Tag Archives: Education

Preparing Your District for a Successful 2026: Top Edtech Strategies

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As the new year begins, school districts across the country are looking ahead and setting goals that will enable success in 2026. Now is the perfect time to evaluate your current technology, streamline processes, and ensure your teams are positioned for efficiency, compliance, and engagement. With the right strategies in place and tools at your disposal, districts can make meaningful improvements that benefit educators, staff, students, and families alike.

Why Planning Now Matters

January is not just about resolutions. It’s about laying the foundation for an entire year of success. District leaders who are proactive in their efforts can:

  • Avoid last-minute crises when compliance deadlines approach.
  • Align technology initiatives with strategic goals.
  • Maximize staff capacity and professional development opportunities.
  • Ensure that student learning and support services are optimized.

By taking a step back to assess your current systems and workflows, you can identify areas for improvement and prioritize initiatives that will have the greatest impact.

Key District Goals for 2026

Most districts focus on three primary goals each year: compliance, efficiency, and engagement. And there are ways that technology can help you achieve these critical goals.

  • Compliance: Staying compliant with state and federal regulations, including IEP timelines and reporting requirements, is non-negotiable. Technology solutions that centralize data and automate reminders can reduce the risk of missed deadlines and improve accountability.
  • Efficiency: District staff juggle countless responsibilities, from managing student records to coordinating services. Streamlined systems that reduce repetitive tasks, simplify reporting, and provide easy access to real-time data free up time for staff to focus on what matters most: supporting students.
  • Engagement: Parents, educators, and students all benefit when communication is clear and accessible. Digital tools that enable parent portals, real-time updates, and easy collaboration create a more engaged and informed school community.

Bright SUITE and Bright SPED Support These Goals

Lumen Touch offers solutions specifically designed to help districts achieve these objectives:

  • Bright SUITE is an all-in-one platform that provides seamless management of student records, attendance, scheduling, and reporting. By centralizing critical data, districts gain a clearer view of student progress and staff workloads, thereby enabling smarter, faster decision-making. Learn more about Bright SUITE.
  • Bright SPED focuses on special education management, helping districts track IEPs, manage compliance, and streamline communications among educators, specialists, and families. With automated workflows, customizable templates, and built-in alerts, Bright SPED simplifies processes that are often time-consuming and error prone. Learn more about Bright SPED.

Together, these solutions provide districts with the tools to meet compliance requirements, increase operational efficiency, and strengthen engagement, all of which are critical goals for a successful 2026.

Actionable Tips for Prioritizing Initiatives

Implementing new strategies doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here are some actionable tips for planning your district’s technology initiatives this year:

  • Audit your current systems: Identify which processes are working well and which are causing delays or errors. Understanding where to begin is essential for setting priorities.
  • Focus on high-impact areas first: Start with initiatives that address compliance risks, reduce administrative burdens, or directly improve student support.
  • Set measurable goals: For every initiative, define success criteria. Whether you are striving to reduce IEP processing time or improve parent engagement scores, clear metrics make it easier to track progress.
  • Engage stakeholders early: Include educators, specialists, and parents in planning discussions. Their input can highlight hidden pain points and help ensure successful adoption of new tools.
  • Leverage vendor expertise: Partner with technology providers that offer consulting, training, and ongoing support. Their insights can accelerate implementation and maximize ROI.

The onset of 2026 is the perfect time to evaluate your technology landscape. Lumen Touch can help your district conduct a thorough audit of your current systems, identify gaps, and recommend strategies to streamline operations and enhance compliance. Schedule a consultation today and start planning for a successful year ahead.

The Power of a Connected School System

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Schools across the country are catching their breath after a fast-moving, complex, and unpredictable 2025. The challenges were real: staffing shortages, rising special-education demands, increasingly complex compliance requirements, new cybersecurity expectations, and growing pressure to deliver personalized learning in environments where time and resources are already stretched thin.

But in the midst of it all, districts made meaningful progress. And universally, one theme stood out clearly this year: Schools that thrived the most were the ones that viewed the student journey as a connected whole and adopted systems to support that journey from end to end.

For years, student data has been fragmented, with one system being used for grades and assessment. And another for health and attendance. Another for IEPs. Another for communication. And on it went. Each tool solved a problem, but on the whole, the situation could only be described as controlled chaos.

The True Value of Connection

Districts have increasingly realized that supporting a student is not merely a series of disconnected actions. It’s a continuum, one that spans from enrollment all the way to graduation and beyond. And every part of that continuum matters:

  • A missed health alert affects attendance.
  • A missing IEP document impacts classroom support.
  • A communication gap can cause frustration among team members.
  • A siloed grading system makes early intervention virtually impossible.
  • A delay in compliance reporting can lead to legal and financial risks.

Schools that struggled this year weren’t suffering due to a lack of effort. Their struggles were largely attributed to an overabundance of tools that spoke different languages, each one adding another layer of complexity for staff already stretched too thin.

Meanwhile, districts with connected systems saw a different story emerging, in which there was less paperwork, considerable insight, improved collaboration, and timely interventions. These districts also experienced stronger family engagement and clearer visibility into each student’s whole experience.

The ability to achieve this level of connection is not realized simply by employing technology for technology’s sake. Districts that strive to enjoy success in this regard must embrace the concept of a single enterprise management system that supports every part of the district, from the teacher who needs the overarching story about a student to help ensure their academic success, to the superintendent who needs to pull and organize cohesive data that they can share with the school board.

What Schools Will Need in 2026 and Beyond

As districts plan for the year ahead, several priorities are already rising to the top:

Stronger data integration across the student lifecycle: Multiple overlapping systems with inconsistent data are no longer sustainable. In the future, districts will increasingly consolidate their technology stacks.

A renewed focus on whole-student support: Mental health concerns, chronic absenteeism, and growing special education needs demand early identification, coordinated intervention, and clear documentation, all of which depend on unified data.

Improved cybersecurity and data transparency: Families and government agencies expect clarity on how student data is collected, protected, and used. Districts will need platforms that meet modern security standards without adding complexity.

Spare time for teachers and staff: Burnout remains a real threat. Systems that streamline reporting, automate routine tasks, and eliminate duplicate entry will become essential for retaining and supporting educators.

Decision-ready dashboards that actually empower leaders: Superintendents do not need another spreadsheet; they need real-time, consolidated information. Actionable dashboards will be critical for strategic planning and resource allocation.

Why an All-in-One Enterprise System Is No Longer Optional

This year proved a simple truth: Every disconnected tool adds friction. Every connected system adds capacity.

Districts aren’t seeking more features. They’re seeking fewer obstacles, and they want tools that reduce administrative burden, not increase it. They need connected systems that simultaneously serve teachers, support staff, administrators, and families. And most importantly, they need confidence that no student will fall through the cracks because their data lives in too many places.

When we begin connecting data, we begin empowering educators. When we empower educators, we empower students. When students are empowered, communities thrive.

Here’s to a future where systems are simpler, data is clearer, educators are supported, and every student has what they need to succeed every step of the way.

Supporting Student Success: Using Data to Identify and Close Learning Gaps

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Even before the school year begins, student success is on the mind of every educator. And as we approach the holiday season, which seems to rush upon us earlier each year, most teachers are already thinking about early intervention services going into the winter break. By now, most educators have a good idea which students are struggling with their academics. By using the data your school already has access to, you can find ways to support students who are at risk of falling behind.

Identify Learning Gaps and Develop Targeted Interventions

By tracking key metrics, such as academic progress, behavior, attendance, and progress toward meeting IEP goals, educators and school districts can identify which students may need remedial help going into the holidays.

Ideas for Supporting Student Success

When teachers and SPED coordinators identify students who are falling behind, targeted interventions can make a significant difference in closing learning gaps. For example, small group instruction allows educators to focus on students with similar needs, providing tailored explanations, guided practice, and opportunities for immediate feedback. This approach helps ensure that students who might otherwise struggle in a larger classroom setting receive the support they need to catch up and keep pace with their peers. Similarly, individualized interventions, such as one-on-one sessions or focused skill-building exercises, can address specific areas where a student may be struggling, whether that’s in literacy, math, or social-emotional skills.

In addition to traditional interventions, adaptive learning tools offer a powerful way to personalize instruction at scale. These digital platforms adjust the level of difficulty, pacing, and content based on real-time student performance, ensuring that each learner is challenged without becoming frustrated.

Teachers can assign targeted modules for addressing gaps, tracking student progress, and identifying areas in which additional support is needed. By merging adaptive technology with small group or individualized instruction, educators can create a flexible, data-driven approach that meets each student where they are, helping them stay on track and achieve their learning goals.

3 Ways to Spot Learning Gaps Before Winter Break

As the winter break approaches, it’s a great time for teachers and SPED coordinators to take stock of student progress and identify in advance any learning gaps. Here are three effective ways to help spot where students may need extra support:

  • Review assessment data – Review recent quizzes, tests, and progress monitoring reports, to identify trends or areas where students are consistently struggling. Tools like Bright SPED make it easy to see patterns across your class or school.
  • Observe classroom participation – Pay attention to which students hesitate to participate, struggle with instructions, or need frequent clarification. Engagement in discussions and activities can reveal gaps that grades alone might miss.
  • Analyze IEP goals and progress – For students with individualized education plans, check to determine if they are meeting their goals on schedule. Any missed benchmarks can signal where targeted interventions or additional support are needed.

By spotting learning gaps now, teachers can implement targeted strategies before the break, helping students return refreshed and ready to succeed in the new year.

Back to School with a Brighter Vision for Education

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As the 2025–2026 school year begins, the education system continues to confront a complex landscape of teacher shortages, increased administrative burdens, growing compliance requirements, and widening tech gaps. But at Lumen Touch, we believe that with the right tools and support, schools can go back to learning, without back-to-school stress.

The Pressure Is On

Across the country, educators are grappling with staffing shortages and burnout. According to the Learning Policy Institute’s June 2025 analysis:

[Forty-eight] states plus the District of Columbia employed an estimated 365,967 teachers who were not fully certified for their teaching assignments. Thirty-one states plus the District of Columbia published data on vacancies, showing 45,582 unfilled teacher positions. Together, these estimates indicate that, at a minimum, 411,549 positions were either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments, representing about 1 in 8 of all teaching positions nationally.

The impact is felt by students, administrators, and support staff, making every role in the school ecosystem harder to sustain. The struggle is real. But so are the solutions. But instead of pushing harder with the same outdated tools and systems, it’s time to work smarter and with purpose. It’s time to start reimagining how to support your schools, teachers, and students through smarter, integrated technology.

The Power to Simplify and Support

Bright SUITE, designed with the daily demands of modern education in mind, centralizes and streamlines core school operations. From student information systems to learning management and analytics, Bright SUITE gives educators and administrators a complete digital ecosystem that just works.

With Bright SUITE:

  • Teachers reclaim instructional time by reducing manual administrative tasks.
  • Administrators gain insights that drive data-informed decisions.
  • Schools stay compliant and efficient, even when resources are stretched thin.

Whether your school is juggling hybrid learning environments or managing attendance and assessments, Bright SUITE helps you do more with less and do it better.

A Lifeline for Special Education Teams

Special education teams face some of the most complex and compliance-heavy responsibilities in education today. That’s why Bright SPED exists. Bright SPED goes far beyond simply digitizing paperwork and literally transforms how SPED teams support students.

Bright SPED empowers educators with:

  • Real-time IEP tracking and documentation.
  • Automated compliance monitoring and audit support.
  • Built-in collaboration tools that connect teachers, parents, and service providers.

In a system where nothing can be missed and everything must be documented, Bright SPED delivers peace of mind and professional confidence, helping districts ensure that no student falls through the cracks.

The Future of Teaching: Reimagine, Rebuild, Reinforce

If we want a stronger future for education, then we have to invest in the people who make learning possible: teachers. And that means more than just offering higher pay (although that’s essential). It means giving educators the tools they need to thrive in today’s classrooms.

That’s what Lumen Touch is all about.

We do more than develop education software; we help shape the future of education itself. From reducing administrative overhead to improving outcomes for students with IEPs, our mission is to empower every educator, every student, and every school.

Let’s Make This the Year of Transformation

The challenges facing education aren’t going away, but neither is our commitment to navigating them. Whether this is your first year teaching or your 30th, whether you lead an entire district or support one child with unique needs, you deserve tools that elevate your work, not add to your workload.

Explore how Bright SUITE and Bright SPED can transform your school experience. Contact us today.

Go Back to School, Not Back to Stress with Bright SUITE

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July is a quiet month for most educators. Schools close, summer break begins in earnest, and teachers enjoy a bit of time away from the classroom. Just as quickly as it starts, though, the break’s over and educators are working to clear their lists and prepare for another school year and coming back to school. Administrators, on the other hand, are working hard throughout the summer to fill open positions, as teacher attrition continues to be a serious challenge.

The Pressures Teachers Face Coming Back to School

While there are many reasons teachers leave the profession, one of the main reasons is that they feel overworked and underpaid. Truthfully, the demands on teachers have continued to expand significantly over the last few decades. Teachers are increasingly being held responsible for a sizable amount of district and government paperwork. They are also responsible for looking after the physical and mental wellbeing of students while ensuring that they achieve good test scores. These pressures, combined with a number of other duties outside of the classroom, has chased away a lot of talent.

Lumen Touch Supports Teachers and Schools Coming Back to School

In order to attract and retain teachers, save money, and deliver a more powerful curriculum to students, many schools have turned to Lumen Touch. Our all-in-one education management system, Bright SUITE, is designed to help schools more effectively manage every aspect of school administration. And because the burden on teachers is reduced using Bright SUITE, they can focus their attention more on their motivation for entering the profession in the first place: having a lasting impact on the minds and lives of their students.

How Bright SUITE Makes Coming Back to School Easier

Bright SUITE is a comprehensive learning management system that helps districts and educators better serve each individual student holistically. School faculty and administrators can better manage and track their students’ educational accomplishments. And by having the ability to integrate with local health services and Medicaid billing, districts can better manage their students’ health and wellbeing, while ensuring superior student data privacy and cybersecurity.

Bright SUITE Saves Time

Our all-in-one enterprise management system creates efficiencies that help teachers with routine tasks, from attendance to reporting to testing, and allowing them to spend more time teaching and less time filling out paperwork.

Bright SUITE Improves Communication

Effective communication is vital to the educational ecosystem. The communication module included in Bright SUITE enables schools to interact with parents, students, and teachers more effectively. Features like parent portals, messaging systems, and event calendars foster collaboration, keeping stakeholders informed about important updates, events, and student progress. As communications are centralized, secure, and systemized, this takes a huge burden off teachers.

Bright SUITE Empowers Teachers

The best part about an all-in-one school information system is the transparency. Teachers can readily see student history, sync grades, and create reports that are compliant with 504 plans and IEPs. With a visual on where students are struggling, teachers can tailor their education plans and help improve their students’ chances of being successful. With access to special education modules, a full library, and modules for individual user data dashboards, Bright SUITE allows teachers to save time, improve student success rates, and benefit from access to real-time data, to make the best decision for every student. 

With Lumen Touch, districts can securely track students from early childhood through high school with one system. This total offering brings many advantages, including tremendous cost- and time-saving efficiencies while allowing students and teachers to embrace technology and accelerate the learning trajectory. Learn more

The Importance of Summer Break for Educators

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By now, most educators have decompressed following those stressful days that mark the end of the school year. Saying goodbye to your students for the summer, saying farewell – perhaps forever – to retiring and departing colleagues, and shifting away from a teaching mindset can be stressful and emotional. But summer break for educators is a break for a reason.

Relax and Recharge

There is little time during the school year to relax and recharge. When you’re not teaching, you’re planning. When you’re not planning, you’re meeting with parents. You begin to feel like you’re going non-stop – and that can make it hard for you to pause, breathe, and enjoy a respite over the summer. But it is so important that you take advantage of your summer break. Read (for pleasure), watch a movie, binge your favorite Netflix series – but let your brain rest.

Prioritize Self-Care

When the school year gets crazy-busy, it’s easy to put off both the little things and the big ones. Whether scheduling that dentist appointment you’ve been putting off for months or simply going to a yoga class a couple of times a week, you’ll benefit from taking a little better care of yourself during the summer break. It’s also a great time to reconnect with friends. Grab coffee, go for a walk together, or plan a weekend away.

Enjoy New Adventures

We know that teachers spend the majority of their time completely focused on their students and giving them their all. During the break, however, it is essential that you do things to remind yourself of why you work so hard. Take that vacation. Go hiking. Fly home to see family. Do something that you generally don’t get the time to do during the school year but would mean so much to you. You’ll go into the new school year feeling refreshed and recharged.

July is the one month of the year when most schools tend to enjoy a small break. In June, teachers and administrators are still winding up tasks from the previous year; in August they’re already welcoming students back or preparing to do so. In July, then, a tiny respite is warranted.

At Lumen Touch, we spend most of July implementing the latest recommendations from school districts to help improve our edtech solutions, and we’re thinking about what’s next for education, learning, and the classroom.

But for teachers, a rest, a recharge, and a reset are essential.

We hope you are enjoying your summer break!

How to Solve the Data Management Problem in Your District

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Managing student and district data can be extremely time consuming and complex. It is a challenge for most school districts, regardless of size. In addition to security concerns, managing servers and integrating student data from multiple applications can be a huge burden to small district IT teams. When you pile compliance and reporting requirements on top of that, the commitment can be more than a district can manage.

If your district IT department is overwhelmed with basic day-to-day data management, hindering their ability to focus on creating a modern digital community that would benefit your entire district, it might be time to consider a different way forward.

All-in-One School Systems Manage Data More Efficiently

An all-in-one enterprise management system not only saves money but also helps create a connected and secure school district. Teachers and administrators gain access to real-time data, which allows them to make better decisions in support of their students. Communications are secure and allow for improved engagement with students and parents. With improved resource efficiency, schools can spend less time focusing on data management and reporting and are able to focus instead on delivering the best learning opportunities. Districts are able to save money while meeting the increased need for administrative tracking, performance analysis, and detailed local and state reporting requirements.

All-in-One School Systems Ensure Safe Rostering of Student Data

One of the biggest data management challenges that districts face is the risk involved in sharing roster data with edtech vendors. Protecting personally identifiable information (PII) is not just the ethical thing to do; in many cases, such safeguards are legislated by federal and state governments. Schools must remain in compliance with student privacy laws and ensure that the vendors with whom they share data are also using strenuous measures to protect that information. By employing an all-in-one school management system, rostering student data can be governed using a centralized, secure process that governs how schools share PII.

Lumen™ Touch Bright SUITE™ All-in-One System Is More than Just Software

Lumen Touch offers to districts an all-in-one solution that is more than just programming and software. Bright SUITE also offers a dedicated partnership with Lumen Touch experts who are part of ensuring your school’s success. Don’t take it from us; hear from one of our Midwestern school district clients:

Not many companies can boast about having a single-platform solution like Lumen Touch that responds to the customer and market demands, that decreases the cost of a comprehensive digital platform in a time of financial crisis and provides the security in a world of cyber insecurity.

– Director of Technology

To learn more about how Lumen Touch empowers the future of learning, get in touch. Email us at mailto:sales@lumentouch.com, call us at 816.880.0066, or visit www.lumentouch.com.

The Opportunity in Education

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The recent COVID-related learning-loss numbers are being lamented across the country, becoming yet another weight on the shoulders of teachers who are often working in less-than-ideal circumstances as staffing shortages continue to mount. While learning gaps in math and reading are something to be addressed, the opportunity to change our approach and revolutionize learning in education has never been closer to reality. So where do we go from here, and how do we leverage this opportunity to transform education in a way that benefits students, teachers, and districts?

Stop Measuring Against What “Should” Be

We’re all for establishing benchmarks and using data to obtain the insights necessary to personalize education for each student. However, holding students to a standard based on previous test scores or outdated benchmarks isn’t fair to students or teachers. Instead, we must strive to meet the students where they are and move them forward.

From early on in a students’ education, we focus on measuring failure. Spelling and math tests are administered so that we can mark what they get wrong. Standardized tests focus on how far beneath the average they are. We then assume that wherever students are measured at that moment academically is where they will remain. This places an undue burden on students and teachers to always approach education as if it is remedial. Instead, we should focus on student successes and strengths, on each student’s interests, and on finding ways to improve motivation, engagement, and subject matter expertise by teaching to their passions.

Employ the Right EdTech to Help Improve Skills Quickly

Not every student is going to be in the same place academically – and that’s probably the greatest challenge for teachers. How do you teach to a classroom full of students who have all made different levels of progress in the previous two years while mostly schooling from home? Instead of adding that kind of stress to educators, let edtech play a role in individualizing the education of each student. Encourage students to work on personalized tracks, measuring their individual progress against their own starting point. This will free teachers to spend more one-on-one time with students who need additional instruction and support without holding back those who are ready for more.

Recognize the Opportunity Rather than the Adversity of the Moment

We are being presented with an opportunity to revolutionize education – to move away from standardized testing and toward individualized learning; to move away from grade level placements and toward individual education goals; to move away from changing classes and teachers every year to assigning students to the same education team across multiple years. The education system was completely disrupted by the pandemic, but why would we want to return to a system that was already outdated and underperforming?

Redesign the Curriculum – Eliminate Standardized Tests

We are doing our students a complete disservice by clinging to the old way of doing things, simply because we’ve always done it that way. We’re not preparing them to get a job in the workplace. The future of learning should look and feel radically different. Placing the priority on learning instead of on meeting standardized test score benchmarks is only the first step in recognizing that standardized testing does not test students for the functional education that they need to succeed in society.

Preparing Students for the Future

Our education system literally has not been updated in over a century, so the changes that have happened in the last two years out of necessity are ones we should sustain. A well-educated society is the backbone of an economically strong, socially engaged country – but today’s students need more than just great math and reading scores on standardized tests. They need to be prepared for a future that is inimitably more progressive than the one that any generation before them has experienced.

The future of learning should be individualized. Assessments should not be used to penalize students but rather to help encourage and customize learning. And what students learn should be modernized and revolutionized so that the students moving through the education system today are prepared to live, work, and engage in the society of tomorrow. Learn more about how Lumen™ Touch is contributing to the future of learning.

Lumen Touch and Paywat Announce Partnership

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Lumen Touch is pleased to announce our partnership with Paywat. Together, we deliver to schools an easy and efficient way for parents to process payments securely. From lunch money to registration fees to library fines, Lumen Touch and Paywat make it easier for schools to receive payments.

No Cost to Schools

As our preferred partner, Paywat is integrated with our systems, adding no additional cost to schools for use of the feature. Parents who choose to use the online payment feature pay a small fee. Parents will simply use the Lumen Touch platform as they normally do; they’ll just have an additional button to pay electronically.

Part of the Lumen Touch Promise

Lumen Touch is committed to providing best-in-class solutions to schools and school districts, making it easier to support teachers, students, families, and the community. As a K-12-focused payment platform that streamlines online payments, this is an important integration.

  • Your district’s business office can use the same reports from Lumen Touch that they currently use.
  • Funds are directly deposited into school bank accounts on a regular basis; there are no new accounts to track.
  • A single balance per user is noted across the entire integrated platform.

We are working to develop even more integrations, including parent engagement and communication tools.

It has never been easier to start using Paywat together with the Lumen Touch system. Just reach out to your Lumen Touch contact today! We’ll give you a quick overview, and once you’re comfortable, we’ll enable the process. Ask Lumen Touch to enable Paywat today.

About Paywat

Located just outside of Philadelphia, Paywat is focused on solving the communication challenges that exist in schools, particularly in regard to collecting payments. Paywat was founded by a parent who was fed up with the convoluted process of making school payments, having to rely on different tools for school payments, fundraising campaigns, communications, and forms processes. Someone had to do better. Our customers believe that we have hit the nail on the head. Learn more at paywat.com

The Future of Teaching

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Every day, we see stories about teachers who are hanging on by a thread, and we hear stories from teachers who can confirm the same and who are, worse yet, actively seeking other opportunities and will leave their careers in education. It’s not that they don’t want to be teachers, but the challenges of these past few years – on top of the many other pressures teachers face in the classrooms – have become insurmountable for some. We need to look at both how to better support educators and reduce attrition as well as look at how the education system can change to accommodate the drop in availability.

Teacher Shortages Are Growing

Throughout the country, the number of people entering the teaching profession is dropping significantly. According to the National Center for Education, education majors accounted for more than 10% of the degree candidates in 1990-1991. That number fell to 4.2% in the 2018-2019 school year. The pandemic has reduced those numbers even further. According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are teacher shortages in nearly every state for nearly every subject. A quickly generated report on general math resulted in a nine page list of teacher shortages from Wyoming to Puerto Rico.

Supporting Teachers More Effectively

Teacher turnover is damaging to students. According to research by Eric A. Hanushek, Steven G. Rivkin, and Jeffrey C. Schiman, the following impacts occur:

  • Teacher turnover negatively affects achievement despite adverse selection of leavers.
  • Experience loss and grade reassignment account for the negative turnover effects.
  • Negative turnover effects are concentrated in lower-achievement schools.

Reducing teacher attrition, then, has a direct impact on student success.

There are a number of ways we can support our teachers more effectively:

Invest in educators. Increase salaries and offer additional pay when they’re forced to manage both in-class and online students. Pay off their student loans. Cover the costs of all of their supplies; don’t make them beg the internet community to “clear the lists.”

Listen to educators. Listen to your teachers – at the school level, the district level, the state level, and the federal level. Put teachers on the committees that make decisions about policy, health, safety, and, yes, curriculum.

Provide tools for educators. Invest in technology that makes it easier for teachers to do their jobs. This means that at the state and national levels, governments need to free their budgets to invest in equity – broadband for every household, for example. At the district level, districts need to invest in smart technology that makes it easier for teachers to manage not just their teaching responsibilities but all of the other tasks they have, such as SPED reporting and SEL.

Addressing the Tech Skills Gap

There’s a huge tech skills gap. Our partners at Global Grid for Learning have identified some of the risks of not addressing this gap and the threat it represents to our economic stability:

  • Our ability to compete globally could be threatened.
  • Ransomware and phishing attacks are growing more sophisticated, resulting in the need for technically capable workers to thwart the threats to our schools, infrastructures, and businesses.
  • As AI, AR, and VR become commonplace in retail, education, healthcare, and other industries, the demand for technically proficient workers will continue to grow.

Radically Alter the Education System

It’s time for an academic overhaul. We’ve been using the same basic education system for more than a century, and we’re not keeping up. Larry Ferlazzo explores this in his two-part series on Futures Thinking. We need to change how we assess, what we teach, and how we prepare students for the workforce of the future. Lumen™ Touch is at the forefront of the education revolution. What do you want to see for the future of teaching?