Teacher Shortfall is an Opportunity for School Improvement Industry
by
deanmillot@mac.com
on Mon 27 Aug 2007 07:09 PM EDT |
Permanent Link
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Cosmos
Sam Dillon of the New York Times employs the usual "last-minute dash to employ teachers before the school year begins" story to discuss the real problem.
The retirement of thousands of baby boomer teachers coupled with the
departure of younger teachers frustrated by the stress of working in
low-performing schools is fueling a crisis in teacher turnover that is
costing school districts substantial amounts of money as they scramble
to fill their ranks for the fall term. Superintendents and recruiters across the nation say the challenge of
putting a qualified teacher in every classroom is heightened in
subjects like math and science and is a particular struggle in
high-poverty schools, where the turnover is highest.... To staff its neediest schools before classes start on Aug. 28,
recruiters (From Guilford County, NC) have been... offering one of the nation’s largest recruitment bonuses, $10,000
to instructors who sign up to teach Algebra I....
< style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> “The problem is not mainly with retirement,” said Thomas G.
Carroll, the president of the National Commission on Teaching and
America’s Future.
“Our teacher preparation system can accommodate the
retirement rate. The problem is that our schools are like a bucket with
holes in the bottom, and we keep pouring in teachers.”.... The
commission has calculated that these days nearly a third of all new
teachers leave the profession after just three years, and that after
five years almost half are gone....
>So many
teacher training, mentoring, support and professional development
programs, so little data on the impact they have on retention and,
ultimately, student performance.
If you have the research, it is time to take it out and start
calculating: 1) how much time and money you can save a school system by
reducing turnover, and 2) how much value your teachers add to student
performance - itself a money-saving measure represented by costs
avoided when students don't need other forms of support, like SES.