Catching Good Subs

Between kindergarten and 12th grade, the average student spends 187 days, or more than one school year, with a substitute teacher, says Geoffrey Smith, director of USU’s Substitute Teaching Institute. On any given day, more than 375,000 substitutes teach in classrooms across the country and these substitutes aren’t often trained or thoroughly screened. Smith’s research revealed that 60 percent of U.S. school districts offer subs an orientation, but only 10 percent give subs classroom management or teacher training. Smith says that some school districts, desperate for subs, skip interviews and follow just the state requirements for fingerprinting and state and federal background checks.

From, “Schools Vary in How they Screen Subs,” by Daniel Axelrod, Norwich Bulletin, Feb. 27, 2007. For more information, contact Geoffrey Smith [gsmit@subed.usu.edu], director of USU’s Substitute Teaching Institute, 435-797-3232.