So, they go on to explain that teachers’ SAT and GRE scores are lower than the data supports for their pay scale, that more teachers than positions are graduating every year looking for jobs (supporting the fact that so many people want to get into the profession, obviously because of the pay) and that the turnover rate is not any worse than “similar professions”. They talked about how the “emotional reaction” to the issue is no way to scientifically look at whether a person is worth their pay scale and that they based their findings on the teacher reported number of hours worked, not just the contract.

And, they state that “current compensation” is “50 percent above market rate”, something that hasn’t improved the standards of education! Shocking!

Their recommendations? Start with pension reform! Teachers have a pension plan that is obviously too good for them. Second, let’s have “deep structural reform of the teacher-compensation system.”

Yes. Lets.

Let’s start thinking about what a teacher does in comparison to other workforces who get paid similar or less than they do.

Bankers – bankers get paid less, at least those below the VP/president level or those who have been there for the past 30 years. Bankers care for our money, provide loans allowing us to live beyond our means, buy houses and cars we can’t afford and extend lines of credit so we can have all the material goods we could possibly want.

Fast food workers/restaurant workers. Some might be paid more, top chefs in fancy pancy restaurants might be paid equal to teachers, maybe more. Ironic that teachers can’t afford to eat at those top restaurants (oh wait, administration can – superintendant’s all over the place could eat wherever they wanted whenever they wanted, if only they lived in a smaller Mc Mansion…) But that’s besides the point – Obviously the impact that food service workers have on the world is worth that of the impact teachers have on the world…

Store managers make approximately what teachers make. Yes! There you go – the ability to manage the store floor, work a customer over and close a sale. Because a new anything is worth the same in the long run as a 3^rd grader learning how to read fluently and comprehend what he is reading.

Here’s the thing – are you really willing to admit that the education of every child in America is worth only the basic comparable “skill set” that these other professions provide? I have never spoken to a single teacher who entered the work force because of the money. Honestly, if the job was more respected and work environment improved, I bet the argument that teachers are underpaid would go away! Teachers teach because they love kids. Ok, so cooks do what they do because they love food. But teachers want to make a difference in the world that food at a nice restaurant cannot touch.

What are teachers worth to you? I’m not saying teachers need to be paid more, but I am saying the pay scale is messed up – and upside down. The uppity people in the school board need to trade salaries with those doing the dirty work. It’s also time that people stop looking at teachers as babysitters who simply play with and color with children all day. So IQ may not be super high and SAT scores might be among the lowest professional jobs available. Is that where the value of a teacher comes in? I thought the value was in the molding and education of a future president. The education of future nobel prize winners. The shapers of the very future of our existence. THAT is why more teachers enter the field than there are positions – because teaching is one of the only fields where they actually work on sacred ground.

THAT can’t be quantified by data.

Related posts:

1. 2011 Proposed Budget for Teachers
2. Teachers are Dumb and Overpaid…says one study
3. Three Things All Teachers Should Know

Reading this should cause a variety of conflicting emotions – first, a bit of outrage at how young they’re starting, a bit more outrage at the fact that they are hoping the abstinance education be eliminated, and a final bit of outrage at the parents who are not teaching their children and instead are leaving it up to the teachers.

Second, a bit of relief, knowing that children will actually be taught about their bodies, something that is ironically lacking in today’s society. Girls in particular are growing up either unfamiliar with their bodies and too scared or embarrassed to find out, or are finding out too much too soon, even before leaving elementary school in some cases.

First it is important to note that the standards for our youngest children (k-2) are simple and basic – the ability to use proper terms for body parts, understand that all living things reproduce, be able to identify differences between boys and girls and be able to identify the different make up of various family structures. (Well, I guess that’s important in our “anything goes” society) They also will learn what bullying is and understand they have the right to tell anyone to not touch them in any way that makes them uncomfortable. (yeah… this goes back to abstinence but come on, shouldn’t we also be teaching to not touch others?? Seems the onus always has to be on the victim there, huh?)

Now the Education Week article I read that discussed this had a link to a study on abstinence education that was fascinating to me – in fact, there seems to be no impact on children’s behavior when taking one of these classes, so the point there is why spend money on them if they are not working? Take a quick second to just scroll through it to look at the graphs – the control groups are almost identical.

Want more info on the standards? You might if you care what your child knows about sexual orientation by the end of 5th grade. I suppose the easy way to sum up the new standards is this: by the time all students enter high school, after going through each standard, they will know everything about everything… I guess the question left is will the kids be allowed to eat the banana after the lesson is over?

Bad thing? maybe not but if you care about what your kids are taught in reference to, well,  who, where, when, why, or how… you best be on top of it at home because teachers are going to cover all that too, not just the what anymore.

Related posts:

1. Common Core Standards
2. Should We Raise School Standards?
3. More Education Cuts – 12th Grade?

According to the Baltimore Sun, half of 3 year olds and a quarter of four year olds are not in preschools, thus indicating the need for greater availability of preschool programs. The article also specifies that children who start Kindergarten with no preschool experience are 18 months behind their peers who went to preschool.

According to the Washington Post, the new grant money will be spent on strengthening pre-k programs, particularly for English language learners, poor children and children with disabilities.

Personally, I wonder how long it will be before preschool becomes mandated in a similar fashion as Kindergarten. And I wonder how long it will take us as a Nation to wake up and realize that we (as parents) need to take responsibility for our children’s early learning instead of leaving it up to the government because I personally have trouble trusting that a government system that can’t figure out how to successfully educate 5 – 18 year olds will be able to change all that by educating 3-4 year olds.

Related posts:

1. How to Teach the Alphabet
2. Where does the Money Go?
3. What is the value in teaching?

Additionally, teachers do not apparently work more hours than other jobs require despite work they take home (because, according to the men presenting the study at an educational forum in Washington, many other jobs require their employees to take home work as well). In fact, the actual words were “it is not supported by data, the idea that teachers work so many more hours than the average person” (italics mine, quote from an article on Education Weekly). Come on teachers, it’s time to start documenting things better! We know better than anyone that no one believes anything teachers say without data to back it up! (oh wait, I guess that’s because we’re not smart enough to do anything except teach the next generation of children…given our lowered level of “unobservable ability”) wait, I’m confused – they can make assumptions about ability levels that are not observed, but not about the amount of work done outside the school building that are not backed by data (thus unobserved?). Can you spell double standard?

Oh, and the education major is not as rigorous as other majors. (I am hearing echos of the common comment “how hard is it to sit around and color with kids all day” and the ever annoying “those who can’t do, teach”.)

Oh, and for all you teachers (278,000) recently let go,  this should warm your hearts – the study found that “job security” is one of the reasons that the physical take home pay is too high – because of the value of job security.

And another thing – for those of you who work in private schools (or wish you could), the significantly lower pay that accompanies a private school teaching position is apparently”proof” that public schools could pay their teachers less money because the working conditions are the same.

All this to argue that schools could easily balance their budgets by cutting teacher pay. What do you think? Sounds logical to me…

*photo thanks to sagesnow

No related posts.

In comes the Obama administration, and in the zeal to demonstrate just how terrible the Bush administration was, we now have a new educational reform hitting the schools: Race to the Top.

The idea behind Race to the Top is that American education should be the best in the world – thus we begin the race to the top of the world in educational standards. (Kind of reminds me of kids playing King of the Hill) Along with this lofty ideal of being the best, we have sweeping changes including standardized core objectives for all states to adopt (if they want to, of course), new testing, new evaluations for teachers and much more.

There are a lot of questions that I have, and my biggest concern is that the entire education system doesn’t trip on the race to the top. If teachers evaluations are to be linked to student test scores, how do you differentiate between schools in affluent areas where the parents are involved and the students simply WILL achieve more? If teachers in that area are up against teachers in low income areas with absentee parents or parents who simply don’t care, then I know where I would want to teach.

If instead, teachers are evaluated based on individual growth of students over a single year in school, that would be better, the problem still remains those things which are out of the teacher’s control, like attendance. Missing school has a statistical impact on student scores according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, but is not something that teachers can have any control over, so how can we penalize teachers for that?

I suppose only time will tell, but it seems to me like more of the same, or if it is arguably different, then different for the wrong reasons… Because I know we all want to improve the educational system in America just so that we can be better than the Japanese and Swedish, right? I know everything I strive to do better at is for the purpose of being better than the person next to me…

Related posts:

1. The Obama Effect
2. Maryland is $50 Million Richer…
3. 2011 Proposed Budget for Teachers

So what is the value in teaching? For those who think teachers make enough money (or make too much money), the issue is likely two-fold. First, published “averages” include the income that the board of education people make. These people make tons of money and sit around doing nothing all day (no offence but paperwork, buerocratic non-sense and other human resources type things don’t compare to the work teachers do.) This likely takes care of those who think that teachers “make enough”.

Second, the perception of what teachers do all day lessens the value of the job in the eyes of the public. Preschool and early childhood teachers “play” all day, right? Elementary school teachers color and make fun crafts all day. Middle school teachers police raging hormones and highschool teachers try to keep kids from taking drugs. Not to mention the 6-7 hour work day and summers off! My goodness, teachers make too much money!

So what do teachers do?

Teachers…

Parent 15-40 students (more and more each year with raising class sizes). This includes teaching morals, ethics, discipline and love.

Plan detailed lessons designed to maximize learning time despite multiple interruptions, breaks and shortened school days.

Teach an average of 30 students, reaching three learning styles and as many of the multiple intelligences as possible during each lesson.

Give individual attention as much as possible to each student in the class while at the same time keeping the other 30 students on task with meaningful work.

Manage a wide range of discipline problems, often without any support from support staff (Sorry principals, I’ve heard too many horror stories to believe that every school has a great support staff) and most definitely not any support from home (public school is free daycare, didn’t you hear?).

Attempt to get students to meet federal and state standards before testing time with little to no resources, help or time.

Grade every paper turned in with thoughtful and fair comments.

Attempt to get parents involved in their kids’ education (or life, in some cases).

To do these things, the percentage of teachers who take work home is astronomical – hours of work go home each day for most teachers. Likewise, teachers spend their own money, hundreds of dollars of it, each year to make their classroom and lessons motivating and to keep kids supplied with pencils, paper and other supplies. The government realizes this because it gives a tax credit for teachers each year for the supplies purchased. I’d love to know how many teachers spend more than the measly $200 they get back in taxes.

Parents complain about how much they have to buy now for back to school, but that’s not the teacher’s fault, that’s administration having their hands tied because they don’t have the funds to supply those things anymore because, um, well, teachers make too much money.

So where is the value in teaching? Probably administration, because the teachers certainly aren’t valuable… the losers there are the kids.

Related posts:

1. Extra Jobs for Teachers
2. More Education Cuts – 12th Grade?
3. The Public School Debate

Competition between brands and cell services has driven cell phone makers/providers to improve their products. Every new commercial talks about the next new amazing detail that you just have  to have! (I still don’t get the thrill of watching movies on your phone…) Without competition, prices would be high, and while progress in technology would still be made, advancement would be much slower.

Competition in Schools

It is easy to complain about the Public School system, the problem is that there is little competition and what competition there is, is squelched or otherwise regarded as a bad idea. Everyone agrees that our students need to be highly educated. Everyone agrees that we need to set the bar high and have challenging standards. Every one agrees that the system needs improvement.

The problem is every year, students will max out the classrooms regardless of whether or not change happens. There is not enough competition.

So long as there are so few viable options for students, there’s little to drive the public school system to really improve.

What are the School Options?

You can choose to put your student in the public school system (and hope for a perfect storm of a great teacher, small class size, etc.) and pay nothing (begging the question – do you get what you pay for?).

Or you can put your child into a private school (knowing that the academic standards and lower class sizes are essentially guaranteed) and pay a small fortune every month.

Or you can homeschool your child, pay a reasonable amount (or a lot, depending on the curriculum you choose to purchase). The problem here is that it is not available to all parents because many parents both work, leaving no one home to care for the children/teach school.

There are a few other odd options like charter schools, but really, there is no realistic competition for public schools that is available to the average student.

The Solution… 

The solution is kind of like the cure for cancer – it’s bound to be out there, but no one has discovered it yet. What we need is a federally funded (read – free for parents and students) option that any student who wants to is able to attend. This is likely to do more for the improvement of the public school system than increased funds, reduction in staff, additional “incentives” and more.

Until then, well, each parent must do whatever he feels is right for his family, but I feel for those who feel stuck.

Related posts:

1. The Public School Debate
2. Teachers Involving Parents More
3. Dress code for Parents?

So what are these Common Core Standards?

They are exactly what they sound like: core standards that are common to everyone. Different states have had different standards, which has led to discrepancies between states; take an average student from Maryland and from Florida and you will see what I mean. These common standards are designed to eliminate this discrepancy.

The Core Standards are NOT Federal Mandates from the Government – this was a state led initiative, read more about their creation on their website. That said, in the FAQs there is talk about how the Federal Government can “support” schools in their adoption of these standards, kinda of reads like “no, the Federal Government didn’t create them, we did! Who cares if they are the ones who hired us to do this…” (Easier to get someone else to do your dirty work, right?)

Where Did these Core Standards Come From?

According to the Common Core State Standards website, teachers, school administrators (scary!) and “experts” (hmmmmm) developed the standards. While the collaboration may seem a bit suspect, I actually think the standards are probably pretty ok. I mean, educators don’t like to reinvent the wheel (even if the wheel is broken, perhaps) so likely they just took the “best” standards from various states (at least, they claim to not have formed the lowest common denominator, so I would hope they picked the best). So while they may look new, don’t panic, it’s probably not going to change what you do in the classroom all that much.

Who is Using the Common Core Standards? Are they Mandatory?

These Core State Standards are not mandatory – indeed not all states have adopted them yet. I wonder how long those remaining few states will hold out, though, peer pressure being what it is. So yes, they are voluntary and yet I am sure it will not be long before it is accepted by everyone.

Will This Lead to a Common Curriculum too? 

Check out the FAQ on their website and you get a lot of legalese – Read between the lines and you get “we’d love there to be a single common curriculum for all schools in all states, it would make it so much easier to ensure our agenda is accomplished!!!”

Beyond that, I withhold judgement until the results are in – For some teachers it will mean a change in the curriculum and for others it will be business as usual. Perhaps in 10 years we’ll all be glad for uniformity in standards… or perhaps not.

Related posts:

1. National Sexuality Education Standards
2. Don’t Trip on the Race to the Top
3. Should We Raise School Standards?

Going to school year round does not mean that students will end up with no summer break, or that they will attend school more days during a single calendar year. Schools that provide year round school simply attempt to balance the calendar in order to minimize student learning attrition over the long summer break by providing shorter, more frequent breaks.

First, let’s look at a typical 9 month school year calendar:

School usually starts in August after about 60 days off for summer vacation. Thanksgiving break provides 3 days off, winter break (or Christmas break) provides approximately 10 days off and spring break (or Easter break) provides students with approximately 5 days off. The long summer break is well known for causing students to forget or lose ground, often referred to as the “summer slide”.

Balancing the calendar so that the long summer break is minimized is thought to help eliminate this “summer slide” and results in what is termed “year-round school”. This method has students only off for 30 days during the summer. Fall break is added to the calendar at about 15 days, Thanksgiving remains at about 3 days off, and winter and spring break are extended to be approximately 15 days each. This helps to spread out the time students have off of school and provides less time for losing ground, allowing students to gain more ground in their studies.

Does Year-Round School Work?

There are many reports provided on the NAYRE website that show various groups and organizations that are advocating for a balanced school calendar, and research shows that students in a low socio-economic status lose more knowledge over the summer than their high SES counterparts, emphasizing the need for something to change over the summer.

There will always be proponents for and against year-round school. Both sides of the argument will be equally passionate about their stand. The very fact that public education is a democracy run by the government will cause any major changes like this more difficult to standardize, but I ask one question:

If you agree that something needs to change in order to improve schools, why shouldn’t a radical change like this be considered instead of rehashing old ideas of teacher education/test scores/incentive pay/etc.?

Related posts:

1. Prince George’s County Schools to Go Year Round
2. Report Card Comments for the End of the School Year
3. The Importance of Summer Tutoring

1. There is not enough time to teach a single skill until all students have mastered it.

2. This lack of mastery is a result of a curriculum that requires them to move ahead too quickly.

I personally think it is not the fault of the curriculum that prevents mastery, but the schedule and setup of the public school system that does not allow enough focus on academics.

I grew up homeschooled, a fact that is often surprising to people, and recently had a conversation with my mom about how we were graded. Easy answer – we weren’t. There was no need to provide grades because we simply worked on a skill until it was mastered. There was not room for B’s and C’s because the expectation was that we would LEARN the material, not that we would become somewhat familiar with the material.

If someone were to suggest eliminating the grading scale, parents and teachers alike would probably spin into a tizzy, trying to figure out how to know whether their children (or students) were learning anything in school. If only teachers had the time during the day to teach students to the point of mastery, then grades would not be necessary because parents would know that their children were LEARNING.

Lets take a moment now to look at how much time teachers generally spend teaching per day (this does not take into account testing, pretesting, etc. This is based on one schedule at a public elementary school – other schools will obviously have different schedules with different total teaching/down times).

Students arrived: 9:00AM

Math: 9:30-10:15

Specials- 10:15-11:15

Lunch and recess: 11:30-12:30

Water/bathroom break/quiet reading at desks – 12:30-1:00

Language Arts (reading and writing combined) – 1:00-2:00

Social studies – 2:00-2:45

Pack up/clean up/read aloud – 2:45-3:15

Dismissal: 3:15

Total time teaching in classroom: 2.5 hours

Total time at school: 6 hours and 15 minutes.

Then you throw in field trips, assemblies, discipline problems that interrupt instructional time, etc. and that amount of instructional time reduces even more.

So let me ask you – is it the curriculum that is the “cause” of the lack of teacher’s ability to teach a skill until student’s have mastered it?

Related posts:

1. Change in Grading Scale for P.G. County
2. Prince George’s County Schools Implement Controversial New Grading Scale
3. The Problem with the Public School System