Teachers in North Carolina are leaving their schools at a significantly higher rate this year.
The governor and legislature have targeted teachers for punitive measures, and they are succeeding in making teaching a less desirable career path.
Lindsay Wagner of NC Policy Watch reports:
“In 2008-09, only 35.55 percent of teachers who had tenure, also known as “career status,” left their jobs. That percentage has steadily risen and last year nearly half (49.35%) of all of those who left their positions were tenured teachers.
Mooresville Graded School District Superintendent Dr. Mark Edwards said it’s important to consider the fact that the state will see large numbers of baby boomers retiring during the next five years or so.
“We need to recruit people to stay,” said Edwards to his colleagues at this month’s State Board of Education meeting in Raleigh.
North Carolina ranks 46th in the nation in teacher pay. It takes 15 years for a teacher to make about $40,000 a year.
Last summer, state lawmakers decided to stop funding the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program, which awards scholarships to North Carolina high school students to pursue teaching degrees in state. Graduates then must teach for four years in North Carolina. More than 75 percent of Teaching Fellows teach in the state beyond five years, and many stay on for their entire careers.
Lawmakers took some of the money designated for the Teaching Fellows program and put it toward expanding the state’s presence of Teach For America (TFA), a national program designed to place graduates without degrees in education in teaching posts that are in low-performing schools.”
You can see where this is going.
As the state pushes out experienced teachers and eliminates its Teaching Fellows program, it clears the way to hire more inexperienced TFA, who pledge to stay for only two years. Call it turmoil by design.
Eric Guckian, the governor’s senior education advisor, is a TFA alumnus.
Student and teacher misery: winning!
Thank God, We left that state!!! My son would truly done badly there. I feel sorry for the people who are staying. This state is going down hill on many levels. I hope the people vote differently next time. My heart goes out to you.
Same thing is happening in California. The California State University system (CSUN is where Diane spoke to a cheering audience last Oct.) has recenlty published this information too. CalState historically has produced the greatest numbers of K – 12 teachers for our state, but currently is under-enrolled.
In LA, and with the charters around the State, too many are using TFA kids at low salaries with NO perks, NO union affliation. So our university students see the hand writing on the wall and no longer look at education as a rewarding lifetime profession.
This has long been the goal of the Walton Family Foundation which has poured tens of millions of dollars into hiring TFA kids for our difficult inner city schools which really require the best trained teachers….so now these students living in poverty have teachers with only 5 weeks training. What a world!
Ellen Lubic
It is by design, of course; a feature – not a flaw – of the corporate reformers edu-knavery.
I think that she meant to say “In 2008-09, only 35.55 percent of those who left their teaching jobs were teachers with tenure, also known as “career status,” as opposed to “In 2008-09, only 35.55 percent of teachers who had tenure, also known as “career status,” left their jobs.” The increase in the percentage from 35.55 to 49.35 is interesting, though there are doubtless lots of contributing factors, some of which might be purely demographic.
I am very interested in the question of the impact of education deform on teacher characteristics. This would be a fascinating area of study. In the past, going back forty years or so, in many schools, teachers had a great deal of autonomy with regard to such matters as curricula and pedagogical approaches. Then, regulatory creep set in. Teachers today would be surprised to learn that forty years ago, there was a great deal of debate about whether DISTRICTS had the right to mandate standards and curricula–to usurp the authority of the building-level administrators and teachers. Many bristled at having “know-nothing bureaucrats” in the central office making decisions about curricula, pedagogical approaches, and textbooks. Since then, more and more decision making has been made are greater and greater distances from the classroom, culminating in the current deform push to create a national Common Core Curriculum Commissariat and Ministry of Truth. Sadly, education schools played a big role in this steady usurpation of teacher and building-level administrator authority and autonomy by turning out legions of educrats trained in education per se (as opposed to trained in the various disciplines being taught–mathematics, English, history, science, art, etc) who thought that they knew better than mere teachers how things should be done. And, interestingly, those educrats’ ideas about what should be taught, to whom, when, why, and how often had more to do with passing edufads (the look-say reading method, whole language, programmed learning and behavioral objectives, the New Math–one could make a long, long list?) than with real science.
Today, the scripting of teaching by bureaucrats has reached such levels that we are awfully close to something like “Hello, class. I am Common Core RoboTeacher model 3790j.rev6. Pull my string to begin the lesson on CCSS.ELA.11.8b.” The relatively autonomous classroom teacher of the 1960s would be APPALLED if transported, suddenly, to today’s teaching environment, in which EVERYONE EXCEPT THE TEACHER KNOWS HOW TO DO THAT TEACHER’S JOB and THE TEACHER IS ASSUMED NOT TO HAVE A CLUE. When I started working in the textbook industry, a literature program consisted of an anthology with stories and poems and plays and essays in it, with a few questions at the end of these, and a very short teacher’s manual with some background notes about the selections and answers to the textbook questions. Now, a literature program comes in three or four big boxes and has a hundred components, each of which, in turn, has a hundred components.
Are kids better educated as a result of all this usurpation of teacher autonomy and authority? Here’s the funny thing: I seriously doubt it.
When people have autonomy and authority, when they are treated as and expected to be professionals who know what they are doing and who can make their own decisions, they rise to the occasion. All those millions of independent actors–teachers, department chair people, and building-level administrators, making their own decisions–took their jobs very seriously.
Now, I am not suggesting that we go back to some mythical golden age. Many of those autonomous teachers were very resistant to change. They would keep on assigning those Warriner’s English Grammar lessons on underlining the gerunds forever, despite those having very, very little instructional value.
But it’s interesting to note that there is a boiled frog phenomenon going on here with regard to the usurpation of teacher authority. Today’s crop of young teachers have no idea what it is like to make one’s own decisions about what to teach, when, and how. Many would be at an absolute loss making up their own tests or sitting down in a department meeting to discuss changes to next year’s curriculum. The ideal of the respected professional in the classroom–the learned person who makes his or her own decisions based on his or her learning and experience–has gone the way of the rotary telephone. If the same thing had happened in medicine, we would no longer have doctors seeing patients. We would have only physicians’ assistants seeing patients and referring all the decisions about treatment back to some central committee.
All this is prelude to saying, here’s how you get REAL education reform: You make the teaching profession very high status and well paid, you create serious barriers to entry to the profession like profound subject-area expertise, and then you stand back and let the autonomous professionals in your classrooms do their jobs as they see fit. Getting there would involve moving in precisely the opposite direction that we’re headed in.
The deformers are right that teacher quality makes all the difference. But here’s the thing about people who are high-performing types–ones who are the sort to have been self motivated to become very, very good at what they do. Those sorts of people will not work in conditions that lack a reasonable degree of autonomy. The only people who will accept being scripted are the passive, not-so-bright do-bees.
BTW, I do NOT mean to suggest, by my note, above, that there is not MUCH to learn about education per se–that there is not a reason for the existence of education schools. I actually believe, quite the contrary, that many of the problems with the CCSS in ELA have to do with their authors not understanding a lot of what we now know about how learnings of various kinds take place, how various abilities are acquired, etc.–the sort of thing that is taught in education schools. My point is that teacher education and requirements for entry to the profession–if conducted will and if sufficiently high–would produce autonomous professionals capable of making their own decisions–based on their knowledge of their subject, of kids, of learning.
If we had the sort of system in which independent groups of scholars issued curriculum frameworks and suggestions for learning progressions and pedagogical approaches and in which there was a truly free market in the creation of educational materials by smaller, competing companies, and if autonomous professionals, well trained, could choose among those, then we would have real innovation and progress. Centralization is ossification.
We need well-paid, autonomous teachers doing bottom up transformation based on systems like Japanese-style lesson study. The LAST THING that we need is a Common Core Curriculum Commissariat and Ministry of Truth replacing teachers with robots parroting scripted lessons based on an inflexible bullet list.
Sounds like “private schools” to me. What? Anathema!!!!!! That schooling should be handled by private schools, even if run as non-profit institutions. Freedom to teach???? No, no, no, no, no. Public schools are NOT in favor of freedom. How could they be? They think NCLB is not an oxymoron. Shades of Napoleon Buonaparte! A centralized education system with everyone studying the same thing at the same time in all 93 arrondissements. But—-Wasn’t Napoleon a dictator, an emperor? Yes, but he made the trains run on time, and in modern France, very fast. Mais oui. Vive le peuple. Vive la Socialism. “Government does it better” as one of the James Bond girls use to sing it. Or something like that.
So true., Robert. The brightest and the best would want autonomy.
We tried a scripted ELA program in Buffalo. It didn’t work. The company said it wasn’t being followed properly. The script was strictly enforced for everybody – even for students with mastery. Teams of administrators would randomly visit a school and check to make sure the teacher was following the script. Schedules were posted outside the door to make it easier to insure you were on track. We tried it for five years. It didn’t work. The scores did not miraculously go up. The kids who couldn’t read still could not read.
Plan B: CCSS? Help!
I believe that optimistic people are unable to see the truth until it just becomes impossible to ignore. I have seen this all coming for 9+ years. Many of my colleagues disagreed with me, and refused to believe it. Well, now they see it, and I am proven right- unfortunately. Things are going to get much worse in education, and there will be no “better.” — At least not in our lifetimes. I will again repeat my advice to those who are able. Leave the country and live in a more “sane” country. Drive a taxi in Copenhagen. Work in a surf shop in Sydney. You only have one life to live. Denmark will give you health insurance and housing. You won’t starve. Don’t spend your life like a slave shuffling through a big box discount store. Don’t condemn your children to this kind of life. There are options. Find the strength within yourself to do what your ancestors did.
You might even vote Tea Party. Eh?
Right – so they can make it bad enough that people will finally rebel?
Do you honestly think that there will be anyone left standing if the U.S. economy were to completely implode? Most currencies are pegged to the dollar; many countries own dollars (China, for instance.) There is a tsunami of at least $700 trillion in derivatives (admitted by the Bank of International Settlements) creating the biggest bubble in history. This is insurmountable debt. This is not, “Let’s make a plan to pay this down over time debt.” Soooo………what are you talking about? Find a place to hide from the tsunami? I don’t think so. Maybe South America where they have their own trade agreements and have not been playing ball with the U.S. for awhile. The Bush crime family owns acreage in Paraguay that sits on a large aquifer. (They are always thinking ahead. They know the real problem is not global warming or peak oil but lack of potable water.) There goes the neighborhood. You want to try to borrow a cup of sugar from Barbara? I don’t.
Be a man. Stand and fight for your country. We have been temporarily taken over by fascists. Obama is their “yes” man dictator. We don’t have to put up with this. We have a Constitution which spells out the remedy for a leader who refuses to live by the law. It is called impeachment. Do it.
Next, reinstate the Glass Steagall Act which would separate the speculative tsunami bubble of derivatives from real productive commercial banking. The taxpayers would not longer be on the hook for such invented “creative financial instruments’ that were illegal under GS. We would be free. We are currently enslaved by unscrupulous foreign bankers. We do not have to listen to them. They will be destroyed by Glass Steagall. They are nothing without the legal ability to steal and loot.
Step 1: Impeach Obama
Step 2: Reinstate Glass Steagall
Step 3: Create a new economy based on real physical productivity (manufacturing and scientific discovery as the driver) issuing long term credit at 1% for the rebuilding of our country putting 25 million people back to work.
We can do this. We are Americans. We are creative, innovative, and have the experience of growing up with the concept of sovereignty. King Obama can be thrown off just as King George was.
Finally, a little bit of sense on this blog. HOWEVER, Obama will never be convicted of his impeachable crimes in a Democrat Senate. Glass-Stegall reinstatement (which I support) will never happen now that the “Volker rule” has been adopted instead. As for the economy, it would take care of itself absent the forest of pointless regulations and with cuts in the deficit and with lower corporate and individual taxes. A government of laws not of individuals such as Obama and his billion bureaucrats would be something business would respond to. With the economy expanding, the schools would get more revenue.
You do realize that Glass-Steagall *is* a regulation?
The person in the room who says, “Be practical, that can never happen” is your enemy. You have to have the courage of your convictions that things will be set right. Banking thieves will go to jail. Treasonous politicians will be impeached. Glass Steagall will be reinstated. These things will happen because if they don’t….we are all Detroit now. The banker thieves have bail ins and looting in store for everyone. No pensions for anyone. No bank accounts. It will all be stolen.
Have some imagination and some courage. I do not accept that these usurious traitors will wreck the world and Americans will roll over and allow it to happen. All dongressmen should be thrown out of every cushy office they reside in. But we do not have time for that. This $700 trillion derivative tsunami will not wait. We have to compel the lousy people who are in office right now to rise up out of their comfortable stupors and Do Something good for America. Everyone has some tiny corner in their hard hearts that can be roused to do the right thing when it becomes clear there is nothing left to do.
What happened 5 years ago that attrition was higher than today?
Bev perdue slashed their pay.
Dawn, it is the job of teachers and intellectuals to tell the “truth” and not fairy tales.
Your ideas are not based in reality. You and Dr. Ravitch, and others, should be leading a large group of expatriate intellectuals to Sweden, Finland or Canada. By telling people to stay and fight a senseless fight, it is condemning them to suffer. Pretending that we have a functioning Democracy is also misleading. It is similar to telling a Jewish person in 1940 to stay in Germany and not flee to Switzerland. Intellectuals in Germany figured it out and told people to leave Germany! There aren’t many intellectuals left in America of 2013, but many of those left are telling people to leave. Twenty years from now you will see that what I say now is true- unfortunately. I don’t want to win that bet, but I don’t see any alternative at this point. Sorry to bring bad news.
See you in Costa Rica.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer left Germany. Then he returned even though he knew he might be persecuted. He did not feel right about leaving his country in the hands of a madman just because he was intellectual and rich enough to do so. He felt compelled to stand and fight. The Revolutionary War was not a fairy tale. Congress is still answering their phones and taking meetings with constituents. I know because I call and I go. Do you? You can not criticize the strength of our republic (which is not a democracy) if you do not actively participate yourself. The American people made a loud and clear statement that they did not want to enter a war in Syria. Obama backed down and called the intervention off. We could do the same with impeachment and Glass Steagall. The only thing stopping us is people who do not want to bother to save our republic. They would rather save their own skin and go to Costa Rica. I will not see you there.
Back to the topic. What the decision makers forget is that tenure works both ways. Yes, it protects a teacher’s job, but it also keeps good teachers in place so they aren’t easily lured away to other jobs, whether in education or another career path. And new teachers often weed themselves out – we see it in Buffalo all the time. They start all excited, then reality hits, then they leave (it might take a day, a week, or a month), then the process starts all over again. A class might go through three teachers until one “sticks”.
The baby boomers are counting the days until they can retire. If Governor Cuomo in NYS offered a decent retirement incentive, then I bet there would be a mass exodus of those supposedly “decrepit” experienced teachers. They’ll be gone soon anyway.
What will school systems do when the teacher shortage hits? Penny wise, pound foolish, they’ll have to offer signing bonuses, better pay, and incentives to attract and keep all the teachers they need.
And we would be laughing our heads off, if our grandchildren weren’t suffering in the process.
To paraphrase Hosea 8:7—the rheephormistas are sowing the wind but we are ones who will reap the whirlwind.
I am using it in the sense that the ill-conceived plans and policies of the edubullies will have terrible consequences for the vast majority of the population.
Everyone with a bit of sense and work experience knows that some of the best recruiters for any workplace are the people already working there. It has been some years now that not one teacher I have talked to would recommend [except occasionally, but with strong caveats and cautions] that a child or relative or friend or acquaintance become a teacher.
The train wreck is predictable. The only question is how terrible the impact will be.
😡
Nail –> head
The issue is performing for voters (in terms of politicians). Education is expensive and looks painful on a budget (even though we all know it is a necessary expense lest the incarceration or carrying weight of uneducated people far exceed anything education could ever cost). But when a bunch of people who only vote their pocketbook judge a leader or politician, they do so by how far that leader or politician is stretching the tax dollar. So all of this is just a tap dance for voters who, it is thought, will appreciate the gestures of punitive measures on teachers and schools so they don’t “waste money.” It’s a limited vision and scope when considering the leadership of society. And it will lead to other problems. Eventually, voters will see that these philosophies do not help the society they are in, even if they have saved money in taxes.
As I have said time and again. . . I teach in NC and I am not going anywhere. I work hard to separate out the politics that impacts public education and the reason behind it and move forward with working the best we can within the circumstances, and advocating for the changes or policies that really do benefit our children and our state. Children will show up for school and there will need to be teachers to teach them. No politician can stop that from happening. Eventually short-sighted pocket-book voters will be outnumbered by those who want strong societies. Pragmatism will prevail, even if there is an ebb and flow of what makes sense in the process. As tempting as it is to want to view things as “us” and “them,” (those fighting for a strong public ownership of things and those not), productive problem-solving will not occur if we do that. It is forces we must examine, and counter-forces as well. And even if it is perceived that “they” aren’t willing to cooperate, “we” must still maintain the stance that we will (within reason, and in viewing the whole picture and even the littlest person in it).
This is why I know it will be OK in NC. We are not going to succumb to disaster or the fate of Detroit. We are not Detroit. Those who have moved on will face other issues in other states. There is no perfect place to be. I don’t judge those who have left, but some of us are well-tied to this state. We have property here. We have family here. We have histories here. We have connections and business interests and a love for our state. NC is a beautiful state. We have mountains and sea.
This too shall pass. It will. We will make it OK. Just pay attention to whom you vote for and keep talking to people, in a reasonable manner of exchange, so that ideas can be shared for truth to prevail and consideration, even for the poor, can be given in deciding what is best for North Carolina.
To me, as I have said a lot, the fact that education has become so very contested and political lately, shows the true desperation of our economy. Now is the time to problem solve in all areas. Now is the time to be creative and innovative in what we can offer up to help those areas where we see help is needed.
End of sermon.
Love,
Joanna
Yes — they are retiring or leaving for other jobs within NC schools.
Policy Watch likes to make it seem dire but…they forget to mention how DPI pulled the turnover report and magically reinserted it with changes that fit their “war on education” narrative.
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=10605
By the way — an unasked question in NC is ‘how much is common core impacting the desire to leave?’. It won’t be asked. Atkinson was just made president elect of the CCSSO.
It can still be asked.
Ask it. Report what you find.
Please read this report about NC teachers written by two colleagues of mine.
Key Findings
• Over 96% of the educators who participated think public education in North Carolina is headed in the wrong direction.
• Two-thirds of teachers and administrators indicated that recent legislative
changes have negatively impacted the quality of teaching and learning in their own school.
• Over 74% of respondents indicated that, as a result of the legislative changes, they were less likely to continue working as a teacher/administrator in NC.
• 97% of respondents think the legislative changes have had a negative effect on teacher morale.
• 98% of teachers and administrators surveyed believe that the removal of financial incentives for pursuing advanced degrees will have a negative effect on the quality of teaching and learning in North Carolina’s schools.
• Nearly all respondents indicated that the failure to give teachers a raise in pay will have a negative impact on the quality of public education.
• Ninety percent of teachers and administrators indicated that the removal of tenure, with all teachers placed on 1-, 2-, or 4-year contracts by 2018, will have a negative effect on the quality of public education in NC.
• In regard to the legislature’s plan to eliminate tenure and identify the top 25% of teachers for annual pay raises, approximately 7% of teachers indicated they would give up tenure in exchange for the supplement (64% would not give up tenure and 28% are uncertain).
• 38% of respondents believe the Read to Achieve Program will have a positive impact on the quality of education in the state. Among elementary teachers, this figure is just 20%.
• A significant portion of teacher and administrator comments described working harder to protect students from the perceived effects of the recent legislative changes.
• Nearly 87% of respondents think the voucher plan, providing eligible families with a $4,200 annual voucher to allow a child to go to a private school, will have a negative impact on the state’s public schools.