Turnover in Math and Sciences

The Business-Higher Education Forum, a Washington-based coalition of corporate, collegiate, and philanthropic leaders, has estimated that 280,000 new math and science teachers would be needed between the time the group issued its report in 2005 and the 2014-15 academic year. That figure was based on projected increases in student enrollment, as well as requirements for decreasing student-to-teacher ratios. It did not take into account the burden of new state math and course requirements.

From Education Week: Math Group Tries to Help Young Teachers Stay the
Course

2007-08 District Service Awards

My school district recognized the service of its teachers this past week. According to our superintendent, "This year we have 196 retirees, 475 receiving their 10-year pin, 152 receiving their 20-year pin, 51 receiving their 30-year pin, 16 receiving their 35-year pin, and one receiving their 40-year service pin."

Alternative Certification Programs

I recently came across a site trying to "debunk the propaganda" of Teach for America. Let me make my biases public: I am a HUGE fan of TFA. I have worked with many TFA teachers, and all but one were amazing (a much better success rate than any other group of teachers I've encountered). Further, since I earned my credentials through an "Alternative Certification Program," I am certainly a proponent of Alt-Cert Programs in general. But hey, don't just take my word for it, let's look at the facts!

A recent report by the Center for American Progress discusses the role of Alternative Certification programs. The report says that Alt-Cert programs are responsible for about one-fifth of all new teachers nationwide.

In Texas, Alt-Cert programs generate closer to 47% of new teachers (according to this State Comptroller report). This graph shows the number of NEW teachers certified through Alt-Cert programs in Texas. That number had soared above 16,000 for 2006 alone. So Alt-Cert programs are certainly filling a need by providing teachers for the classroom. What's more, many of the Alt-Cert programs (including Teach for America) are targeted to high need areas and REQUIRE their "interns" (teacher-in-training) to work in a certain field or geographical region. TFA, for example, places their interns in urban or low-performing areas.

But are they effective? The report from the Center for American progress cites studies, including one from LSU, that show that teachers certified through Alt-Cert programs are at least as effective as other teachers. The targeted nature of the Alt-Cert programs seems to be helping to close the performance gap between different socio-economic groups.

Here's the kicker in my mind: "Alternative routes to certification also increase diversity in the teaching pool."

I taught in a small town that was the 16th-poorest school district in the state. Many of the staff was born, grew up, attended school, and returned to teach all in the same town. Then a TFA intern would come in from Oregon, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and bring in a great new perspective. I considered the TFA teachers a breath of fresh air.

Some criticize that TFA exacerbates the problem of teacher-retention because interns are recruited to work for a short minimum commitment (two years, as I recall). Well, TFA asserts that 60% of their interns remain in education after their two-year commitment (though maybe not all in the inner city where they began). Some of the TFA guys I worked with are still teaching 10 years later. Some left for more affluent schools, some left for lower income schools!

The teacher-retention complaint is ridiculous. If I'm hitchhiking to California, and you can only take me as far as New Mexico, that's fine with me. I'm not going to berate you because your travel plans are different than mine. If a TFA teacher has other things to accomplish with their life, that's cool. Now they have a perspective from inside the classroom they will carry with them when they go.

So to summarize... Alternative Certification programs: addressing the teaching shortage (with tens of thousands of new teachers each year!); placing teachers who are EFFECTIVE in the classroom; increasing diversity in the classroom. Rock on!

The long haul

Texas replaces 45,000 retiring teachers every year. Unfortunately, many of these retirees are relatively new to the profession. Filling teaching positions seems to be only half of the battle, the State must discover ways to retain those teachers as well.

Hiring and training teachers is an expensive proposition. But what's more, studies indicate that experienced teachers are more effective in the classroom than newer teachers. A 2006 report from the State Comptroller, The Cost of Underpaying Texas Teachers, shows the relationship between teacher experience and student TAKS scores:

Average Years Exp. per Campus	% of Students Meeting Panel Rec.
0 - 5 Years	62
6 - 10 Years	64
11 - 15 Years	64
16 - 20 Years	65
More Than 20 Years	70

(Of course, I wonder how much of these results are due to teachers getting better with experience and how much is due to less effective teachers leaving the classroom. I also am curious how many campuses across the state have AVERAGE teacher experience greater than 20 years!!!)

Teacher groups want salaries increased for experienced teachers. They claim that salaries for beginning teachers have increased to attract people into the field. However, those salaries do not grow significantly with experience. A recent survey of several Texas school district shows that the difference between a starting teacher salary and a 10-year veteran teacher salary is about $450 per year. This chart shows the 2007-08 State Minimum Salary. You can see that the pay for a five-year teacher is 11% greater than a starting teacher, and the pay for a 10-year teacher is 32% greater than a starting teacher.

However, when local districts add to the state base salary, this increase in pay is actually diminished. In Northside ISD in San Antonio (on of the largest districts in the state), the current pay scale pays a five-year teacher less than 1% more than a starting teacher, and a 10-year teacher earns 6% more than a starting teacher.

These numbers are misleading, however. When the 10-year veteran started teaching, his or her salary was less than current starting salaries. The veteran has received annual raises as the entire scale was upgraded annually.

As this chart shows, 10 years ago, starting salaries were much lower. If a teacher only earned state minimum, he or she would have received a 28% pay increase by his or her fifth year, and a 70% increase by his or her tenth year. Again, these increases are lower in real life as districts augment the state minimums, but these graphs illustrate that is is deceiving to use one year's salary schedule to draw conclusions about teacher raises.

Salaries are only one component of teacher satisfaction. Teachers want to feel they are in a safe, positive work environment. They want meaningful input into decisions that affect them -- from curriculum to administration. They want to feel that they have adequate time, training, and ability to be effective at their jobs.

LINKS:

Texas Classroom Teacher Association's testimony to the state legislature on retention