Passporting & Information Transfer

Previous Chapter

Short Answer

“It is better to have one person working with you than three people working for you.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Notice: Finding an exact source for this quotation is surprisingly difficult, so assume it is quoted in good faith.

Sometimes you need to help get a fellow teacher, or substitute teacher, set up in a classroom. You may not have to do it often, but it’s better to know how because you may have to do it.

Just because your passporting and information transfer procedures, especially with lesson plans, are long doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good. Quantity =/= quality and clear details/procedures are the winners.

Long Answer

In a position (teaching/instructing) where you need all the help you can get, it’s surprisingly hard to get that help. It may be for a multitude of reasons, such as:

It took someone else a lot of effort to set up everything they use, so are reluctant to pass it off
Someone wants to sell their curriculum or teaching materials
They’re not willing to work with other people out of habit, pride, or similar disposition
- By extension, they may make it more difficult for you as well
They may not be well prepared, like yourself, so cannot assist you meaningfully even if they want to
They are unable or unwilling to serve as a mentor role

The first several items in the list above are straightforward. As for mentorship, many people in general are not cut out to be mentors even if they’re in education.

If you get into teaching or instructing, or are currently one, your experiences may vastly differ depending on the environment you operate in.

I’ll split this up into two sections: teacher-to-teacher and teacher-to-substitute.

Teacher-to-Administrator

Usually, your principal/administrator (your boss) decides what you need to provide for them. As long as it’s legal and reasonable, you typically just comply.

The other thing to watch for is meetings with administrators. Sometimes they’re low-stakes, like a check-in to see how you’re doing during their usual routine checkups with staff, and other times they’re high-stakes, like a serious meeting over how you’re handling duties and compliance as a teacher. Whenever you have any scheduled meeting, take a bit of time to prepare in advance so you limit how much you’re caught off-guard.

That said, if an administrator comes into a classroom to try and model a lesson or teach a classroom in place of a teacher, and have never taught in a classroom before, I’m going to assume they’re the equivalent of a substitute teacher (which I explain more on below) and may not perform adequately. That’s not to say they’ll be bad at teaching, but if they’re not familiar with how teaching works in practice, and jump straight into it, it’s typically not going to go well their first time.

This even includes factors such as:

They may already have established rapport among the students.
They have authority to discipline students in ways teachers/instructors legally may not.
- That same authority affects classroom management significantly.

Simply put, authority in a role does not equal expertise in a role.

This also applies for teachers too, not just principals, but in different contexts.

Teacher-to-Teacher

Take, for example, a new employee is coming in, or a more seasoned one is transferring in for the first time. There’s an orientation period where they’re getting their bearings and understanding the environment. This general process isn’t exclusive to teaching; you may see it in tech, nursing, and other jobs.

Pretend you are the older teacher, rather than a newer teacher. Here are things you may want your new junior to know about, but may be expanded upon or condensed:

Staff contacts
Who the teacher may work with
Building plans
Office/classroom location
Room/building access (badges, keys, etc.)
Technologies and learning systems in place
Notes about students
Class schedules
Where to look up resources for curriculum resources
Information on any involved organizations like PTO or external organizations.
Emergency procedures
Grade and attendance systems
Content management systems
Check-ins
Collaboration sessions
Routines
Classroom management policies
How to observe classrooms
How to get teaching coverage when gone

You may want to provide sample lesson plans relevant to their subject(s) they can refer to for applications of a given curriculum.

This can be just a bulleted list; nothing too fancy or complicated here.
There’s also typically isn’t an obligation, unless forced into it by administration, for teachers to provide complete lesson plans and curriculums to other teachers as those are a significant investment of time and effort as well as potential portfolio pieces.

Keep in mind you’d want a teacher to stick around rather than muddle around and then depart. If you’re able to get a new teacher who can stand on their own feet, then they will cause fewer issues for you as well. It’s a mutual benefit for all involved and they may not need you to help them out much precisely because you “trained” them well and passported information effectively.

The best part? You could include almost all of this on a single Google Document. Simple.

Teacher-to-Substitute/Guest Teacher

If there’s one thing you have to take away from here, it’s to tell guest/substitute teachers to ignore a student saying “Our teacher lets us do ___” or something similar. It could be true, but it could also not be true and cause issues.

Before continuing, I must emphasize some extremely important points with substitute teachers.

Your classroom management plan could be perfect, but it will not stop students from testing boundaries and seeing what they can get away with.
- Substitute teachers rarely, if ever, have access to the same tools to monitor and control behavior like other teachers.
- Even if they do have access, using the tools effectively takes a moderate amount of training time not typically available or provided to them.
- A substitute teacher is typically going into the classroom with diminished authority from the start. They do not have rapport already established.
A poorly written substitute plan can still get you reported and in trouble with administration.
- You could also be reported for aggressive and demeaning writing in the plan(s) as well.
- You could also lose substitutes willing to cover for you, which means fewer opportunities to have time off.
Students can lie with a straight face to the substitute teacher about what you, the teacher, allow in the classroom.
- Put another way: Students can act disciplined around you, but not around the substitute teacher.
- “My kids are great! (or similar)” That’s not a valid excuse for dismissing a substitute teacher claiming your students acted poorly on a day.
Don’t permit physical contact with students, even if laws vary across jurisdictions.
If the substitute plan includes downtime, generally let them have the downtime.

Previously we covered what substitute teachers are and defined them as guest teachers. They replace, partially or fully, an educator in classes.

Some passporting and information transfer, which normally may violate FERPA/HIPAA if distributed, may be shared to those with legitimate educational interests in your institution, like the substitute teacher in charge of students you’re normally responsible for as their teacher of record.

34 CFR 300.323 (d) covers IEP distribution and access to information.
20 U.S.C. § 1232g covers more statutes related to FERPA (2025).

Despite these legal restrictions and allowances, the primary teacher and the school are still responsible for informing the substitute teacher about specific student requirements and what should be done in the classes covered. Failure to do so may provide the substitute teacher reasonable defense for not meeting these requirements.

You’ll want a separate substitute plan template for planned days off and an emergency substitute teacher plan. Emergency plans ensure you don’t get in trouble when you can’t create plans for a particular time frame. For both plan types, put down information relevant for a substitute teacher–or another teacher in general–to know about when you’re gone.

Don’t do these plans in any non-standard fonts. Older, reliable fonts are Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri at 12pt size. Just use one of those if you’re unsure.

You’ll also want to share emergency procedures, schedules, and contact information like in teacher-to-teacher passporting. Add in any device/software logins or passwords needed to operate programs if substitute teachers need to use those as part of your plans. You don’t need to give a cell phone number, but you should provide your professional email address for contacting.

Substitute “Binder”

This is the one-stop-shop for everything a substitute needs. Some items are review and you likely know about already and other items I’ll cover more in-depth later. Your goal is assembling a binder that, ideally, takes no more than 5-10 minutes to scan through in its entirety.

When in doubt, and within reason, provide details about anything that may not be easily understood.
Administration may alter or request additional items outside of this list, so be open to those as well.

This binder may be expected to have the following items accessible inside of it:

Seating Chart (with photos if possible)
Rosters & Attendance Policies
- Typically provided by office staff in advance, but can include here as a backup.
Classroom Rules / School-Wide Rules (i.e. “classroom management plan”)
- May be provided by administration, but goes over interventions, etc.
Map of School/Facility
“Helpful” Students
Emergency Procedures
Schedules
Staff Contact Information
Emergency Substitute Teacher Plans (In case of time/resource issues)
Regular Substitute Teacher Plans (Lesson Plans)
Medical Information / Special Notes (IEPs, 504s, special conditions of students, etc.)
Special Education
Substitute Reflection Sheet
- Often provided by other staff rather than teachers
- If not provided, then 1-2 blank sheets of paper to write how days went in case email contact doesn’t work.

Emergency Substitute Teacher Plans

Despite “emergency” in the title, these plans should be written like a SOP (standard operating procedure) and inform how you structure regular sub plans. In short, it covers the essential information that stays (mostly) consistent through the entire teaching period and can apply across multiple classrooms. It can be a bit long depending on what needs coverage, but try to keep it short when possible.

You could make your substitute teacher plans (regular and emergency) have a clause like “All of these plans are suggestions. Do what is needed to get the work done.” BUT you are placing a significant amount of trust on the substitute teacher.
- Do not do this unless you are willing to accept whatever risks, good and bad, come with it, regardless of the substitute teacher’s background.

Think about it this way: you’re suddenly dropped into a classroom and you have no idea what to do. What essential information should you know to function effectively as a teacher?

That’s the question this plan should answer succinctly; if it doesn’t, it’s not a good emergency substitute plan and you need to fix it.

For that effect, you should include information like the following:

A seating chart (if one is made) and alphabetical name list by first/last name
- Doesn’t matter if it 10, 100, or 10000 students
- This applies for every classroom you’re teaching
Staff bathroom, staff lounge, and front/administrative office locations
- You can include a copy of the campus map if desired
Important staff contact information
- Administration school and office/support staff phone numbers
- Security staff phone numbers
- Other teacher(s) nearby, if any, who can assist with emergencies
All “urgent/important” policies that must be followed
- This includes phone policy rules
- Prioritize policies an untrained individual can reasonably and quickly enforce with students
- E.g. student bathroom policies, handling student emergencies, how to reach security, etc.
Specific student notes, like special needs and discipline issues (only as permitted by FERPA, HIPAA, and other related laws)
Any keys, badges, or limited access provided to perform teaching duties and their locations/identifying information
How to handle downtime or “free time” in case it arrives.
A method to reach the primary teacher (you) in case of emergencies
A short list of items/work students may do/access for times you cannot make sufficiently adequate plans on short notice.

As for the design and function of emergency sub plans, keep these things in mind:

They should only be made once per teaching period (e.g. one per school year/semester)
- If you have to edit the emergency plan, it should only be for a mandatory change forcing an update or for updating important information like staff contact details
Pretend the person reading these has no formal teaching experience
Parts of this plan may not be followed exactly as written by your substitute teacher
It should not be excessively long and utilize lists when reasonable

Regular Substitute Teacher Plans

These substitute teacher plans are for information changing regularly. Think in terms of assignments to do across X days, exact dates of when things are due, and what is occurring on these days according to your lesson plans.

Let’s assume we have our bearings and got over the initial panic of not knowing anything. Now we know the environment we’re in and where to get help, but we don’t know what needs doing here. We’re in a classroom, sure, but what do the students need to do during this time and how will they do it?

An important assumption must exist on these plans as well: pretend the person reading these has no formal teaching experience.

That’s the question we answer this time: what the students need to do. You could also include what the teacher should do and some parts copied from the emergency plan, but remember this is a dynamic and changing document, not a static document.

These plans may be templated, but details may change depending on your pacing and what you’re doing. You also don’t need to copy all of the verbiage. You can also write restrictions that substitutes should let students handle, or other staff, as it applies to each period and their activities. You may also copy snippets from the emergency sub plans onto this plan, but keep it to essentials to avoid excessive redundancy.

Here is an example of a work plan below for each period. It includes what students need to do, how to do it, and what happens when they’re done early. The parts you change are bolded.

Work Plan (Period A) Example for 1 Assignment

[Period A]

Students do [Assignment] today.
- Available on [Platform/Medium] located [Computer/Desk/Etc.].
  - Username: [Username] & Password: [Password]
- Work is turned in [Online/Physical Location/Kept].
- Expected to complete [In-Class/Out-of-Class/Partially done].
- Due date is [Month Day, Year] or [End of class/End of day/Tomorrow/By midnight].
If students finish all assigned work early, have them do:
- [Assignment] on [Platform/Medium] located [Computer/Desk/Etc.] due [Month Day, Year] or [End of class/End of day/Tomorrow/By midnight]
- [Option B (General)].

…and repeat the above template for each relevant period! The intention of this template (and subsequent examples) is to cover each part of assigned work without being verbose. We’re also designing for scannability over readability, so a substitute can quickly check what students should be working on without being bogged down by details.

What if it’s for multiple activities? We modify the template slightly.

Work Plan (Period B) Example for 2+ Assignments

[Period B]

[Assignment 1]
- Available on [Platform/Medium] located [Computer/Desk/Etc.].
  - Username: [Username] & Password: [Password]
- Work is turned in [Online/Physical Location/Kept].
- Expected to complete [In-Class/Out-of-Class/Partially done].
- Due date is [Month Day, Year] or [End of class/End of day/Tomorrow/By midnight].
[Assignment 2]
- Available on [Platform/Medium] located [Computer/Desk/Etc.].
  - Username: [Username] & Password: [Password]
- Work is turned in [Online/Physical Location/Kept].
- Expected to complete [In-Class/Out-of-Class/Partially done].
- Due date is [Month Day, Year] or [End of class/End of day/Tomorrow/By midnight].
(Copy+paste as needed)
If students finish all assigned work early, have them do:
- [Assignment] on [Platform/Medium] located [Computer/Desk/Etc.] due [Month Day, Year] or [End of class/End of day/Tomorrow/By midnight]
- [Option B (General)].

If the students have something with more nuance/detail, like an activity or lab, you may need to make some changes like in this following example:

Work Plan (Period C) Example for Lab

[Period C]

[Activity]
- Students prepare at [desks/assigned stations/other]
- Available on [Platform/Medium] located [Computer/Desk/Etc.].
  - Username: [Username] & Password: [Password]
- Work is turned in [Online/Physical Location/Kept].
- Expected to complete [In-Class/Out-of-Class/Partially done].
- Due date is [Month Day, Year] or [End of class/End of day/Tomorrow/By midnight].
Additional Information
- Students are responsible for cleaning and preparing all relevant equipment for lab/activity.
- Lab/activity procedures are [Written on board/Discussed prior to class/Included in their assignments]
- In case of emergencies, [Do X thing(s)/Contact this person (with contact info)/Contact these people (with contact info)]
- There is [no assistant teacher/a teacher assistant/co-teacher/other] present in the class alongside you.
- If students have questions, redirect them to [write them down for later/ask the primary teacher in next class/other]
- Students are working [by themselves/in pairs/in groups]. They [may/may not] work with people outside of their group, or with others if work by themselves.
If students finish the lab/activity early, have them do:
- A full clean-up of their lab equipment and stations, if not already complete.
- [Assignment] on [Platform/Medium] located [Computer/Desk/Etc.] due [Month Day, Year] or [End of class/End of day/Tomorrow/By midnight]
- [Option B (General)].

As for special needs information, throw that onto the period where relevant and here’s an example layout below. Remember that substitute teachers do have legitimate educational interests, so typically should be told if an IEP/504/otherwise exists.

Special Needs & Additional Student Notes

Student Notes
- [Student Name] has [specific need(s)].
- This is fulfilled by doing [particular process/method/other].
- [Student Name(s)] may go to [Area in School] when they [Meet X condition]
- Students may do [Permitted Items] while I am gone.

You can attach a separate note section for each period or do a comprehensive section covering all periods at once. If you do a comprehensive one, however, add “in [class(es) they’re present]” to the end of the first line under “Student Notes” above so it’s easier to identify where and when special needs students show up during the day.

The beauty about a well-designed regular substitute plan is it can take one of two forms:

Short, but written in paragraph style text for quick reading
Long, but with multiple, concise lists for easy scanning

How to keep Substitute Teachers

If you want substitute teachers to actually cover for you now and in the future, here are some examples (not covering all of them) of things to do:

Don’t bait and switch substitutes.
- Example: A school puts out a “rover” position, reasonably implying flexibility, but it’s actually for a difficult to fill role or special education.
- “We really needed someone consistent here” = “we couldn’t get the role filled.”
Provide information about the class before they arrive.
- Vague descriptions = risk
If they need to contact you with a phone, don’t have policies in place getting them in trouble for being on a phone.
- It’s also a legitimate, required component of a substitute teacher’s job as assignments are often taken through devices like phones.
- Exception is if there’s blanket policies prohibiting teachers (and substitutes) on phones during instructional time.
Don’t get them in trouble for voicing legitimate complaints about the class, other staff, etc.

Now, if the substitute teacher decides to ignore everything here, not bother following the plan(s), and even let the students do whatever they want, then you can absolutely document it, collect the evidence, and file reports to administration/HR against them.

Bibliography

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. (2025, August 18). 34 CFR 300.323 When IEPs must be in effect. Code of Federal Regulations. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/chapter-III/part-300/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR28b07e67452ed7a/section-300.323
United States Code. (2025). 20 U.S.C. 1232g - Family educational and privacy rights. Govinfo.gov. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2024-title20/USCODE-2024-title20-chap31-subchapIII-part4-sec1232g