Memphis-Shelby County Schools to hire 100 virtual instructors amid teacher shortage

Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education members Stephanie Love, left, and Natalie McKinney, discuss teacher vacancies during Tuesday’s school board meeting. (Screenshot)

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a contract on Tuesday with a digital learning provider to hire 100 virtual instructors for middle and high school students.

According to board members, the $4.6 million contract will extend the district’s partnership with Proximity Learning for another six months.  So far, the West Tennessee school district has spent over $12 million for online instructors through the partnership, which began during the 2018-19 school year. The decision comes as district leaders struggle to address teacher shortages, particularly in middle and high school grade levels. Superintendent Marie Feagins said Tuesday that the district is still looking to fill more than 300 vacancies.

Board members Natalie McKinney and Stephanie Love stressed that Tuesday’s decision to extend the virtual learning contract does not address teacher shortages in the district. Love said the district needs a long-term solution to filling vacancies with licensed educators.

“I have been to all of these schools, and they are begging for teachers. They’re begging for us to do something,” Love said during Tuesday’s school board meeting.

Feagins said the district will also require assistants to be in the classroom to help administer virtual learning and supervise students, which will come with other staffing costs of their own. She also acknowledged that Tuesday’s decision “is not going to fix” the issue of teacher vacancies.

“There are additional costs that come with standing up individuals [to work with] Proximity Learning,” Feagins noted. .

The board did not provide any further details on the contract or other costs associated with virtual instruction.

According to documents from the board, the contract is geared toward alleviating the need for certified virtual instructors in “hard-to-staff subjects and grades” to provide continuous instruction. However, the impact of virtual learning on student performance in the district has been mixed in recent years. In a recent analysis, district leaders said Proximity Learning, or “PL,” students have “demonstrated proficiency on MasteryConnect Common Formative Assessments (CFA),” as well as higher rates of students with A, B, or C grades in courses like traditional geometry and Honors Algebra 2. In addition, more PL students earned a C or higher in other end-of-course (EOC) subjects when compared to others.

Despite those positive findings, the district’s analysis also noted that “slightly more students in traditional comparison sections earned grades of A, B, or C” compared to PL students in some subjects. Students also reported having “less positive attitudes about their PL teachers and classes than about non-PL teachers and classes.”

While there is room for improvement, MSCS officials believe the contract still helps to alleviate some of the district’s need for certified teachers, amid other ongoing efforts to fill vacancies.

“Proximity Learning, Inc. teachers will support students who would otherwise not have a certified teacher of record,” a board document noted.