http://theconversation.com/crisis-in-american-education-as-teacher-morale-hits-an-all-time-low-39226
The conclusion is correct, although I seriously doubt the esteemed Steven Ward fully understands what a system like Finland requires to be successful and what this would mean to the army of people this article describes.
While that turnover may seem alarming by itself, employees in education, training, and library jobs tend to stay in the jobs longer than those in most other kinds of jobs.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.t06.htm
Of course, this does not mean that all is well in schools and teaching. But there is plenty of other evidence of problems, so highlighting the turnover rate (which is actually not that high compared to the overall labor market) may not be of much use or interest.
That’s a weird pair of groups (those who leave, and those who move) to collapse together. I know that in our school district, a number of teachers have to move schools each year because the number of students is, say, going up at one school while going down at another—and that’s incredibly different from a teacher leaving the profession.
I have left public education for good. One of the many reasons I left was the disrespect within the system, a disrespect that no teacher’s union has addressed, i.m.o. That is the reality and the symbolism of requiring teachers (employees of a district) to purchase their own tools to do jobs they are paid to do. I’m speaking, naturally, of classroom supplies – essential ones, not “extra” ones, optional ones, fancy ones. Paper, markers, pencils, tape, glue. I take enormous offense at that – at even the concept, never mind the reality and the spoken nerve of it all. That has nothing to do with allowable deductions on taxes (although “Educator Expenses” max out at $250, and I submit that >250 is required). It’s just the offensive and demeaning attitude which demands that employees essentially return a portion of their salary to their employers every month – whether you consider those employers to be the bureaucracy for which they work or the taxpayers, not all of whom even use that system. That system will never get me back – and I know I was valued – until both symbolic and actual respect are restored to the position.
Is 13% a high attrition rate, as compared to other professions? Whats the retention rate for computer programmers or nurses?
Re: #4
See the links in #1.
I’m a teacher in a Catholic high school, and I absolutely love what I do. I’ve been in the profession since 1980, and in my school since 1987 (with the exception of 5 years home when my kids were young.) And, I might add: as a private school, we don’t follow Common Core, so I’ll leave that out of my discussion.
But there are lots of good reasons why so many new teachers wash out within the first three years.
So many graduate from college with a degree and certification and a head full of buzzwords about reform, but with very little concrete knowledge of what they’ve gotten themselves into. Some simply do not know their material. In order to teach successfully, you’ve got to know it inside out. You’ve got to have 2 or 3 or 4 alternate explanations ready, for those kids who simply don’t get the first explanation. You’ve got to know what they learned last year and what they’ll need to know next year. You’ve got to see the interrelationships between what you’re teaching in October and what you’re teaching in April. Without a solid grasp on the material, you’re in deep trouble.
But that’s the easy part. Probably the hardest part for new teachers is developing that innate sense of authority. I very rarely “tell” a kid to do anything; it’s almost always a very polite request. But over the years I’ve developed a way of “asking” my kids to do something in such a way that they don’t think of declining. Very often new teachers have a hard time with this-- either they come across as being as a power trip, or as someone trying to be their student’s friends. And it’s something that’s very hard to teach a new teacher; it’s something you need to find within yourself, and find very quickly. Without it, you don’t have the kids’ respect, and without that respect you can’t teach them. But you only have the first week or two of the year to get that respect.
Another surprise for lots of new teachers is all the “other stuff” they’ll be doing. From the responsibilities of homeroom to cafeteria duty to extra help every single day to parent conferences (last night I got home at 10 after conferences), I think a lot are surprised at all the outside stuff. And they’re taken by surprise by the amount of time they spend on prep, and on grading… it’s not quite as easy as they believed.
I’m not whining- as I said, I LOVE my job. But I think there are a lot of nuances that take new teachers by surprise, and that contributes greatly to the number who leave the profession.
Do not need to rediscover anything.
First, schools in the USA used to be good. One option is to go back to the very old academic program, very very old
Second, there are plenty of schools abroad that are better than the schools in USA. We can study them and implement what they are doing with some modifications.
Both of the above will involve very competent teachers, not the ones that are there to brain wash and promote their personal values, but the ones who know the subjects that they are teaching and actually have a talent to teach.
I would add a little to bjkmom’s point. In my experience, there are teachers (more often professors) who really know their own specialty, but have no idea how to actually transfer that information to someone who may not have the same drive and/or passion for the topic as does the instructor. The problem is exacerbated in college as professors often have little or no training in actual teaching.
Another aspect in which new teachers are not much different than new workers at any other job…they have a distorted view of actual work. There is a reason they call it work. It can be hard. Some are lucky enough to do something they love as a job and that helps, Many young people starting out jobs expect to put in short hours for high pay and little or no conflict from peers, superiors or subordinates. Some things just need to be learned the hard way, I guess.
As for the article…mostly a waste of pixels. Poor use of statistics to opine on a topic. Like any profession, teaching can be hard. Many are often under-appreciated and office politics (not to mention actual politics) often torpedo promising careers. To some, the solution is simply to pay more money. Sounds great, but the law of unintended consequences just ends up filling classrooms with more ‘teachers’ looking for the paycheck and nice vacation schedule than those will a genuine talent and love for teaching.
I live in an area which has experienced very high growth in the last several years. With new schools opening every year in my area, it is very common for teachers to change schools. Some go for specific teaching opportunities, some for better commutes and some follow a principal opening a new school. So the 13% doesn’t have a lot of meaning to me.
That said, I do think that teaching is a difficult and underpaid profession.
Based on BLS data…
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm#tab-5
For comparison, the median annual wage in Chicago is $71,000+ a year.
I don’t think the issue is attrition (that 13% number is junk), but recruiting and developing good teachers. While additional funding could help, it’s an issue that has to be attacked from several angles. One, not often discussion item, would be better administrative management. Who your boss is matters, especially for job satisfaction. Improving job satisfaction would help with retaining and developing good teachers.
Problem for teachers is that they have way too many “bosses.” Principal, myriad administrators in the school district, school board, textbook publishers, testing companies, parents…
Is the title of thread including TFA?
The only valid comparison should be about comparing the average wages paid to teachers to the … wages paid to the community they serve.
As an example, in the middle of the despicable “Capitol takeover” in Wisconsin, data surfaced from both sides. One local foundation suggested that the average cost to the community in Milwaukee exceeded 100,000 per teacher. Despite challenges from the streetwalkers and organized factions, the data was correct as it was culled directly from the MIPS presentations. Simply stated, the average salary plus benefits exceeded $100,000 per year.
Guess what the average salary is in Milwaukee!
Further, the average or median salaries hardly tell the story. Lines like this do “The lowest 10 percent earned less than $36,930, and the top 10 percent earned more than $85,690” as they describe the difficulty for young teachers to embrace their vocation and stay in the system, and the difficulty for the better educated to even consider entering the profession. The result is evident: the profession attracts plenty graduates of middling schools who earned a degree in “lite” subjects such as pedagogy and little to no mastery in any “hard” subjects. People with better degrees and better qualifications tend to have better options as they start their careers.
And when people like the author mention Finland, chances are that they would not particularly like the selection process that takes places in Finland and the fact that only the brightest survive their education and that the profession is considered as hard as becoming a doctor, with the resulting respect following.
How many of our teachers who graduated from Waxahachie State with a degree in education could have become doctors? Or pass the NCLB tests without an answer key?
I had to laugh at your line about passing the test without the answer key, just as I’ve always laughed when a new teacher asks us about an answer key. Sorry, I don’t have one, and never have.
If I can’t figure out the problems I’m assigning, I’m in some deep trouble the first time a kid asks “Can you explain how you got that??” In math, at least, the answer is only the final step of the problem. Having the answers accomplishes nothing in my world.
Another factor that has to enter the discussion-- this week in particular-- is the standardized testing debacle. This week, my 12 year old daughter took the first round of standardized tests. (sorry, I have no idea which ones, since I really don’t care how she does. She’s the kind of kid who WORRIES and drives herself crazy about any test, despite our assurances that such worry is unnecessary.
I didn’t want her to opt out, as so many of her classmates have. She receives services for auditory processing issues. I didn’t want some angry administrator to decide that she was no longer eligible for services if they didn’t have the numbers to back up the request, so she took the tests.)
Anyway, for so many teachers throughout the country, those tests have sucked any hope of creativity, of individualized attention, of teachable moments and serendipity right out of the classroom-- there simply isn’t time for anything but test prep. And they can’t opt out, since in so many parts of the country (like here in NY), teacher evaluations are tied directly into the performance of the kids on those tests. If you have a group of kids who struggle, or a group of kids who had a weak teacher last year, or a group of kids who struggle with English, or a year with a lot of snow days or some hurricane days, or a group of kids who don’t have the ambition or desire to do well, then your job is in jeopardy. You don’t get to choose which kids you’ll teach, but if you get dealt a rough hand you may lose your job. When you have a family to feed, that must get real old, real fast.
And if you’re a starry eyed new teacher who had dreams of “making a difference”, it can be hard to find those opportunities when there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to cover the material on those tests, the tests that determine whether or not you’ll have a paycheck next month.
Again, this isn’t the life I’m living, but it is the life of too many of my friends.
I’m a 2nd grade public school teacher who has been nominated as outstanding teacher in my county by my colleagues and also nominated by a parent for another outstanding teacher award. I take my duty very seriously. The only thing that is taking away the joy of learning in my classroom is the inclusion of emotionally disturbed, violent, and aggressive students. They take so much of my time and energy and all the other students lose, and lose a lot, every day. It is my job, according to administration, to motivate these students to learn and to help them to be happy and healthy. I’m not trained to do that. There is not enough in the budget to get the support staff that these children deserve and need, so they suffer, too.
I’m not a teacher yet, but I am an education student and have had many hours in observations and in class instruction and my mom is a teacher as well, so these are the points that I’m writing from;
A lot of my friends who realize they don’t want to teach anymore the ones that leave the profession, or the major tend to have a few basic reasons:
Do they have IEPs?
There should be money to address their needs if the IEPs are written correctly.
Even if the district won’t cough up the money, the state has safety net funds.
Of course then the schools and the district need to submit carefully documented reports indicating where they need more funds and what they are already doing with the money.
The issue is how much a teacher should get paid relative to a streetwalker, or other occupation.
Should teachers be above average in income, close to average, or their months of vacation time only justifies, say, 65% of the average?
It is not a matter of spending.
The New York City public school system has one of the highest per-student spending in the world, yet two-thirds of the students can’t demonstrate basic literary and numeracy:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/2-in-3-city-students-not-meeting-math-state-standards-article-1.2148748
It is not a matter of teacher’s pay either.
If you present-value the future guaranteed pay and benefits of New York City public school teachers, each one of them counts as a millionaire, and many are multi-millionaires. In other words, a person working in the private sector will have to be a millionaire, or a multi-millionaire, to generate from his nest egg the kind of retirement benefits a New York City public school teacher is contractually entitled to receive. (This is actually true of other unionized public-sector employees in New York City also, but only teachers are further protected by tenure, which they can get after just a few years. Oh, and they managed to get their benefits to be exempt from state and local income taxes - not a small amount considering New York’s state and city income tax rates.)
The problem is very complicated and requires that we examine our basic values, but the usual simplistic answers about spending and pay fly in the face of facts.