Virtual teachers step in as school district grapples with educator shortage

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As the struggle to fill teacher vacancies in Memphis-Shelby County Schools continues, the district board Tuesday approved a six-month contract for virtual instruction.

The Memphis-Shelby County board unanimously approved a $4.6 million contract with Texas-based Proximity Learning to obtain 100 teachers for live online teaching for middle and high school students.

The agreement would extend the district’s use of Proximity’s virtual instructors, which began in the 2018-19 school year. Those teachers, who interact live on video with students, are a stopgap as teaching positions remain open in Tennessee’s largest public school district. Without them, the district says some students would go without certified educators.

The Memphis district is one of Proximity’s top customers, The 74 has reported, and district documents show MSCS has paid more than $12 million for online teachers in the last three school years.

The number of current open teaching positions in the district is unclear. In June, Superintendent Marie Feagins told the board that the district had 463 vacancies, Chalkbeat reported. Feagins said at Tuesday’s meeting that at last count, the district had 312 vacant teaching positions.

“Addressing teacher shortages will require continuous investment, creativity, and collaboration,” board member Tamarques Porter said to Chalkbeat in an email Tuesday.

“I can say that filling teacher vacancies is a top priority for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, and we are addressing this challenge through a multi-faceted approach,” he said. “We’re also strengthening partnerships with universities and teacher preparation programs to create a pipeline of educators ready to serve in our schools.”

According to documents from the board, assessments from the last two school years show the virtual teachers' performance has been a mixed bag.

The board’s 2022-23 evaluation showed more than 7,000 students in Proximity Learning classes. Those students performed significantly worse on end-of-course assessments in English I and II (combined), Algebra I, geometry, and biology than their peers in traditional courses.

However, Proximity Learning students had higher rates of A, B, and C grades than those in traditional classrooms in those subjects.

An evaluation of Proximity Learning for the fall 2023 semester found that students expressed “less positive attitudes” about their virtual instructors than those with a teacher physically in class, with students giving lower scores to classroom engagement, expectations, and student-teacher relationships.

Evan Erdberg, founder of Proximity Learning, said he could not comment on the students’ performances, subjects requested from MSCS, or the logistics of virtual teaching in the district until the company has “had the chance to meet with the district to define the project’s scope.”

Board member Natalie McKinney said to Chalkbeat Tuesday that the benefit of Proximity Learning “is that they’re certified teachers.”

“I think we have to do it,” she said of the online teachers. “But I would like us to be innovative about how we look at this long-term, because as I’ve said before, we’re not going to magically come up with 300 teachers in six months.”

McKinney said the board continues to ask the superintendent about how the district will fill these teacher vacancies. She also said the district needs to “pay our teachers.”

“Until we do some innovative things to recruit folks in, we’re going to have to have alternatives,” McKinney said. “We need access to certified teachers.”

While districts across the U.S. are dealing with teacher vacancies, the Memphis region is struggling more than elsewhere in the state. The Tennessee Department of Education released a report this fall showing that Southwest Tennessee, which includes Memphis, had the highest vacancy rate in the state in 2023-24.

The report said about 45% of public schools in the U.S. operated without a full teaching staff.

Board member Stephanie Love told the superintendent she does not want a repeat of this year’s teacher vacancies and asked to contract Proximity Learning for three years.

“Our schools need to have everything they need at the beginning of school,” Love said. “I have went to all of these schools and they’re begging for teachers.”

Feagins told the board the contract will not fix the underlying issue of vacancies, but it will fill in some gaps until positions are filled.

“While it suffices and satisfies a need, I would not bring us a recommendation for a multiyear contract in this moment,” Feagins said.

Feagins did not comment on future plans for hiring teachers. MSCS also did not respond to a request for comment on the plan for hiring instructors.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.