{"id":18002,"date":"2023-05-14T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T17:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alphapublicschools.org\/?post_type=news&p=18002"},"modified":"2024-06-20T02:14:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T09:14:17","slug":"mercury-news-students-in-san-jose-teacher-3000-miles-away-its-not-ideal-and-its-not-cheap","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.alphapublicschools.org\/news-post\/mercury-news-students-in-san-jose-teacher-3000-miles-away-its-not-ideal-and-its-not-cheap\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury News – Students in San Jose, Teacher 3,000 Miles Away: \u2018It\u2019s Not Ideal,\u2019 and It\u2019s Not Cheap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With an ever-increasing shortage of math and science educators, this charter is turning back to Zoom school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a Wednesday morning in May, a dozen students streamed into their geometry class at the Cindy Avitia High School<\/a>. But instead of looking toward the blackboard, the 10th-graders opened up their laptops \u2014 and got ready to connect with a teacher nearly 3,000 miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their class is one of 11 taught by a virtual teacher at the charter school, which is pulling in educators from Alaska, Maryland and Texas to address California\u2019s teacher shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s not ideal for our students \u2014 we all know that,\u201d said Shara Hegde, the CEO of Alpha Public Schools, a charter network with four schools in San Jose. \u201cBut until we really, radically change the education profession here in the United States, we\u2019re going to be looking at solutions like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The geometry class \u2014 and all the virtual classes at Cindy Avitia \u2014 operate through Coursemojo<\/a>, an educational technology company that brings hybrid teaching to classrooms across the country. It is an idea spun from the pandemic, and months of thinking about what went wrong \u2014 and right \u2014 with virtual teaching during a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the company was initially designed to expand elective offerings like cybersecurity and animation, almost immediately its founders saw how it could fill gaps in common core subjects like geometry, algebra and physics. Today, there are 11 credentialed Coursemojo educators teaching classes at three charter school networks in California, the majority of whom are teaching math and science. There are 50 Coursemojo teachers at work across the country, including in Colorado, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreat teachers have never been equitably distributed, especially to the kids who need them most,\u201d said Dacia Toll, who founded Coursemojo after operating a charter school network in the Northeast. \u201cFor me, the mental door opened when I saw what some of our most effective teachers were doing online (during COVID-19).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The geometry class \u2014 and all the virtual classes at Cindy Avitia \u2014 operate through Coursemojo<\/a>, an educational technology company that brings hybrid teaching to classrooms across the country. It is an idea spun from the pandemic, and months of thinking about what went wrong \u2014 and right \u2014 with virtual teaching during a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the company was initially designed to expand elective offerings like cybersecurity and animation, almost immediately its founders saw how it could fill gaps in common core subjects like geometry, algebra and physics. Today, there are 11 credentialed Coursemojo educators teaching classes at three charter school networks in California, the majority of whom are teaching math and science. There are 50 Coursemojo teachers at work across the country, including in Colorado, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreat teachers have never been equitably distributed, especially to the kids who need them most,\u201d said Dacia Toll, who founded Coursemojo after operating a charter school network in the Northeast. \u201cFor me, the mental door opened when I saw what some of our most effective teachers were doing online (during COVID-19).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt one point, I was teaching math classes and my assistant principal was teaching English,\u201d said Evans. \u201cThat puts a significant strain on a school, and a significant strain on the teachers, principals and administrators who have to cover classes. And when you\u2019re doing that, that means something else doesn\u2019t get done, and the school doesn\u2019t function as it should.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monica Campo Vazquez, a 16-year-old at Cindy Avitia, said she experienced something similar last year. Throughout ninth-grade, Vazquez had a series of rotating subs in her English class \u2014 including the school\u2019s assistant principal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m now learning what I should have learned in ninth grade on top of what I need to learn in 10th,\u201d Vazquez said. \u201c(The subs) helped as much as they could, but it didn\u2019t feel like a real teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, Vazquez is in the virtual geometry class. It\u2019s the first year the model has been implemented at Cindy Avitia, which is among 12 charter schools authorized by the East Side Union High School District. The district conducts compliance visits to Cindy Avitia to ensure it stays on track, Hegde said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day, Vazquez and her classmates share their screens with Sushma Vishnubhotla, a math teacher based in Maryland, while Rene Silva \u2014 their \u201clearning coach\u201d \u2014 stands by in person. Vazquez said that to her surprise, it\u2019s actually her favorite class, especially because she can privately message Vishnubhotla if she has questions about the lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Vishnubhotla is responsible for the actual teaching, Silva is there as a learning coach to keep the students engaged, answering questions in person as they come up. Although Silva has a teaching credential, learning coaches are only required to have a long-term substitute teacher permit, making hiring for that position easier than finding a credentialed STEM teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is the area of the square?\u201d asked Vishnubhotla, her voice ringing through her students\u2019 earphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArea of the square, area of the square!\u201d Silva echoed. \u201cYou\u2019ve got this, guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silva\u2019s involvement in the classroom is essential, teachers and students say. Through shared screens and digital whiteboards, Vishnubhotla can see everything her students are \u2014 or are not \u2014 doing. But it\u2019s Silva who can get them back on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, he sits down next to a student who seems to be losing interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything okay?\u201d Silva asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student shrugs her shoulders, nods and sits up a little straighter, refocusing her eyes on her computer screen. Throughout the course of the class, Silva keeps his eyes on the student, revisiting her desk to ask questions and keep her engaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe class will live and die based on that person,\u201d said Evans of the learning coach. \u201cThe reality is that some kids struggle online, and you need to be able to have someone who can keep the kids engaged and excited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With one educator, one learning coach, and one virtual teacher\u2019s assistant \u2014 along with ongoing support provided by Evans \u2014 the model isn\u2019t cheap. It costs about double the amount of a typical teacher, Hegde said, but at this point, the program isn\u2019t about cost-saving. It\u2019s about giving students access to core subjects and responding to a teacher shortage that\u2019s crippled schools across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTeaching is a hard job right now, and people who often get degrees in STEM have a lot of opportunities,\u201d Hegde said. \u201cBy necessity, we\u2019re being innovative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Mercury News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With an ever-increasing shortage of math and science educators, this charter is turning back to Zoom school. On a Wednesday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-18002","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMercury News - Students in San Jose, Teacher 3,000 Miles Away: \u2018It\u2019s Not Ideal,\u2019 and It\u2019s Not Cheap - Alpha Public Schools<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mercury News - Students in San Jose, Teacher 3,000 Miles Away: \u2018It\u2019s Not Ideal,\u2019 and It\u2019s Not Cheap - Alpha Public Schools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With an ever-increasing shortage of math and science educators, this charter is turning back to Zoom school. 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