“The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.” ~ Josh Waitzkin
School district budgeting can be a challenge even if you’re in a district with ample resources. It’s rare for a district to have enough funding to accomplish every goal, which means that assistant superintendents, school boards, and school administrators must decide what their priorities are and allocate resources accordingly.
At Alludo, we have seen first-hand how dramatically the ongoing teacher shortage has impacted school districts and their budgets. It can be expensive to hire and onboard a new teacher and yet these expenses are necessary because they contribute directly to teacher retention. That’s why we’ve added new teacher onboarding to our model. We know that providing substitute and new teachers with the support they need from the start can help turn your onboarding system into a pipeline for new teacher hiring.
With limited funds, is it possible to make room in your budget for new teacher onboarding and induction? Yes it is! Here’s what you need to know.
Table of Contents
- What Should District Budget for to Ensure Effective Onboarding?
- What Metrics Measure Onboarding Success and Efficiency?
- Where to Find Funds for New Teacher Onboarding and Induction
- How Does Onboarding Professional Growth Tie into LongTerm Teacher Success?
- Alludo's Take
- Make Room in Your Budget for Professional Development with Alludo
What Should Districts Budget for to Ensure Effective Onboarding?
Creating a teacher onboarding budget isn’t difficult but it does require some creative thinking and a professional development partner who understands the importance of new teacher training and induction.
The key to finding room in your budget for onboarding is to be mindful of your goals, the options available to you, and the true cost of not onboarding teachers properly, which comes in the form of high teacher turnover and elevated hiring costs.
As you go into the budgeting process, here are some things to keep in mind as you make room for onboarding and induction:
- Identify your onboarding and training needs and goals. You should think about what types of support and training new teachers need to be successful as well as what you expect new teachers to achieve.
- Find an affordable software solution for onboarding. Some school districts pay for on-site software but in many cases, it’s more affordable and convenient to choose a cloud-based platform like Alludo’s that can be accessed on any device. Subscription models require ongoing budgeting but there’s no major up-front investment, which can be an advantage.
- Create a resource library and onboarding checklist. When teachers have the resources and tools they need, they’re most likely to be engaged in the onboarding process and eager to be in the classroom.
- Weigh the cost of teacher turnover. The NEA has estimated that schools pay an average of $20,000 each time a teacher leaves. These costs include hiring and training new teachers and may also include expenses related to substitute teachers.
- Seek software that can be used beyond onboarding. For example, the Alludo Learning platform, Madagascar, may be used for both new teacher onboarding and long-term professional development. Both are essential if you want to improve teacher retention in your school district.
It’s easier to find room in the budget when you choose an online, asynchronous professional learning platform that can also be used for new teacher onboarding and induction than it would be if you planned on in-person, synchronous onboarding. Our free Budgeting Webinar dives deep into this topic, covering how to prioritize spend and align professional development with core initiatives and standards.
What Metrics Measure Onboarding Success and Efficiency?
At the same time that you implement a system for new teacher onboarding, it’s necessary to put a plan in place to measure the system’s effectiveness and success.
There are two primary ways to collect data about onboarding. The first is to provide participants with onboarding surveys that will allow you to collect feedback about the system you’ve created. Some items for participants to rate might include the following:
- I received the training I needed to prepare me for my first day in the classroom.
- I was made to feel welcome by school administrators and teachers.
- I have the tools and technology I need to engage my students.
- My onboarding experience has set me up for success.
- I would recommend this school/school district as a great place to work.
- My work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment and pride.
You can ask respondents to rate each statement on a scale to give you the information you need to evaluate your onboarding program. Some of these items are most suitable immediately after onboarding is complete while others may be asked at intervals after onboarding.
The other option to measure onboarding is to collect measurable analytics provided by your teacher onboarding software. For example, Alludo Learning provides school districts with an array of useful metrics that include learner engagement and hours of training completed.
Metrics may also be used to create SMART goals related to onboarding and professional development. Here are a few examples:
- All new teachers learn how to use Google Classroom within one month of hiring.
- 80% of teachers will be engaged in professional development by the end of the school year.
- All teachers will log enough professional development hours to maintain state licensure.
The key is to set realistic goals and use the information you collect to evaluate the effectiveness of your new teacher onboarding. After you evaluate your results, you can adjust your onboarding program as needed. Ultimately, your onboarding system may help to increase teacher retention and job satisfaction.
Where to Find Funds for New Teacher Onboarding and Induction
It’s rare for school districts to have a line item in the budget to pay for new teacher onboarding. There may not even be a line item for teacher professional development, but there are multiple places in the budget where you may be able to find funds to pay for an onboarding system. Here are some examples:
- Instructional coaching and mentoring
- Social emotional learning (SEL)
- Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)
- Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS)
- Curriculum
- Equity and inclusion
- Technology
- Teacher retention
- Innovation in learning
- Teacher and staff effectiveness
It’s possible to find the money to pay for both new teacher onboarding and ongoing professional development. The fact is that teacher training facilitates every other goal your district might have, so it makes sense to pull from your budget in an array of areas to make room for onboarding and professional development.
How Does Onboarding Professional Growth Tie into Long-Term Teacher Success?
Now that you know where to find room in your budget for onboarding new teachers and providing ongoing professional development, here are some of the ways that onboarding ties into long-term teacher success.
Let’s start with compliance. Without proper onboarding, new teachers in your district may not know what is expected of them. They may not fully grasp the school’s safety procedures and other important issues.
They may also struggle to adapt to the school’s culture without onboarding, but with proper training, they are likely to feel welcomed and supported as they enter the classroom for the first time. They can use their time in onboarding to connect with other teachers and get to know them, creating a system of support they can use going forward.
Perhaps the most important consideration for school districts who are coping with the ongoing teacher shortage is the fact that onboarding improves teacher retention rates. It provides teachers with a positive first impression and lets them know they can expect ongoing support in their jobs. By keeping lines of communication open, it allows new teachers to make a smooth transition into the classroom. These things all convey the long-term perks of being a teacher.
Onboarding professional growth provides new teachers, as well as substitute teachers, with the training and support they need to connect with their students. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that proper onboarding of substitute teachers can turn into a pipeline for hiring new teachers, as it did in the Yucaipa Calimesa Joint Unified School District.
Alludo’s Take
At Alludo, we provide online asynchronous professional development that’s convenient and effective. We also offer personalized, standardized onboarding to help new teachers get up to speed quickly and be effective in the classroom.
With our onboarding system, school districts can reduce the ramp-up time for new teachers and boost their capacity to hire and train new teachers. Our system may be used for onboarding and long-term, ongoing professional development, making it a cost-effective option for school districts with limited resources. In fact, our prices start at under $5 per adult learner per month, making our platform, Madagascar, one of the most affordable PD options available.
Make Room in Your Budget for Professional Development with Alludo
Finding room in your budget for new teacher onboarding is about more than getting teachers into the classroom. It’s the best way we know to support teachers and reduce teacher turnover. Now that you understand where to find funds to pay for onboarding and why it matters, you’re ready to create your budget.
Do you need an affordable way to provide new teacher onboarding in your district? Alludo is here to help! Click here to get your free trial of Madagascar, our online asynchronous professional learning platform.
