Waiting for Superman?

Job Description:

• You will be over-worked.
• You will feel over-whelmed.
• You will be under-appreciated.
• You will be under-supported.
• You will be under-paid.

Interested candidates, please apply here.

Is it any surprise that 55% of all teachers are thinking of leaving the profession earlier than they had planned? Or that only 7% of US teachers come from the top-third of their high school class (compared to 100% of teachers in other developed countries)?

Teacher turnover rates in American education are 10-20x that of other countries. So if we are going to lose our best talent and fail to replenish the pipeline with high-caliber candidates, what hope is there for the future of education?

Imagine if 55% of doctors were thinking of quitting and we were no longer able to attract the best and brightest to medicine? What would happen to the state of healthcare?

This isn’t a ‘future us’ problem….it’s a problem that is already affecting every single child and family in America. We just haven’t come to grips with it yet.

Wanted: 4 Million Superheroes

Let’s not give ourselves a free pass by just blaming this on politicians or unions.

The real reason for this is that the core job of a teacher — any teacher, even the best teacher in the world — is completely unsustainable. Most teachers are asked to be curriculum designer, lesson planner, public speaker, psychologist, parent concierge, lunch supervisor, crossing guard, budget keeper, and administrator. And, we want them to do this with a smile for sub-living wage.

When a school is lucky enough to find such a superhuman, they ask them to oversee the development of 100+ kids a day. And then we repeat this process 4 million times -- one superhuman teacher for every subject, in every grade, in every school, in every district, in every state in America.

What if there was another way?

What if we could change the role of teaching so you didn’t have to be a superhuman to be successful? Imagine if you allowed one group of educators to focus on the curriculum and lesson planning. They would deliver great content digitally to kids and use tech to adapt it to their individual needs. And, imagine another group of educators who could focus on just-in-time tutoring, 1:1 support, and really obsessing over each child’s developmental and emotional needs.

Could you create more meaningful career pathways that provide for better work/life balance and attract high-caliber people into teaching?

In essence, this is what the KaiPod model enables. Students sign up for an online curriculum through an accredited school or as part of their homeschool setup. That curriculum (and associated teachers/home educators) takes care of the first set of needs. Then KaiPod Learning Coaches, who are hired for their unique abilities to provide just-in-time tutoring and 1:1 support, obsess over each child’s development and emotional needs.

Our Learning Coaches tell us this new role has given them greater purpose in supporting children in this way, bringing them back to the reasons they got into teaching in the first place. And that the job is far more sustainable than prior teaching roles!

Some of the Learning Coaches we recruit actually had already left the teaching profession, but missed the joy they got from supporting a child’s growth. We are so excited to be able to bring them back into education, in a different role that more uniquely plays to their strengths, and show them what’s possible!

Note: The reasons that teachers leave the profession are well documented in many sources, including this recent article from EdSurge.