Technology doesn't always make things better

Many school districts have adapted the software AESOP for scheduling subs. This software eliminates the need for the district to hire someone to call subs and match them with sub jobs. Instead teachers enter their absences into a website and substitutes log into this website (or log in by phone) to see potential sub jobs and accept or reject them. This sounds like a great thing but there is a huge downfall to this system. Subs aren't necessarily matched to classes that they are best qualified to teach so students are left with subs who really struggle to execute the lesson plans (because of lack of content knowledge, experience with that age group, or other skills necessary).

I taught a bilingual second grade class last week. The students are used to learning reading, writing, math, social studies, and science all in Spanish. The only English that is used in the classroom is for their ESL class as well as specials (Music, Art, and Gym). When the aid for the classroom arrived and heard that I was conversing with and working with students in Spanish, she was beyond excited. She then explained to me that they don't usually get Spanish speaking subs and that the day before an English only speaking sub was in and things didn't go so well. Later on when the Principal walked around, the aid shared her excitement with her that I spoke Spanish and I was told to check in with the office before I left to see if the teacher would be returning the next day or not. She did return the next day so I didn't get any more days at that school but the Principal told me to keep my eye out for jobs at Blair because they have quite a few staff members in bilingual positions.

AESOP software is just like a job board that is first come first serve. So the teacher who sees a job first and grabs it first, gets it. Just recently, I have found a way to auto-refresh the page every 15 seconds and so have actually seen a few more jobs. On average jobs last 15-30 seconds before they are taken by someone which leaves very little opportunity to grab jobs unless you stare at the screen all day.

Before software like this, school districts had a live human being matching subs with jobs. Teachers would call the "sub caller" when they had absences and even then had the opportunity to request certain subs or certain qualifications. Then the "sub caller" would go down their lists of subs, hopefully trying to match sub jobs with substitutes who were qualified in that area. Making a perfect match was not always possible especially with certain subject areas but an attempt was often made and thus it was far more likely that students would have a substitute that could successful carry on plans as usual ensuring the least amount of lost time due to absences.

I don't know if we need to completely throw the software away. But it is not working as it is written now. As a Spanish speaking sub, I (and all the other Spanish speaking subs) should be the first ones to see those types of jobs just like subs certified in math should be the first ones to see math jobs. I wish districts would see how important it is for student learning that a better match is made.