For many schools, a daily flex period is a valuable opportunity to provide needed interventions for students who could use a little extra practice on a skill or concept or more one-on-one time with their teachers. Though this time can make all the difference for students who are struggling, there are many logistical challenges associated with implementing a flex period. How will the time be structured? How will all students be accounted for? How will teachers and staff ensure that students are making the best use of their time to get the help they need?
These are some of the challenges Joseph Connelly, a former chemistry and physics teacher, sought to overcome when his school began implementing a flex period several years ago. After a year of seeing the value it could provide yet failing to see it live up to its potential, Connelly taught himself to code and created Edficiency, a software program that automates the logistical side of flex period to free teachers and staff to focus instead on supporting students’ instructional needs.
Connelly is the founder and director of technology at Edficiency, and James Bacon, Connelly’s brother-in-law and former middle school math teacher, is director of outreach and operations. “We truly believe that technology should be able to do all the time-consuming stuff for teachers and administrators that isn’t the best use of their time,” Bacon says
To that end, Edficiency automates flex time logistics, creating rosters each day of where students are scheduled during flex time and ensuring all students are accounted for across campus. The program gives both teachers and students a level of choice in where students go each day based on priority levels, making sure that students are scheduled each day where they are needed most, whether for intervention or for a club or other activity. Students can request to attend a teacher’s flex period, but teachers can also request to see certain students.
Efficiency handles the priority logistics to ensure students are assigned to a flex period each day, even if a student doesn’t request to attend a specific teacher’s flex period or a student isn’t requested by a teacher. Students receive an email each morning to indicate their flex period location for the day, teachers log in to see their daily rosters for that time, and administrators can account for a student’s location during that time because every student is assigned to a teacher’s room.
According to Bacon, the software allows teachers to “spend their time on the important decisions that most impact kids, like which kids need a specific intervention to master content, how to provide more academic and fun opportunities for students, or how to make sure their limited time with students is being well spent.” Additionally, the program “provides accountability and data to facilitate more productive student and/or parent conferences, and coaching conversations between administrators and teachers.”
In addition to its ease of use, Edficiency, has helped to increase positive and productive interactions between teachers and students, as well as fostering student ownership and initiative. “Now that we are two years in with using Edficiency,” Talisa Corcoran, assistant principal of Mount Horeb High School shared, “we are seeing that there is an increase in students making requests to see their teachers. This is wonderful as it is showing us that students are interested in taking control of their learning and are being self-reflective of their learning needs.”
Looking ahead, Bacon would love to see Edficiency “work with schools in every state, helping them more efficiently use their time to better serve students.”
