Some experts believe that more classrooms that utilize blended learning will help decrease the high number of teacher shortages seen annually.

Year after year, the beginning of a new school year means more news about districts struggling to deal with vacancies in teaching positions.

This year, Oklahoma was forced to supply 500 emergency certificates to individuals who only needed to have a Bachelor's degree to deal with massive shortages In other states, assistant principals and librarians are being utilized as fill-in teachers until proper teachers could be hired. Many districts have been forced to hire teachers not yet certified and otherwise considered under qualified to make ends meet. 

"With the acute teacher shortage, some schools are putting teachers with little or no experience into classrooms with the idea that they will receive proper training on the job. [Beth Rabbitt of The Learning Accelerator] believes blended learning could create a system in which the most experienced teachers take the lead, while junior colleagues take on roles that resemble apprenticeships," said EdSurge.com.

Supporters of the blended learning model believe it will help cut back on traditional instructional materials and therefore save money to invest into teachers' salaries, the article said.

Further, supporters believe the learning model will enable fewer teachers to reach the same amount of students as well as "make the classroom more flexible, productive, and perhaps even more attractive to young professionals."

Read the full article here and comment with your thoughts below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

09/02/2015