Improving Education – It Won’t Happen Until …..
Those seeking to improve education certainly do not need to look very far to see the best area to invest.
According to the Economic Policy Center, Research for Broadly Shared Prosperity, “Teacher quality matters. In fact, it is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement.”
Eric A. Hanushek, a Paul & Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, goes just a bit further. Hanushek writes, “Teacher quality is the key to improved schools.” However, he also states, “Teacher quality cannot be readily linked to teacher characteristics; therefore, new and more extensive certification and training standards are unlikely to be effective.” Instead, he insists that policies must be “aimed at student performance instead of inputs.”
Current Pay and Pay Structure a Critical Issue
In Utah, the school year began without enough teachers, 173 too few in fact, including 20 unfilled openings in the fields of science and mathematics. The shortage, caused by both an inability to recruit new teachers as well as retain those in the early years of the profession, has Utah’s education leaders very concerned.
In response, one State Senator is proposing numerous steps including one that is very controversial with those already in the profession. Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, wants to see a $5,000 salary boost for math and science teachers.
To understand why there is such a shortage as well as the rationale for the salary boost for certain teachers, we turn to the tales of two separate young men. Consider first the story of Ben Johnson written by Lisa Schencker and published in the Salt Lake Tribune
Ben Johnson is a first-year math teacher at Alta High School. He loves his job, but it’s exhausting and pays well below what he could make elsewhere with his bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
For Ben Johnson, 23, the decision to become a high school math teacher was easy.
The reality has been a bit trickier.
Johnson went into teaching math for two reasons: he admires math’s clarity and enjoys working with people.
“There’s a value in it you don’t find in other professions,” Johnson said.
Holding on to the dream: Johnson said classroom management has so far been his biggest challenge – his largest class has 37 students.
Johnson also puts a tremendous amount of time into teaching. As a new teacher, he is building curricula for several of his courses with help from the district.
“Just building that curriculum takes hours and hours outside of the classroom,” Johnson said. “So does correcting papers.”
Johnson said he has about 180 students. If he gives one assignment or test per class a week, and it takes him five minutes to correct each one, that’s another 15 hours of work.
Johnson makes just over $30,000 a year and estimates he works about 65 hours a week. That boils down to about $13 an hour for the weeks school is in session.
“My wife and I get by, and that’s all I can expect,” Johnson said.
He doesn’t regret his career choice. Teaching has been overwhelming at times, but Johnson still finds it fulfilling.
“It definitely has rewards,” Johnson said. “It touches the rest of the world.”
He expects teaching will get easier the longer he does it. He’s counting on it.
“If it were like this every year for the rest of my life, I don’t think I could do it,” Johnson said.
“If I get through the first three years and I feel like it’s just as bad as the first year, I’m not going to keep teaching.”
“Every sector is looking for math majors,” Johnson added. “I could easily go back and start in engineering and my base salary would be 25 percent higher.”
Johnson hopes it doesn’t come to that. Teaching is still, in many ways, his dream come true.
Now turn to the second man profiled by Schencker, one of those who began the profession but soon left.
Marc Elgort is a University of Utah graduate student who researches cell metabolism at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He tried teaching but found it stressful, all-consuming and riddled with bureaucratic frustrations.
“The hardest job I’ve ever done”: Elgort, 43, worked in several fields before deciding to pursue a doctorate in oncological sciences.
He hopes to use his science degrees to eventually help write school curriculum.
“I think I can impact K-12 learning without being in the classroom,” Elgort said.
In his twenties, Elgort spent a semester teaching biology under an emergency credential at the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done in my life,” Elgort said, “but by far the most rewarding.”
Still, Elgort said he’ll never go back.
Mostly, Elgort couldn’t believe how stressful and time consuming teaching was.
It doesn’t just go from 9 until 2,” Elgort said. “Virtually every Sunday, I’d go through a nervous breakdown. I’d call my adviser in tears, and they’d assure me I’d come up with something [for Monday].”
Elgort said he couldn’t imagine doing that now that he has a family.
Schencker also adds later in her article:
Elgort’s reluctance to resume teaching goes far beyond pay. Another $5,000 a year is not nearly enough to change his mind. In fact, for him, it’s not really about the money.
Though he enjoys teaching, Elgort doesn’t want to deal with swollen class sizes, indifferent parents, rigid curricula and a lack of resources in the classroom.
Differentiated Pay as Well as Greater Financial Benefits
The idea of paying teachers different amounts based on their assignments simply is not done. Instead, payment is based upon years of experience and earned credentials. No distinctions are made for positions that might carry more paper work such as special education. No distinctions are made for grade level taught, number of students, number of classes, amount of time necessary to prepare, assigned duties, etc.
Though many teachers have very different assignments and quite frankly various workloads, the current pay concept is so firmly embedded that veteran teachers and the teacher unions are vehemently opposed to any discussion related to changing the structure. Therefore, any thought of changing the pay structure to rectify the job expectation inconsistencies is simply not part of the landscape for the rank and file.
That position is particularly troubling if the goal is in fact to improve schools. As a former superintendent I can report that any elementary teacher opening in my modest-sized district would yield anywhere from 50 to 75 applicants. That level of competition for jobs combined with a careful screening and a rigorous interview process produced a number of excellent teacher candidates.
Turn instead to high school math or science and the numbers changed dramatically. If we received even 5-10 applications we were pleased. In fact, once certification was established, references checked et al, we would be thrilled if we were blessed with one quality candidate. Our experience makes it easy to understand why Utah started its last school year without math and science teachers.
In addition, there are other areas were the numbers are similar. Special education, guidance and foreign language are all fields where school districts struggle to find quality candidates.
Some Proposals
In order to try and address the shortage in Utah politicians are discussing a number of proposals. We already mentioned the concept of differentiated pay for teachers including $5,000 bonuses for the teacher shortage areas. The concept is one Barack Obama has discussed and it his support for the concept is one of the reasons we cast our vote for him. We believe that not only is it time to throw out an antiquated system that makes no sense it is imperative that we the system be revamped.
In addition we favor two other approaches. One that has also been suggested in Utah is the Teacher Loan Program. The model being proposed would create a $15,000 home loan program for new teachers. After working five consecutive years in a district, the teacher would receive forgiveness for $5,000 of the loan principal. If the teacher remained with their current district for another ten then he/she would receive a lump sum forgiveness of the remaining $10,000 more. We would suggest a larger number for the loan and a minimum of $1,500 or $2,000 per year of forgiveness but the concept could be key to helping dedicated teachers balance the demands of the profession with current pay structures.
Lastly we suggest a similar loan process for a college education. Provide students a $5,000 per year loan to attend college, up to $20,000, then provide forgiveness for the loan at half the rate for again each year of service to a school district. A State might even want to make the loan available only at State Universities and forgive the loan only if the student teaches in that state.
Teacher Quality Matters
There is simply no disputing how important it is to provide our children with the best teachers we could possibly provide. In fact, any notion of improving education hinges on our ability to get our best and brightest in the classroom.
Those with the dedication, the patience and the ability to teach are indeed special – just ask Mr. Elgort. It is time to pursue every reasonable avenue that would help ensure that every classroom in America has the best teacher we could possibly provide.
We owe our kids that much.
4 comments
I am so aware of how teacher quality matters. 1st so many of our teachers just don’t know how to adapt to the students needs. If teachers do then time can become a problem too.
Last semester I felt like I was not as good as I was in the past. Why, because of time pressures: corrective action, new math curriculum, department chair duties etc…
There is so much that needs to be done to the field of education. I do think that it all hinges on high quality teachers, but there is much more to it than that.
Even if teacher pay is doubled, that doesnt change the fact that 65 hours is probably the mean. I know the 6th grade teacher at my house works substantially more hours than that per week.
Dont get me wrong, the extra cash would be nice, but do I see her able to work 70-80 hours a week for the next 15-20 years? Not really.
Mark,
Valid point, this is a major issue as well. To match the expectations of today a teacher likely must put in those kinds of hours. In addition, my experience is that no one in education works harder than an elementary school teacher, after all they must prepare lessons for every subject and for students of vastly different abilities. A major challenge.
Tom Hanson
Editor
Leave a Comment