Teaching quality is the number one concern of public schools. Schools and school boards realize that the most effective way to improve student achievement is having an experienced quality educator in the classroom. With this in mind, why are public schools struggling to attract and retain quality teachers?
Some research indicates that teacher quality is directly related to teacher compensation. Unfortunately for those of us in education, it has been reported that for a long period of time, teacher’s compensation in general has lost pace with others who have similar education and work experience. As reported in 2006, by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), teacher earnings as compared to other comparable professionals lags behind nearly 15%.
What does this mean? I believe it really points to the fact that college-educated professionals in other work areas tend to benefit with greater earnings as compared to teachers. In essence, we have bypassed teachers when it has come to improved wages and earning power. This pattern held true during EPIs study period of 1996-2006.
In addition, where teacher salaries have increased, they have done so much below the rate of inflation. According to the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the National Education Association (NEA) indicated that the average one-year teacher salary increase in 2005 was 2.1%, while inflation was at 3.1%. In fact, WEAC also reported that teacher salaries from the mid 90s to 2005 only increased by .2% when adjusted for inflation.
Indeed, I find myself close to this situation, as I am presently the lead negotiator for my education association. My current agrument is that the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients was determined to be 5.8% in October 2008, an adjustment to keep pace with inflation. Our local school board’s current offer is 3.0% for 2009-10 and 2.66% for 2010-11. This two-year contract offer will fall far short of keeping up with inflation, and that means more of the same when it comes to our ever-growing concerns of trying to pay the bills and set some money aside.
Unfortunately, whether we are talking about reduced earning power compared to other professions or the fact that most teacher raises do not keep up with inflation, it all equals the continuation of what already has been identified as a trend – the struggle to attract and recruit quality teachers to our profession.
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Sometimes I feel that teachers leave the profession because they don’t feel valued. Sometimes I feel that my administration sees me as a nuisance. I have been fighting to get an assistant speech coach for my team of 40 kids (other areas teams have 2 and 3 coaches and far less team members.) After four years, it finally came down to me joining the negotiations team and fighting to have the position added to the coaching roster. Who’s it really benefiting? The students, of course. In my opinion, the school board should have been begging the WEA to add the position years ago. Some days I feel like I’m barely eking out a living—both personally and professionally. I can definitely see why qualified teachers leave the profession in search of better pay and a little respect.
ReplyDeleteThis is an exceedingly important topic you chose. There are few hidden issues that are going to affect the nation as much as the teacher shortage. My mother has been teaching for over thirty-five years. I forget the exact number. Years ago she mentioned how many baby-boomers she saw at in-services. She will retire within the next five years as her colleagues across the state, region, and nation end their careers. A good friend of mine was just hired for his first principal job. He is twenty-seven years old. He says a challenge for him will be being the boss of teacher’s his mother’s age. Do you see many young principals or superintendents? I sure don’t. Think about the number of people that don’t stay in the profession on top of that.
ReplyDeleteI recently read a qualitative study on teacher attrition for ED 610. Lisa Gonzales and Michelle Stallone Brown of Texas A&M Kingsville and John R. Slate of Sam Houston State University conducted the research. The article addresses the national scope of the teacher shortage while concentrating on the great state of Texas. Most importantly, the research was gathered via qualitative interview with eight Texas teachers who left the profession after only one year. The purpose of the study was to identify common patterns, or themes in their departure.
. The National Center for Education Statistics: (NCES, 2003) states that school enrollment is up about one-fifth in the last twenty-five years. Darling-Hammond (1998) estimates about one-third of teachers will leave the classroom between year three and five. One-fifth leaves the profession within three years. (NCES, 2003) Urban numbers approach one-half attrition. Estimates that our country will need almost three million new teachers for the 2009 school year. What’s interesting is that a huge number of college education graduates cannot keep up with the loss of existing teachers. It goes without saying that our need for teachers is approaching an imminent crisis.
Gonzales, Brown, and Slate identify the main reasons for early teacher departure.
Seven teachers identified administrative support as their main rationale. They felt disrespected by their employer. Others felt that their principals put the down, belittled the, or favored parents and students over teachers.
Disciplinary issues were popular among all eight. Educators were not adequately prepared to deal with problem behavior. Many teachers were astounded by their class’s lack of self-control, work ethic, manners, or etiquette. Teachers worried constantly about their students. Some reported losing sleep over the matter. Bad teaching was an administration-accepted cause of student discipline problems.
Monetary complains topped the list. Texas teachers earned $38,000 yearly. That is $3,000 less than the $41,000 national average. Several believed that the salary was too low compared to amount of hours worked. One teacher figured she made about thirty-six cents per hour. Working too many hours was a similar category. Teachers must plan to be absent, work after school, weekends, and holidays. Extra duties such as bus duty, lunch duty, and detention are unpaid. Finally, the financial incentive to earn a graduate degree is not worth the while.
This is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. I graduated from college in 2006 and at that time my instructors said that almost half of teachers that start teaching or graduate will find different jobs within five years. I thought that was ridiculous after spending four years learning to be a teacher I could not wait to get in the classroom. Now looking back after only three years I am shocked how many of my friends were either not able to find a job, tried teaching and did not like it, or are not working. Teachers today are not valued as much as they were before. Students respected teachers in the classroom and as teachers we felt we had more control over the classroom. Now that we are having more restrictions placed on us with no better compensation it makes it difficult to get motivated. While I was looking for a job I found that their was not an abundance of jobs available. Granted I was looking in the Bismarck, ND area to find a job around my husband. I am sure in smaller, more rural districts it is harder to recruit teachers.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to attract, hire, and retain quality teachers are affected directly by the salary in which they receive. The idea stated in your blog about teacher raises not matching inflation rates only exacerbates the problem. Teachers are not going to want to stay in a profession were they cannot make enough money to cover the cost of living.
ReplyDeleteOne of the blogs I reviewed last week had to deal with this issue only in reverse. A school district was offering teachers large amounts of money in hope attracting quality teachers. Obviously, being a teacher I would be in favor of this measure but I do not think it would be possible for all schools districts to play their teachers in the six figure range. Teachers cannot be expected to be paid so well, but they definitely have the right to paid enough to cover inflation. If school districts do not work on paying their staff to cover the cost living then quality teachers will leave the profession and seek employment elsewhere.
While salary is definitely one of the reasons it is getting hard to attract people to the profession, I have to believe that there are other issues as well. Teaching is a demanding profession, not only in the classroom, but in the additional demands on our time. Teachers are being forced to do more professional development and more administrative duties, just adding to the hours they spend educating their students. Behavior issues have become prevalent in the classrooms, and school politics can make these difficult to address and resolve. Add in a dose of poor work ethic on the part of students and their parents and teaching just doesn't appeal.
ReplyDelete