Math Extra Credit..3

A year is a long time in a child's education, the time it can take to learn cursive writing or beginning algebra. It's also how much time kids can spend with substitute teachers from kindergarten through high school — time that's all but lost for learning.

The vacuum created by teacher absenteeism has been all but ignored — even though new research suggests it can have an adverse effect in the classroom.

The problem isn't just with teachers home for a day or two with the flu. Schools' use of substitutes to plug full-time vacancies — the teachers that kids are supposed to have all year — is up dramatically.


Link to lower test scores:

Teacher absences lead to lower student test scores, even when substitutes fill in. And test scores have gained heightened importance, because the 2002 education law penalizes schools if too few students meet testing benchmarks. The goal is to get all kids reading and doing math at their grade levels by 2014.

10 teacher absences within a year cause a significant loss in math achievement. When the regular teacher is gone for two weeks, it can set students back at least that amount of time.


With math in particular, the higher the level taught by the absent teacher, the harder it is to find a substitute.