experience, but educators’ job
satisfaction too, resulting in a low teacher turnover rate at its
schools. (Photo: Business Wire)
Schools nationwide are struggling to find teachers and 42
percent of schools feel understaffed. That number jumps to 57
percent in high poverty regions. It’s clear something needs to be
done to address the reasons why teachers are leaving or not
entering the profession. The issues are constant – crowded
classrooms, behavioral problems among students, and burnout that
affects their mental and physical health.1
“Schools are not changing fast enough to address these
challenges,” said Shellie Hanes, superintendent at Learn4Life, a
network of 80+ public charter high schools that offer personalized
learning and a flexible schedule. “With our model, teachers have
25-35 students, compared to upwards of 140 students in traditional
high schools. And our turnover rate is low at just eight percent,
which is far better than the average of 23 percent.”
Hanes points out that a majority of Learn4Life’s students have
struggled at their previous high school and fell behind…some were
bullied so they stopped going to class.
In Learn4Life’s trauma-resilient approach, it handles behavioral
issues with restorative justice rather than as disciplinary cases.
This includes offering life skills classes to teach conflict
resolution, coping tactics and stress reduction to help heal
students’ hearts so they can be receptive to learning.
“It’s essential to address the stress and anxiety that students
are experiencing before they are ready to learn. That approach has
a tremendous impact on the teachers when they have the tools to
better deal with struggling students,” she said.
Learn4Life actively encourages self-care for its teachers, and
provides them with resources and training to help themselves and
their teams.
“My first teaching job was at a traditional public school,” said
Jose Mendoza, math and EDL teacher at Learn4Life. “I didn’t see
students being the priority like they are here. Parents and
students were not part of the decision-making process. I sure wish
I had known about this school when I first got my teaching
credentials.”
Mendoza works with each student one-on-one or through small
group instruction to help them accomplish their individual
goals.
“I can utilize the best teaching method for each student’s style
of learning and help them find their passion,” he said. “With a
team of tutors, school counselors and social workers, we can help
remove any obstacles that prevent a student from learning. These
are the reasons I wanted to become a teacher.”
For more information, visit www.Learn4Life.org.
About Learn4Life
Learn4Life is a network of nonprofit public high schools that
provide students personalized learning, career training and life
skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives
students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to
succeed. Serving more than 59,000 students through a year-round
program, we help them prepare for a future beyond high school. For
more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.
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1 https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/spp/results.asp
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240506292163/en/
Ann Abajian, Learn4Life (559) 903-7893 PR@learn4life.org