NPR broadcast a story that identified a genuine problem—the startling decline of people entering the teaching profession– but offered incoherence and confusion about the causes and solutions for the problem.
“Several big states have seen alarming drops in enrollment at teacher training programs. The numbers are grim among some of the nation’s largest producers of new teachers: In California, enrollment is down 53 percent over the past five years. It’s down sharply in New York and Texas as well.
“In North Carolina, enrollment is down nearly 20 percent in three years.”
Why?
Bill McDiarmid, dean of the University of North Carolina School of Education, “points to the strengthening U.S. economy and the erosion of teaching’s image as a stable career. There’s a growing sense, he says, that K-12 teachers simply have less control over their professional lives in an increasingly bitter, politicized environment.
“The list of potential headaches for new teachers is long, starting with the ongoing, ideological fisticuffs over the Common Core State Standards, high-stakes testing and efforts to link test results to teacher evaluations. Throw in the erosion of tenure protections and a variety of recession-induced budget cuts, and you’ve got the makings of a crisis.
“The job also has a PR problem, McDiarmid says, with teachers too often turned into scapegoats by politicians, policymakers, foundations and the media.”
All of this is true, although I don’t see much evidence that the economy is creating sizable numbers of high-paying middle-class jobs for new college graduates.
But the story goes on to quote Benjamin Riley, who previously worked at the NewSchools Venture Fund, a key ally of Secretary Duncan and a core actor in the corporate reform movement, promoting test-based teacher evaluation, non-union charter schools, and other policies that discourage teachers. While at NewSchools Venture Fund, Riley wrote frequently about how terrible teacher education programs are and how wonderful Common Core is.
Riley created a new group called “Deans for Impact,” consisting of 18 education school deans (including McDiarmid) committed to change. Exactly what those changes are is not yet clear.
It’s not just the decline in those entering the teaching profession. When I was still teaching, that average “work span” for a new teacher was 5 years, before they got fed up or burned out by the “educational system.”
Protecting and preserving teacher prep programs in New York is a major issue for one of the United University Professions, the union representing 35,000 academic and professional faculty at SUNY.
At a press conference tomorrow, we will call for an investigation of the State Education Department’s botched, rushed implementation of new certification exams. The bungled rollout and implementation of these new high-stakes tests will block thousands of dedicated future teachers from teaching in New York.
But all the doors are opened for TFA scabs. Easily. Rules are broken and bent. Regulations are negotiated behind closed doors just to get them in. Our government, during the shut down, gave monies to TFAs already bloated coffers. Back door deals are made with districts “to save money” by hiring TFA, to not hire ed grads, and firing veteran, experienced, REAL teachers. And TFA doesn’t come cheap. And TFA gets student loan forgiveness, weekend Masters degrees, etc. …heck, they’re even building them housing in Newark on Halsey Street – strictly for TFA teachers, and “affordable” so the teachers can live in the neighborhoods where they teach. You know what? Down town Newark isn’t much of a neighborhood. After 5:00 on a December weekday, its pretty much a ghost town no matter how much gentrification they try to create. But, they’re putting 3 charter schools in the same “complex” – yikes. Maybe these will be elite charter schools where executives and lawyers can drop off their princes and princesses? I can’t imagine these schools are going to be for “neighborhood” kids, cuz, there are no neighborhood kids in down town Newark. Its sad, really, how real teachers, certified, qualified, experienced teachers are being thrown away, how our government wants to make Ed college degrees harder to obtain, how it wants to make student teaching just 1 semester (NJ.com today), likely so it can try to legitimize the TFA 5 weeks of summer school–all of this, to make way for TFA, or other alternate routes that the hedge funders and the 1%ers push. I cannot imagine where education will be 20 years from now. The last 20 years seem to have developed slowly, but you know, the patience of the greedy is running out. They want their cut NOW, and they want the rest of us to bow down and take it.
This is as naive a question as asking,” Where have all the synagogues in Europe gone after the Holocaust?”
Hi everyone! I’m sitting here eating my lunch. This is all I’ve been saying. The deformers do not have to worry about young people entering this battered profession. No one in their right mind will go into debt to be abused and constantly threatened to be fired.
The very sad thing is that everything is going to their plan. With a teacher shortage, they will be able to move in much easier. I’ve given teaching the best years of my life, and I do not recognize my profession anymore. The latest thing with PARCC and all of hours of testing and NO TIME TO TEACH is by far the craziest and saddest thing I’ve experienced.
Well, it’s safe to say that I’m one of those individuals not in their right mind…
My view is that the teachers unions (and all unions) must go on the offensive. Success is unlikely, of course, but it’s hard to imagine the unions gaining strength over time if the current trends persist. Simply put, educational and economic equity must be fought for.
The neoliberal intellectuals, and business elites should not be underestimated. In many respects, congressional Republicans and Democrats serve at their pleasure. Thus, we will likely have to look beyond traditional politics and build a grassroots movement. Placing a greater emphasis on policy (and organizational) innovation could also prove to be beneficial.
I recognize that this approach is fraught with risk, but there really isn’t a choice if we wish to secure a better future for all students. Otherwise, traditional public institutions/services and the very idea of the commons/public good will die a slow death.
According to the market gurus, a shortage of workers means an increase in compensation, right? Should I hold my breath?
That is the logical “free market” conclusion. In this case, I think the intention is the “deprofessionalize” the teaching corps by using TFA and people that will work for $10 per hour. Then, they’ll keep all the money at the top where they can hide it.
It scares me, but I think you’re right.
Spot on. Sad but true.
Not to worry. On line and blended learning programs are the panacea for teacher shortages.
That is the wet dream of profit seekers who have done their work in lobbying for federal policies that support the use of technology to “improve the efficiency and outcomes” of nearly every program in the 2015 Obama/Duncan Education budget, which also pours money into charter schools.
The 2015 Obama/Duncan budget requests for education at http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget15/summary/15summary.pdf
Khan Academy is a freebie, and Bill Gates loves it!
Dropt out rates from Khan are noteworthy.
Computer technology has even driven me out of subbing. I know subs are not highly regarded in general, but I always came ready to teach. Since I spent years in middle schools in special ed, I was quite familiar with curriculum and expectations at that level. In earlier years when I subbed, videos were often a teacher’s fallback, but I learned a few tricks over the years to make it more interesting. When a teacher knew me, they frequently left a lesson and never objected when I tweaked things to make them go better. Now, in the district I have been subbing in, they have moved to a one-to-one computer program. Not surprisingly,teachers leave plans that have the students do a lot online. Subs do not have access to computers, so we are reduced to being computer monitors. As you can imagine, the kids are very creative in clicking in and out of sites to avoid discovery. I have not subbed since before the winter break; I don’t think I can face the day prowling for “cybercriminals.”
There has been a pattern to NPRs reporting on education issues that makes me greatly fear that they have allowed the Gate’s Foundation money to sway their impartiality. The reporting has just not been up to their usual journalistic standards.
NPR funded by villaintropies. PBS, as David Sirota described it, the Plutocratic Broadcasting System.
I love that Plutocratic Broadcasting System (how did I miss that one). Every day I dread hearing what new misinformation they are going to spew out on education during my morning commute (to my teaching job). How worked up am I going to get with their latest Gates funded fable on the state of education today…ahhhhhh I’ll never donate to them again (but I guess they don’t need my money, anyway).
I recall when PBS was Pearls Before Swine,
But NPR today is No Pearls Remaining.
That’s not a rocket science question … or is it?
No, it’s a rockets ship questions, their answer is fraud and failure.
HA! What could possibly be the answer? Maybe it’s that the public has been conned into believing teachers are responsible for every problem under the heavens?
Back in the 1980s or 1990s, I remember a GOP candidate running for a Senate seat in the U.S. Congress—out of the Midwest—being quoted in the news blaming public school teachers for the number of Americans in prison.
The public hasn’t necessarily been conned;they’ve chosen to take the lazy way out and blame teachers.
Whoever wrote this piece for NPR didn’t know enough about the corporate created crises in public education to identify the foxes who want to keep the hen house door open so they can keep plundering.
Next on the privateers’ agenda: TFA to the rescue!!!!!
And Duncan’s attack on higher Ed is going to cut off even more “gated” certification routes.
They want a teacher shortage – it’s the only explanation for now going after colleges.
The drop in New York State is likely mostly a reaction to a glut of graduates who couldn’t find jobs, even as subs. There are 84—eighty-four!—institutions of higher learning that offer state-accredited teacher training, and they are simply preparing far too many teachers than there are jobs available. Even after the drop.
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2015/01/23/tough-job-market-teaching-candidates/22235837/
Throw in the fact that the K-12–aged population in New York State is expected to grow slowly, if at all, and it seems like the state and ed schools need to get together and work on a solution. In the meantime, anyone considering spending a lot of money on a teaching credential here ought to go into it with eyes wide open.
In a Cincinnati suburb, the problem is overcrowded classrooms and no money to hire teachers.
Ohio’s education dollars are in the pockets of the charter and online school operators, who are big donors to the GOP…. additional dollars that could pay for teachers, go to the tech software and hardware companies….additional tax dollars, go to Turkish nationals employed on visas.
Tim, I do not disagree that enrollment in many NYS districts is down, but in the past 6 years, my district has cut the equivalent of 95 full-time positions, mostly because of shrinking budgets not shrinking enrollment.
Same here in CNY. Our enrollment is down 11 percent, our staff is down almost 30%. I love having student teachers every year. This year I didn’t and it is likely that will be the norm from now on. I asked the colleges why the were no student teachers in earth science? They replied that few want to go into teaching anymore.
I got into teaching late in life (47). Although I have the least experience of anyone in the ES dept. (11 years), I will most likely be the next to retire.
Who will replace me-some temp from TFA who knows little geology let alone how to teach?
Teachers who have lost their jobs due to budget cuts (that’s me!) have the first opportunity to be called back if a similar position should come up again in the district. This is good for 7 years. This will make it even harder for new teachers to get into the profession.
Are they even recalling? From what I’ve heard, they’re firing and hiring TFA. Or, they’re rubber rooming, and hiring TFA. It isn’t about budgets and enrollments, it is about cutting corners and bringing in the new regime. Let me know when you get recalled.
Or, maybe teachers who have been laid off will find they’re happier with other careers!
As minimal job performance, Arne Duncan should have done no harm.
Recently, I spoke with a faculty member from a Midwestern university dept. of education. She said, “I don’t know why anyone would become a teacher.” The plan to replace teachers with tech trouble shooters, in classes airing Khan Academy videos, will, at best, be short-term. In feudal societies, serfs aren’t educated. The purpose of tracking failure at 3rd grade or earlier, is to channel substantial numbers of productive people into subsistence jobs.
Once achieved, the unproductive aristocracy from Wall St. and the inheritors of tech wealth, will abandon any pretense of interest in the well-being of America. Patriotism will be relegated to propaganda for elections, entertainment at parades, Olympics, etc. and,
to create a façade of unity. The recent “love of country” quote, from Guiliani provides a blueprint.
“The greatness of a nation is not judged by how the wealthiest, live, but by how the poorest, live”. That view requires plutocratic self-denial, something of which, they are incapable.
The multinational corp. design to destroy Social Security, under the guise that the middle class needs to make sacrifices, is a colossal fraud perpetrated by the same people.
You have just become my favorite commenter here. Exactly. I’ve posted it before, here it is again: http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/01/abolishing-representative-government-education-common-core-choice-charter-schools/
Donna,
The high ideals of our nation have been steadfast, from rejection of the divine right of kings, to rejection of secession and slavery, to the defeat of Nazis.
The current fight for America’s children and workers, against the tyranny of corporate predators, Wall Street, and the richest men in the world, attracts unstoppable soldiers like you, your colleagues, Diane and, all who have joined the fight.
Of course NPR would obfuscate the reasons for the lack of teachers. They cannot bite the corporate hands that feed them.
Isn’t all this happening according to plan?
Not fast enough for some. Look at Cuomo, Still trying to rid more teachers from the classrooms — NOW! Must be b/c of those Pensions/benefits — can’t get out from under until enough are gone and OFF the books! Budget woes = money madness.
Oh & chalk one up for CC. Students ARE thinking critically!! What these students have had to endure (you know, TOLERATE as in, put up with) these past few years at the hands of education ‘reform’.
Can you blame them?
There exists little tolerance (more recently redefined as ACCEPTANCE) for all that has occurred with this latest gyration. Students today seem to have mostly pity for their teachers. Not to mention their knowledge that COLLABORATE, too, has another meaning. It is no wonder they are steering clear.
Deans for Impact…the name sounds suspicious. Anyone know more than this? http://bellwethereducation.org/opportunity/program-manager
When we see people from Bain Co. and Harvard Dept. of Education on Bellwether’s Board, when we note 4 major city office locations and, no funders’ list at the site…. walks like a duck, quacks like a duck.
Fordham announced the new position, “Cincinnati Schools Accelerator founding CEO”, which is somehow connected to Bellwether.
A general statement about backing from foundations is included but, no specific names. The following statement appeared in an ad for the position, “Under developed human capital pipeline”. I’ve never heard someone who cared about children talk about them in such a dehumanizing way.
Bellwether received almost $2 mil. from Gates.
Wann wird man je verstehen?
I tell old students to get their heads examined if they consider teaching.
In 1993, things were great but after the election of Bloomberg , the 2005 sell out and now Governor Moron, I should get mine examined too.
What the hell was I thinking? Now I have a family and this governor has rigged the game.
It just sucks.
In a review of Dana Goldstein’s The Teacher Wars, historian Andrew Hartman may have provided the best rationale for pursuing a career as a teacher in today’s hostile environment:
“The answer lies in the third problem with American teachers: politics. Not enough teachers see their work as political or view themselves as political activists. More teachers need to become left-wing activists, and more left-wing activists need to become teachers. A leftist movement in the American teaching force would be the best way to improve American public education.
One of the more original points that Goldstein makes — in what seems like an afterthought — is that many of the best teachers in American history have treated teaching as a mission. Mission-driven teachers ground their work in a larger purpose, making it easier for them to withstand the daily grind of what is often a thankless job.”
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/03/education-reform-goldstein-teacher-wars-review/
I highly doubt that most teachers will become committed socialists anytime soon, but there is certainly a strong case for members of the profession to play a more active role in political affairs. After all, the future of public education and economic equity are likely at stake.
It isn’t a mission. The author has it wrong. The better teachers typically have their careers truncated by a principal or else they dodged a bullet of a principal’s wrath. There’s politics, all right, but it is of the office variety. Teachers can be openly political for fear of being fired and never to teach again.
Susan and Matt, I hope you have read this, because it happened to me in 1998, and to tens of thousands since… it is the process… and it works because principals are not sworn under penalty of perjury and can say anything they want.. and it is too expensive to sue, so they win… because of one thing, and one thing only…the union does not pursue the contract which is where the sixth amendment rights are located.
Period.
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
It is the corrupt process of administrative law. My rights were completely trampled upon.
Ah Susan. It is 2015 and the total elimination of the civil rights of teachers in NYC in 1998, was in full swing… for the same reason… the UNION DOES NOT ENFORCE THE CONTRACT THAT GIVES TEACHER’S THIER SIXTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS
Look at LAUSD…utterly lawless.
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/03/lausd-and-utla–connecting-the-dots-of-blattant-corruption.html
http://www.perdaily.com/2013/10/why-does-utla-continue-to-support-lausds-violation-of-california-teacher-dismissal-process.html
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/former-ctc-attorney-kathleen-carroll-lays-out-unholy-alliance-between-union-and-public-education-pri.html
A class action suit would be impossible. You see, the principles are not sworn under penalty of perjury! They can say anything they want, and we cannot sue them!
What a scam! but NOWHERE in the media is the role that the union has played in undermining tenure . IN fact, the opposite is true.. the media portrays the union as protecting bad teachers, when the truth is they protect no good teacher.
I have been posting this for ten years…
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
Go to this article, where Isenberg says that those in the government and the media have only become more adept at obfuscating reality. SCROLL DOWN to my comment which has links to the truth about what is happening to teachers…. I’d paste it here, but the links won’t appear. See Dan Geery’s comment,t oo. He is a brilliant man, a teacher who experienced what we have… he also ran for Utah senator…. wish he had own.
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/LAUSD-Abuse-Case-Fraud-BY-in-Best_Web_OpEds-FAILURE_Loss_Media_Media-Bias-140314-780.html#comment477684
And this is from my local paper… this is the media’s complicity
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2014/02/15/process-of-disciplining-troubled-teachers-faster-cheaper-after-major-state-reforms/5523139/
And Susan , surely you have read the myriad of teacher’s tragic stories at http://endteacherabuse.org/
Karen Horwitz put up that site after she sued and LOST.
There has been a war on teachers ongoing for a very long time, and this PARCC and VAM is only the latest.
http://www.speakingasateacher.com/SPEAKING_AS_A_TEACHER/The_Insane_War_on_Teachers_and_Democracy.html
I meant can’t be openly political. That’s why teachers are ineffective against the onslaught of attacks on their profession.
Matt, trust me on this… you need to go to Perdaily where one man has made it his mission to fight back.
http://www.perdaily.com/2013/11/lausd-gives-me-a-chance-to-be-a-hero-for-student-teachers-and-families.html
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/03/lausd-continues-to-target-teachers.html
http://www.perdaily.com/2015/01/were-you-terminated-or-forced-to-retire-from-lausd-based-on-fabricated-charges.html
He came to me online, ten years ago, when he began Perdaily. He had been led from his classroom in handcuffs,
http://www.perdaily.com/2010/02/yesterday-i-was-removed-from-class-in-handcuffs.html
because he blew the whistle on corruption and the social promotion debacle in LAUSD.
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/between-dishonest-social-promotion-of.html
Currently he is writing at a local newspaper and has been active on the radio.LA is a cesspool of corruption.
Here, are a few of th essays that are so important, but do go to his site:
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/06/lausds-treacherous-road-from-reed-to-vergara–its-never-been-about-students-just-money.html
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/former-ctc-attorney-kathleen-carroll-lays-out-unholy-alliance-between-union-and-public-education-pri.html
Susannunes,
I don’t think he’s suggesting that they publicize their views in front of students or parents. For instance, teachers can become more politically active via their union participation/activities. I may be misunderstanding what you mean by ‘open’, though, so please don’t hesitate to correct me.
Ms. Schwartz,
Thanks for the links. I’ll definitely check them out when I have some time.
My daughter wanted to be a teacher from age two. Two years ago, 2.5 years after graduating with 2 certifications and an ed degree, she was “lucky” to get a teaching job. I tell her to start looking for something else; maybe open up her own daycare. Oh, if we only had the cash.
The answer to why this happens is here:http://billmoyers.com/segment/john-nichols-and-robert-mcchesney-on-big-money-big-media/
It is the same answer as to how Duncan gets to be Secretary of Education over Linda Darling-Hammond and NPR which has been starved for funds as the government went on austerity, slants the news with the same kin dog half-truths and mis-information that has need real journalism.
Dark Money is paying for the war on public education
http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/22/5-signs-dark-money-apocalypse-upon-us/?utm_source=General+Interest&utm_campaign=94370722aa-Midweek_0924149_24_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4ebbe6839f-94370722aa-168347829
I for one, will no longer support NPR, although I love so many of the programs. They have to pay a price for such egregious journalism… and if all of us wrote and told them we were not supporting them because they circulate lies, maybe they would assign a real journalist to read your blog and explain why the tests are a hoax!!
You have to remember that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and several other “education reform” groups provide financial support to NPR.
I have taught STEM and was treated like crap. Working in shortage areas just means more admin fetishes over accountability. Even though they can’t replace you, they still treat you poorly.
My response to 2old2teach’s linking this article in a prior post:
Doesn’t have me nodding in agreement 2o2t. It’s more of edudeformer blather about the teaching profession. For example:
“. . . from Georgetown’s Edunomics Lab argues that boosting class size for great teachers would save money that could then be funneled into bonuses for those educators taking on a larger load. The savings would come largely from a reduction in the overall teaching force, angering teachers unions and their allies.
Riley says his group, Deans for Impact, is all for giving teachers a raise — if it’s tied to better training that leads to higher graduation rates and other improved student outcomes.
“If we could really take control of the profession and increase the rigor such that teachers are effective from Day 1, I think that will prove to the public at large that this is an investment worth making, and one worth increasing.”
Pure edudeformer bullshit disguised as “expert talk”.
NPR contributes to this by schilling for CC.
Increase class loads too high and you might begin to see classrooms with high levels of assault and other crimes. There comes a point when you have to consider student/teacher safety.
Mercedes Schneider had Deans for Impact in the crosshairs back in January:
Funded by BillandMelinda, of course.
Edunomics Lab is funded by the Waltons.
NPR reporting on education is funded by BillandMelinda.
Really, do we need to know anything else?
Frankly , I haven’t seen any evidence of any teaching shortage in Oregon. We still have 45 or more people applying for each special education job, and yours truly, a licensed teacher, was forced to accept a part-time classified position with no benefits in some hope of resurrecting a career that was stolen from me by corrupt administrators in Nevada. Took six years to get it after four years languishing as a sub. Just this year the districts are starting to have problems getting substitutes–almost unheard of in this area where in the past it was difficult to work more than two or three days a week.
For most of my early career in the 60’s and early 70’s, it was so difficult to staff warm bodies filled the roster. In NYC, many avoided the draft and attended law school at night. This must be similar to being from TFA. It’s a paycheck and a resume point for when you take a real career. Don’t know how many will want to start their real career behind their peer group. Could hurt their attempts to succeed and grow their income.
I’m amazed that the article has managed to skip the biggest factor: a shrinking job market. The 2014-15 school year was the first time in more than 5 years that most districts in my area did not have to cut jobs due to budget constraints. I know that the situation was similar in most of the rest of the state, and I suspect most of the country.
People simply do not enter education programs for a profession that is both absurdly competitive and low-paying. All of the other factors mentioned contribute, but none are the main contributing cause.
Eric Gleason
TFA says that its numbers are down due to an improving economy
Did you notice that?
“Improving economy”- despite what Kasich says, statistics show, not in Ohio. The state follows failed Koch policies.
Well, they have to say something to save face, but doesn’t that fly in the face of their peace corp BS?
I believe the article is bunk and is politically motivated to.press to lower licensure standards so that anybody off the street can get a teaching job. There are still far more out of work teachers than jobs.
Depends on where you are. Also, as I was just on a committee to “advise” on the cut scores for teacher certification in NYS and, as a consequence, looked up the requirements for certification, I’m surprised anyone wades through the required garbage. Most of it seems to have little to do with actually learning a subject and learning to teach it.
“… brought to you by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”
NPR can’t figure out why nobody wants to teach. Any chance their befuddlement is tied to the funding they count on from the Gates’s and Waltons? Naah that can’t be it.
A related issue is the number of excellent teachers who are retiring as fast as they can. They are the mentors; the new students coming in will have fewer and fewer guides. Most people understand that it takes time and experience to become an excellent teacher, and part of that experience is learning from the people who are already there.
Many students have been ruined by society and all of the sexual adult content bombarding them. They have lost their innocence and meekness, which makes them very difficult to teach. With all of the pressures of standardized testing, new academic standards and uncooperative, ill prepared children, I wouldn’t wish teaching on my worst enemy. I left the profession and don’t miss it.
The choice to not enter the teaching profession is probably the best decision this “kids” will ever make. And anyone who is confused as to why there is a decline of people entering the teaching “profession” has quite clearly never been a teacher or doesn’t know anyone who is a teacher. As a teacher I would NEVER tell anyone to become a teacher. Not becoming a teacher is a the smartest decision you’ll ever make!