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Technology exchange
It's no Fable: World's First Internet Substitute
Teacher Calling System, AESOP, Finds a Teacher
for Every Classroom This Fall
Everyday in America, some 10% of this nation's 2.75 million teachers are absent due to illness, in-service, continuing education, and personal demands. Finding substitute teachers for these assignments has long been a headache for school administrators. But that is changing thanks to FrontLine Data, Inc., and their Internet and telephone-based substitute management system-AESOP. This fall, some 72,000 teachers in 80 school districts, servicing approximately one million students nationwide, will be using AESOP, which allows teachers to post their absences over the Internet for substitute teachers to view and accept as they become available. AESOP also allows teachers and substitute teachers to access the system using a nationwide 800 number. The system has already revolutionized the way some of the nation's leading school districts manage substitute placements-a tedious and cumbersome task, which must be completed daily in a window of hours.
AESOP does away with the old-fashioned telephone tag techniques, which required administrators to spend countless hours making one-to-one calls to fill a single opening. Instead, with AESOP, teachers register their absence online and include any lesson plans or notes. Once a job is posted, substitutes can view the assignment and accept it with the click of a mouse. It all takes place through AESOP's web site, www.AESOPonline.com.
In addition to its lower-than-average set-up and operating costs (school districts make a minimal upfront investment, and then simply pay a per-teacher subscription fee), AESOP's first-of-its-kind Internet reporting provides a new level of efficiency and visibility for school administrators while allowing them to increase the odds of filling every assignment, everyday. AESOP also gives administrators a view of trends surrounding absenteeism and the tools to analyze it.
"The system takes advantage of the Internet for both teachers and substitutes," says Jerry Jellets, Board Secretary and the head of information technology for the Toms River, New Jersey Board of Education. "The system also allows for more flexibility. Substitutes are able to indicate the days and times they are available, which increases the ability to reach qualified individuals. Prior to automating with AESOP, we had four individuals who handled our daily absenteeism. One individual now operates the entire district. In using this system for over a year now, we have fewer staff vacancies and more qualified substitutes in the classroom everyday."
How It Works
Teachers simply log on to www.AESOPOnline.com and post their job opening. At the same, the district's approved substitutes can log on using a personal identification number, and view the openings right over the Internet, as they are posted. The PIN numbers make it impossible for anyone else to view the assignments. And only the district-approved substitutes have access to the system. For those substitutes who choose to use the telephone, AESOP automatically makes the same information available through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. Substitutes simply call into an 800 number and use their touch-tone phones to find and accept job openings for which they are certified.
At the same time, the system allows administrators to review daily reports and receive full updates on substitute and teacher activity-all over the Internet. AESOP even automates payroll and accounting, further improving district office efficiencies.
The View From Outside the District
"Schools nationwide are discovering that AESOP can help them fill substitute positions more quickly and with a higher quality teacher," says Michael Blackstone, CEO of FrontLine Data, Inc. "We're seeing huge increases in fill rates for schools throughout the country using AESOP because of the system's efficiency. Sixty percent of all absences posted on AESOP are filled within one hour. Eighty-Eight percent are filled within one day. That speed allows school districts to quickly get the word out to substitutes who otherwise may take assignments with other local districts if not for the ability to quickly access the jobs over the Internet."
Nationwide, FrontLine has discovered that substitutes and teachers are five times more likely to use the Internet than the phone to register and fill an assignment. At the same time, AESOP allows both teachers and substitutes to leave online notes for one another-improving communications and continuity of instruction. A sampling of some of school districts which will be using AESOP this fall include:
- Toms River School District in New Jersey with 2,300 employees
- ·Council Rock School District in Pennsylvania with 1,100 employees
- Edmonton Catholic Schools in Canada with 2,370 employees
- Washoe County School District in Nevada with 4,000 employees
- Hoover City School District in Alabama with 1,300 employees
- Brazosport Independent School District in Texas with 1,200 employees
Brevard County Public Schools in Florida with 3,864 employees
About FrontLine Data, Inc.
FrontLine Data, Inc. is an ASP (Application Service Provider) that currently owns and exclusively distributes AESOP (Automated Educational Substitute Operator). Founded in 1998, the company develops Internet and IVR technologies to facilitate absence procurement. Based in the western suburbs of Philadelphia with offices in South Carolina, Texas and California and built with people dedicated to moral and ethical business practices, FrontLine Data, Inc. recognizes the importance of customer satisfaction and operates with high standards of achievement. Already in development are applications of this technology for other business sectors with a continual commitment to developing purposeful technology for the end user.
For more information on FrontLine Data or AESOP, contact Sharon Sargent at GregoryFCA Communications at (610) 642-8253, or sharon@gregoryfca.com.