What’s the most important aspect of an educational staffing plan?
Is it making sure you stick close to a school budget plan or is it prioritizing student needs? As you’re likely already thinking, it’s all that and then some. Your average student has a lot on their mind nowadays. Their growing social life, their fluctuating grades, the plans they have or don’t have for the future. It’s up to you to make sure your health screenings at school and different educational staffing possibilities are putting them first and foremost. A simple way to do this is to create a blow-by-blow list that summarizes their physical, emotional and social health needs.
Here are five elements all educational staffing plans should not be without.
Vision Screening
Your students’ health is of the utmost importance. Without strong physical and mental wellness they’re in no position to be studying and retaining information. According to a study by the National Commission On Vision and Health, an estimated one out of four children between the ages of five and 17 have some sort of vision problem. This same establishment concluded at least 25% of school-age children suffer from vision problems that could have been treated with a better screening before entering school. A simple school sensory screening that determines the presence of nearsightedness, farsightedness, color blindness and/or sensitivity to light will go a long way in improving their experience.
Hearing Screening
Did you know additional studies have shown nearly 80% of children today having not visited an eye care provider in the past year? This is before we even get into the benefits of a hearing screening when it comes to their education and self-esteem. It’s thought as many as 20% of teenagers have some form of hearing loss today. That’s 30% higher than in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Additional health surveys have revealed two or three out of every 1,000 children in the country are born with hearing loss in one or both ears. A hearing screening takes a matter of minutes and will easily put children on the path toward better accommodation.
Guidance Counseling
What else should staffing to fit inside budget plan include? Children today are more stressed and withdrawn than they’ve ever been, retreating into screens and feeling isolated from their communities. Guidance counseling is a wonderful way to reach out to those struggling and helping them better understand themselves. It’s estimated half of the public school workforce is made up of teachers, with the remaining half being guidance counselors, speech therapists and nurses. Depression, social anxiety, generalized anxiety and anger issues are just a few of the struggles that should be addressed and explored in counseling.
Trained Specialists
Educational staffing also need to take care to provide steady access to specialists. These don’t easily fit into the general teacher mold or guidance counselors, focusing on very specific areas of expertise for children that are unable to receive help elsewhere. These can include sign language interpreters for hearing-impaired students, counselors that focus on a specific form of mental illness or fitness specialists. A recent study found around 40% of American parents admitting their children spend three hours or more per day using digital devices, which can affect both their vision and their social life.
School Staffing Plans
Education staffing agencies are hard at work these days. A lot of what children need isn’t easily spelled out anymore, with the newest generation both very similar and very different to what we know. The American School Counselor Association recommends a student-to-counselor ratio of around 250 to one, though this shrinks even further in a private school model. Your educational staffing plan needs to make sure students aren’t struggling to hear a teacher over the hubbub of a classroom or straining to read while studying for an exam. These little steps will go a long way in setting them up for success.
Make 2018 the year you give your nationwide school staffing and online resources another look. Your students are more than worth the effort.