CCPSOnline FOCUS Program

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The CCPSOnline (Facilitated Online Courses for Understaffed Schools) FOCUS program was initially created as a solution to ongoing and increasing teacher vacancies in specific content areas and in traditionally hard to staff schools. Nationally and locally, schools struggle to fill teaching positions in specific content areas. Mathematics, Sciences and World Languages are among the traditionally most challenging. In the initial year of the program, funding was identified to create and staff an instructional model for 75 sections of math across secondary schools that provides for a CCPSOnline math teacher (licensed) and a CCPSOnline virtual course facilitator (unlicensed) to provide instruction and instructional support to students at schools with unfilled math vacancies. The FOCUS program is under evaluation during the 2022-23 school year. Upon demonstrating program success, the program may be applied to additional vacancies and in additional content areas. There are two primary goals of the CCPSOnline FOCUS program. The first is that CCPSOnline will work proactively to provide students with an intentionally designed synchronous, school-based alternative course in circumstances where schools are unable to fill vacant teaching positions with licensed teachers. The second is that through virtual instruction from a licensed teacher and school-based support from an in-person virtual course facilitator, all students will master course skills and concepts.