Teaching from 3,000 miles away: San Jose school’s response to the California teacher shortage

On a Wednesday morning in May, a dozen students streamed into their geometry class at the Cindy Avitia High School. But instead of looking toward the blackboard, the 10th-graders opened up their laptops — and got ready to connect with a teacher nearly 3,000 miles away. Their class is one of 11 taught by a virtual teacher at the charter school, which is pulling in educators from Alaska, Maryland and Texas to address California’s teacher shortage. “I know it’s not ideal for our students — we all know that,” said Shara Hedge, the CEO of Alpha Public Schools, a charter network with four schools in...