KIPP Academy Chicago: Providing High Quality Long-term Substitute Teachers to Support Student Achievement

Industry

Education

Challenge

KIPP Academy Chicago struggled with filling vacancies with qualified teachers, specifically long-term assignments and positions supporting their English Language Learners. These vacancies placed strain on academics, students' social adjustment, and staff capacity.

Results

Through strengthening this existing partnership, Kokua supported a 106% year over year increase in number of filled absences, filled 55 long-term assignments across the wider KIPP Chicago network, reached 99% fill rates, and achieved strong customer satisfaction scores.

Approach

Rapidly filling existing long-term vacancies, Ensuring a steady pipeline of qualified guest teachers, Consistently gathering feedback to refine processes and improve teacher satisfaction, Partnership Building, Sourcing bilingual teachers to support English Language Learners, Efficiently filling morning-of and daily teaching assignments

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99%

Overall absences filled

99%

Morning-of absences filled

Long-term Vacancies Filled Across KIPP Chicago Network

106%

Year over year increase in absences filled

"Kokua Guest Teachers have completely transformed support for our multi-lingual learners. This required more support so that the admin team could focus on coaching all teachers, and the addition of Kokua Guest Teachers has made that possible. We know they're doing something right because we frequently forget who is a full-time KIPP teacher and who is a Kokua Guest Teacher!"

Camille Allen

Principal, KIPP Academy Chicago

About KIPP Academy Chicago

KIPP Academy Chicago is an open enrollment public charter school in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, serving students grades 5-8. The school currently enrolls approximately 365 students with diverse backgrounds and demographics. Their mission is to empower students with the character and academic skills necessary to persist through college, pursue passions with confidence, and lead for a more just Chicago.

The Challenge

KIPP Academy Chicago started the 2024-25 school year with 10 vacant lead teacher or paraprofessional roles with more projected, in addition to managing day-to-day teacher absences. Their rising English Language Learner student population - making up about 10% of their student body - required an urgent need for bilingual teachers, creating a unique staffing challenge.

This challenge led to three key implications for the school community:

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This situation also presented new challenges for the Kokua team, requiring them to quickly build their Guest Teacher pool with not only candidates willing to pick up daily, last-minute assignments, but specifically needing to source long-term and bilingual teachers. To be successful, these teachers needed to have a unique skill set and meet state certification requirements that the average Chicago-based substitute teaching position did not require.

The Solution

Kokua had a pre-existing partnership with KIPP Academy Chicago, but the 2024-25 school year presented new, urgent challenges to address. Kokua approached the challenge with efficiency, empathy, and a willingness to adapt systems.

Website SEO Guide Infographic Graph (1)-1 Once alignment was reached, this approach allowed Kokua to address KIPP's unique needs quickly.

"The collaboration between KIPP and our internal Kokua team helped us get to a solution faster, and ensure the right Guest Teachers were in their classrooms. For example, because of our prioritization and personalized approach, a member of our hiring team was able to onboard a certified, Spanish-speaking Guest Teacher, who was interested in a long-term assignment, within 2 days."

- Hana Samp, Kokua Regional Director

The Results

During the school year, KIPP school leaders submitted a survey sharing their overall satisfaction with Kokua services and guest teachers.

In addition to the scores above, school leaders shared this anecdotal feedback:

Guest Teacher quality: Very satisfied with the quality of Guest Teacher Kokua has been able to provide
Customer service & implementation: Overall impressed with the Kokua team's ability to clearly communicate and the quick response time for all inquiries
Student experience: School staff noticed an increase in student confidence once they started receiving more instruction in their native language

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Throughout the partnership, the Kokua team learned two main lessons that they will continue to lean on for future challenges that may arise.

Think outside the box	Communication is key
What works for one school may not work for another. Kokua has the ability to truly customize a school's experience.	Don't assume that you have all the information! Consistent check-ins and visiting schools in person made a huge difference in our ability to understand school needs and adjust our processes

Conclusion

This case study showcases how the Kokua team is able to leverage real-time feedback from school partners, and ultimately increase the positive influence Guest Teachers can have on academics and school culture. Kokua will continue to support KIPP Academy Chicago for all of their future vacancies, including daily, long-term and hard to fill positions.