The ChallengeEnsuring equitable access to education amid the teacher shortage
Classrooms for Colorado LIVE is an online pilot program designed to support districts across the Centennial state in need of highly-qualified math teachers, with the goal of minimizing the impact of the ongoing teacher shortage. In this unique learning model, students attend their brick-and-mortar school and a CC-LIVE instructor logs on to teach the curriculum remotely while a “classroom supporter”—a member of the school’s educational community—oversees the in-person student experience, ensuring a smooth class period with maximized learning time and prompt attention to safety, technical, and social-emotional needs.
“We are bringing live, virtual teachers to in-person classrooms all over the state of Colorado to make sure students are getting the highest quality teacher possible,” explains Roxie Mitchell, Developer and Coordinator of CC-LIVE. “All across the country we have a teacher shortage,” adds Nicolette DiPietro, Program Researcher. “Our pilot is focused on solving the teacher vacancy issue.”
To ensure the success of this modern approach to education, CC-LIVE needed to find an online learning solution that could help them seamlessly facilitate sessions and realize their vision of getting incredible teachers in front of students in districts struggling to hire.
The SolutionConnecting students in a classroom to high-quality teachers online
Once CC-LIVE discovered Class’s virtual classroom, they knew they’d found the right partner to help them combat the teacher shortage and design a better way to connect students on campus with qualified teachers across the state.
“Class offers some modern working conditions for our teachers to live in the communities and places they want to, but be able to teach students anywhere in the state,” shares Roxie. “It also gives students equitable access to education. So just because they live perhaps in a rural area or somewhere they can’t get a teacher, this allows the students to be able to get a really highly qualified math teacher in their classroom when they need it.”
“Class supports the teacher by giving them the tools necessary to best direct their students from anywhere,” adds Nicolette.
Individual and group chat feature
Individual and group chat feature 
“Sometimes students are afraid to say their question out loud. So Class allows another option for communication between students and teachers during class time,” shares Nicolette. “We all don’t want to communicate in the same way, so Class allows us to do that.”
Centralized learning environment
Centralized learning environment 
“We work with so many unique schools. But having one platform that works well with all the schools and their LMSs allows a little bit of consistency for our teachers also. It’s nice to have a platform that we can fully support and our teachers don’t have to flip from one platform to another. It’s consistent for the students and the teachers too,” explains Nicolette.
Dual-purpose proctor view
Dual-purpose proctor view 
“I think the proctor view is also fantastic. Our teachers, again, are not physically in the classroom. So to have their eyes on the screens, like they’re walking around in the back of the classroom with that proctor view is great. Or having a student be able to share their work and their window with the teacher to problem solve something,” says Roxie.
Attendance and participation tracking
Attendance and participation tracking 
“Being on the research side of things, I like to be able to see and analyze and quantify a lot of those pieces that are featured in the dashboard. So knowing how often someone raises their hand or they use the different reactions gives us a little bit of insight on the other end of what’s going on in these classrooms,” notes Nicolette.
The ResultDelivering a more equitable learning experience for all learners
By entrusting Class to facilitate their unique learning program, CC-LIVE is able to support districts and students across the entire state of Colorado in need of high-quality teachers. Choosing a flexible solution like Class empowered CC-LIVE to provide a more equitable learning experience for students while addressing the nationwide teacher shortage.
“There are so many variables within the CC-LIVE model, and having Class as our platform really makes us adaptable,” shares Nicollete. “You could take one of our teachers, and they could be in five different communities throughout the state of Colorado in a day. And students get to stay in their school structure. They’re still next to their friends, chatting and having a good time, so we’re able to make sure that they still get that social and emotional support.”
“Some of the tools in Class really open up a new way for learning for some students that they had not experienced in their other in-person classes,” concludes Roxie. “So we want to give students an opportunity to experience those things, reflect on those things, and use that knowledge to think forward about their education.”
With Class, CC-Live is:
Putting high-quality teachers in front of more students
“One district just couldn’t find a math teacher no matter what they were offering. That’s over 100 students that would not be able to have a live math teacher right now. We can provide not just any math teacher, but a qualified math teacher,” shares Nicolette.
Increasing learning opportunities for students
“There were some advanced students that wanted to continue moving forward and moving on. But the school didn’t have the budget for a math teacher. With CC-Live coming in and working with this school, these students can now continue learning with a highly-qualified teacher,” notes Nicolette.
Enhancing their model to meet students’ unique needs
“Class is helping us expand our group of math teachers as well as expand the courses that we offer, so we can impact more students all across the state. We work with a variety of different schools. It’s really neat to see how this model can adapt to the different types of learners, and not just from one community to another, but within that same classroom. We’re differentiating the teaching and the learning,” says Nicolette.
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