In a bold move to address the state’s teacher shortage (caused by low salaries), the state board of education removed all requirements for new teachers other than a college degree and passing a test in subject matter.
Will Utah soon allow barefoot doctors too, you know, the doctors without training or experience?
“Times have changed” — not everyone wants to return to school for a teaching degree, said Superintendent Sydnee Dickson.
An existing path gives permits to school district employees after one to three years of practice teaching and college classes. The new license, heavily criticized since being approved by the state board in June, is available immediately to applicants with bachelor’s degrees who pass a subject test.
The elected panel over Utah’s school districts and charter schools voted unanimously in favor of the measure at its monthly meeting Friday, but will consider tweaks to the policy that several Utah teachers and their unions have decried as an insult to their profession.
Vice chairman Dave Thomas said the move was made in part to address a teacher shortage and has largely been misunderstood.
“I don’t view this as an attack on traditional teachers,” Thomas said.
Utah Education Association President Heidi Matthews urged the board to reconsider, saying the state’s affluent districts could benefit, but low-income students would lose out. The rule could overburden schools without enough time or money to hire more mentor teachers to train the novice instructors, she said.
“It’s a human-rights issue.”
Board member Joel Wright said schools aren’t on the hook to grant the new licenses if they don’t want to. Under the new policy, administrators are allowed to tailor requirements for a license.
“This is a critical step,” Wright said, in giving individual districts control.
The board rejected a proposal from board member Brittney Cummins, of West Valley City, who sought to require that teachers-in-training be hired at a district or charter before receiving a license.
Mercedes Schneider points out that veteran teachers are expected to mentor the newbies for three years, but this may drive the veterans out of the classroom by giving them additional responsibilities without pay.
Utah is on a downward trajectory.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Forget taking the test to become a teacher. I’d like to take one to become a doctor. Just didn’t get around to getting that MD degree.
One upside: new teachers’ heads won’t be filled with the false ideas that ed schools are wont to impart. For example, my ed school told me that lecture was the worst form of pedagogy. That is a lie.
I tried the “guide on the side” approach and eventually realized that students much prefer us to teach them. It is our job to distill the interesting, essential, and important from the dull and insignificant; to inspire and excite through passion for our subjects. This is the main reason that the “student directed” or “personalized learning” fads are just as flawed as “constructivism” and “project based” learning – especially for subjects in which students have little to no background knowledge.
A teacher needs a variety of instructional methods in his or her “toolbox.” One method doesn’t cut it any more.
This sounds similar to NYC’s old TPD (Temporary Per Diem) license. That’s how I started. I needed a college degree and 24 credits in my subject area. I was to receive 1 period relief to work with a mentor teacher (who also received 1 period relief) for the first two years. By the time the second year rolled around, the cooperating teacher got 1 period relief if they worked with 2 teachers and the new teacher got none (I might be remembering that part a little wrong).
I was to complete at least 18 graduate credits within, i think 2 years, maybe three and then ultimately needed my masters.
I ended up getting my MS in computer science but took a few additional ed credits for a supervisor’s license.
It worked out well for me, my wife and a number of other now career teachers.
One of the problems our field has is the fact that, truth be told, a lot of what we force people to sit through in ed programs is unnecessary. While there is some good stuff going on, there’s a reason why ed schools have such poor reputations nationally.
The truth is that both sides should meet somewhere in the middle.
In Utah’s program, teachers will NEVER have to get certification. How does that make sense?
Threatened Out West — well, that’s a pretty big difference then. Thanks for the additional info
You’re welcome. People don’t realize just how bad this is.
We critics of the reform movement should be careful to acknowledge the flaws in our own model. I’m heading into my 17th year as a public high school teacher, and I find my job to be very challenging and very rewarding. Despite the many problems that face the profession, I encourage young people who feel a calling to the profession to pursue their instincts. I believe in what we do, yet I’m also genuinely concerned about most of the implications of today’s reform movement.
However, the status quo for education certification programs is too hard to justify. In my own experience, in addition to those my colleagues relate, graduate education school has proven largely useless, characterized by low intellectual rigor, wasteful uses of class time, redundancy, and costliness. It’s also a problematic barrier to entry that weakens the level of talent students find in their schools. For instance, a middle-aged computer scientist who feels unfulfilled in his job and wishes to teach instead will likely be deterred by the time and cost required to change jobs. Yet computer science students would likely benefit immensely from such a teacher.
My observation is that the quality of a teacher has little, if anything, to do with the quality of his or her classroom training.
Should there be any certification requirements? Yes, but they should be significantly streamlined to allow for only essential coursework (perhaps only one course that acclimates students to lesson planning, assessments, classroom management, and current state and federal education policy) and a brief, supervised practicum in the classroom. In other words, a bachelor’s degree in a subject should be viewed as an incentive to teach that subject without incurring too many burdens to family and finances in the pursuit of certification.
But, Utah already has an Alternative Route to Licensure, which does this. This removes education classes ENTIRELY, FOREVER. And the Bachelor’s degree need not be in a content area, but can be in ANYTHING.
I first tried teaching without training. It was a disaster.
I returned after completing a formal program. Like any education, you get what you put into it.
Content knowledge is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to teaching success. The best players do not make the best coaches.
Rather than tear down the profession we should be building it up.
Now, I’m off to complete a 6-week brain surgeon course. After all, I had my appendix out, so it can’t be that difficult.
I have to say that, unlike Dave, I found my graduate education Master’s program to be enormously useful.
But then, this was in Special Education, and it was a great program that taught us about the variety of special ed problems that impacted children. Sensory problems, intellectual and developmental problems, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral problems. And many methods for dealing with and remediating these problems.
I cannot even imagine anyone with only minimal training trying to deal with the students that I taught, and I challenge Dave, and others, to try and do so after a “brief, supervised practicum in the classroom.” Good luck with that.
The weakest part of every teacher training program is getting candidates to understand how to effectively communicate (i.e. “connect”) with the wide variety of children and how to understand their mind set and expectations. Some of the best teachers at this are really just kids at heart. College programs rarely delve into the brains of the average 8 to 16 year old kid. When they say that “lunch” is their favorite class, most of them are not kidding.
We can debate the perceived weaknesses of teacher ed programs (with which I disagree, as I think any and all learning is almost always valuable in the long run), but when low paid, uncertified, TFA, temp scabs come in droves to replace us, and as a result our unions shrink to the point where they cannot defend lower class sizes and better overall conditions for our students and ourselves, and teaching comes to be seen and treated by the voting public as the temp job of a computer operator instead of the highly valued and intellectual profession of an educator, we will have ourselves partly to blame. Sometimes, not always but sometimes we just have to take sides and stick.
“when low paid, uncertified, TFA, temp scabs come in droves to replace us”
If this comes to pass, I blame every teacher who has warned their students and their own children to run away from the profession.
I agree with Dave, but we seem to be in the very small minority of teachers who still believe that is a noble vocation. The relentless bashing of the teaching profession from WITHIN will be its undoing.
Irony upon irony.
LCT
When teachers refuse to support and encourage the next generation, we have nowhere to hide and no one else to blame. I have made this point repeatedly here and have only experienced criticism and negativity. Two (out of 3) of my own children are entering the profession, and it never occurred to me to dissuade them.
The real irony here is that we have spent three+ years defending public schools and public school teachers yet the vast majority of teachers that post here deride the future of our profession and openly discourage young people from entering the field. That LCT is the epitome of irony.
Future teachers should be encouraged but also told that times are tough. What I often say is that teaching is the hardest job you will ever have and the most rewarding. You are going into the trenches, and there’s a battle raging around you while you are trying to do your job. Go for it!
Don’t mean to disagree with you, RageAtT. I’m agreeing that Utah teachers should be credentialed with knowledge of multiple education theories and methods.
We also want more teachers. Genuine applause to you and your children. I don’t blame teachers for the shortage, though; I blame corporate takeover hostility.
More irony: the hypocrisy of my last two comments just hit me. I blame us, but I don’t blame us. I’ll shut up now.
I don’t “blame” the reformers, they are doing what comes naturally – because in their view, “greed is good” and the free market approach is just their way of life. I do think the political corruption that has enabled the reform movement (thanks in large part to Citizens United) bears a large part of the blame, but is also a factor that is out of our professional control. As teachers, we determine the way we present our profession to the next generation. Chasing them away is a mistake we will one day regret. The general meme (from teachers) that runs throughout this blog that I find hard to understand, is the near consensus renouncement of our own profession.
If a young person asks about teaching currently as a profession, we must be honest. Sugar coating the problems, which are immense, does neither the young person nor the profession any benefit. I would do the same with any other profession. I cannot blame teachers for the undermining of the profession when the culprit is corporate greed and political ideologists. Better they go in eyes open to the challenges. Young people have unbridled optimism. What is sad is to see them discouraged and leave.
I remember one newly minted teacher at one very challenging environment. She was enthusiastic and full of ideas. By the end of the year she was ill daily and developed health problems. I helped and encouraged her to find a job in finance. She emailed a year later again happy, refreshed, and ecstatic.
The problem is not the teachers. The problem is the way America devalues them.
Yeah. It’s hard to point out what privatization has done to schools without telling how it has damaged the teaching profession. I hope people will stand not just with us, but among us. And importantly, to make it a lifetime commitment instead of a transition job. Or at least to believe in it as such. A nuanced conversation to have with impressionable, young people.
Vale,
Teaching isn’t for most. It is not, as some other professionals think, easy. We should find a way to encourage people to follow their dreams unless they becomes a nightmares. Ideally, working with a master teacher in a university teacher ed program lets teaching candidates find out which it’s going to be before flying solo. I don’t think five weeks one summer will do that. I definitely don’t think passing a test will.
… become nightmares. Sorry. Editing overconfidence. I’m Mr. Errors this evening.
There is a big difference between sugarcoating what will always be a demanding and difficult job – and tar-and-feathering it. If we continue to tell our own students and our own children to steer clear from the profession, we will have provided the last nail in our coffin. Beat downs from the media, beat downs from the taxpaying public, beat downs from the reformers, beat down from the politicians I can take. Beat downs from teachers on potential future teachers will be the death knell. Times are dark, but it won’t be like this forever.
“…it won’t be like this forever.”
Now you’re talking!!!
Also, I like how Diane described the profession above. Makes me feel kinda gung ho.
RE: Threatened Out West
August 15, 2016 at 4:30 pm
“But, Utah already has an Alternative Route to Licensure, which does this. This removes education classes ENTIRELY, FOREVER. “”””And the Bachelor’s degree need not be in a content area, but can be in ANYTHING.””””” ……….
So not much different than how Special Ed teachers are teaching classes they have no formal training or concentration of study in…. other than a Special Ed credential…
Hate to tell you, M, but at least in Utah, special education teachers MUST be highly qualified–the equivalent of a major, plus Praxis testing, in EVERY subject they teach.
LeftcoastTeacher
Teachers are not the first victims in this assault, nor will they be the last . You are a prime target,being the largest unions in the country . The assault on teachers mirrors the assault on the middle class and organized labor in particular. The model started with the assault on the construction trades in the early 70’s by the newly formed Business RoundTable (where have we heard that name before). Specifically formed at the time to control construction costs “translation bust unions”.
“When Billionaires Become Educational Experts”, Kevin K. Kumashiro
goes through the history of the assault on Education. Starting with the Powell memo . Including mentioning the decade of propaganda seeding public opinion about the construction trades that preceded a massive assault in 1979.
Lets look at a few of the similarities:
Exxon,Chevron (BRT) that fine public citizens touting the failure of America’s students . Falling behind the world 26th in this, 29th in that and on and on. (propaganda)
Eliminating prevailing wage is portrayed as a civil right. Now that minorities are finally finding a significant welcome in the trades, everybody is entitled to work for less.
The testocracy is a civil right, classes run like a prison camp is a civil right ,
Why Eva having offices on Wall Street with a salary twice that of the chancellor in NYC
must be a civil right as well…
“And right on topic,
“ABC’s effort to replace the comprehensive craft training provided by the union with its own schools has not been nearly as successful, Kriger says. Few workers enrolled, and the ABC-affiliated schools’ strategy wrongly assumed that the industry could thrive with mostly lower-skilled, lower-paid workers. What’s more, the quality of the schools was so low that in 2004 the FBI and the Education Department inspector general effectively shut down ABC-related Decker College, a for-profit business.”…
“ABC did not succeed in eliminating unions on big private and public projects, but it has contributed to the steep decline in the unionization rate in the building trades. In 1973, 40 percent of private construction workers were in unions; in 2011, only 14 percent.”
David Moberg, In These Times
The “effort didn’t succeed” ,not having training is sufficient enough training.for all but the largest projects . A 66% drop not to successful.
I would say there is little in the ed reform movement about the children . You are battlefield in a much larger war . As such you will not win this battle without a broad based counter assault including parents and other workers. But you knew that , I just had to repeat it.
On a lighter note keep making typos. Because nobody needs an edit button more than me. I wont see it till I post. keep making tho errors.
those
too
RE: Threatened Out West
August 16, 2016, at 2:30 pm
“Hate to tell you, M, but at least in Utah, special education teachers MUST be highly qualified–the equivalent of a major, plus Praxis testing, in EVERY subject they teach.” ….. Well, that’s more than NYS special ed teachers are required to have “credentials.” But I bet very few of them have any knowledge, training or certification in OG methodologies…. I still would put my money on the homeschool mom self-trained in OG over the credentialed special ed teacher with only whatever traditional literacy training is provided by teaching colleges…. I’ve seen it personally with my own eyes and know thousands of other families have as well… More and more parents are taking their children out of public schools where they are failing to provide them with proper methodologies that are researched and proven to work with these kids. It is not any more expensive than the cost of paying for special education for generations of students that could have learned how to read if anyone had taken the proper steps and used these methods that have been around since the 1930’s!!! If they could provide it back then during the depression, then it does not have to be costly to use or implement. It just needs people willing to learn it and implement it with fidelity!!! #SayDyslexia #1in5=>Dyslexia
Are these unlicensed teachers in Utah required to pursue and attain credential — taking college courses at an accredited university — after being placed in the classroom? Or are they just required to participate in the mentoring process — agree to be mentored by a veteran teachers for some amount of time?
Are the veteran teachers doing the mentoring of the unlicensed teachers receiving any kind of compensation for acting in this mentoring role … on top of all their other pre-existing duties and responsibilities as a teacher? If asked to do so, especially if there’s no extra compensation, can a veteran teacher decline to take on this extra work?
Nope. The teachers hired under this new plan will only need to: have a bachelor’s degree in anything, pass a Praxis test, and pass a background check. They will NEVER have to be certified. We already have an Alternative Route to Licensure where teachers take education courses while teaching.
It’s unclear whether the mentor teachers will be paid. A bill was passed this last legislative session to create “teacher leaders,” but no money was budgeted for it. I expect that the mentor teachers will get a tiny stipend (maybe $300), if any at all.
In Utah, as a teacher, you are expected to do an awful lot for free, and the work load is ridiculous as it is. I just got my class schedule. All of my classes, except one, are 36 or higher (I have 36 desks in my room). My AP class has 39.
But the guilt from the Utah public that teachers should sacrifice everything for school, “for the kids,” is enormous. And that’s been the case for decades here. If we ask for any help with class sizes or raises, we are ridiculed, including our previous state superintendent who told us that we reminded him of, “my three year old at Christmas who cried because he didn’t get everything he wanted.” Utah spends 13% less on education than it did in 2008, and our per pupil expenditure just went DOWN, from $6600 per student to $6500 per student for this coming school year.
This will be a nightmare. It’s as though teaching isn’t a profession that requires many skills before going into it. Methods classes, curriculum classes, how to teach reading classes are all essential classes that should be taken before a teacher enters the classroom. This is one of the problems with charter schools. There’s no guarantee the teachers will be as talented or qualified. Private schools don’t even require credentials and many teachers don’t have a knowledge of human development so teach as they were taught or transplant their college course content onto young people.
I agree – nightmare.
It doesn’t occur to the administrators to consider that maybe (probably) the reason people don’t want to become teachers anymore *isn’t* due to the college requirements, but rather what they have to go through *after* they’ve got the job? I mean, what’s changed over the past several years that might affect college students’ choice of teaching as a career? College requirements haven’t changed; the way public school teachers are treated *has*. The UT administrators don’t see that this will flood the field with those whose primary qualification is they couldn’t get any other job, who have no commitment to or stake in the field, & who will leave as soon as they find something more to their liking (perhaps midyear), resulting in a minimally competent staff with high turnover?
Utah doesn’t care. They want to pay even more bargain-basement prices for education than they already do. The sad thing, is that in polls, 80% of Utahns would pay more in taxes for education, as long as it was guaranteed to go into classrooms (including teacher salary). But the state legislature refuses to increase funding.
Reblogged this on Matthews' Blog and commented:
This is serious. Will the step also address the low pay?
Of course not! Utah already spends the least per pupil in the country–$6500 per student. The Utah legislature is VERY anti public school, and wants to destroy it, especially since the Utah public voted down vouchers in 2006.
…and the all important test scores will go down
“Tailor requirements for a license?”
That’s an invitation to nepotism, cronyism and job-buying, exactly the sort of things civil service laws were intended to eliminate in the dinosaur era of the early 20th century, the century so-called reformers ae so intent upon repealing, in order to return us to the glory days of the 19th (with an added hi-tech gloss).
An invitation to persistently lower wages, a churned workforce and corruption: all part of how so-called reform plays out in practice.
There’s already a LOT of nepotism in Utah public schools. This will make it worse. But the state board of education, most of whom support privatization and charters, doesn’t care.
David Thomas, the assistant chair for the board, is my district. He owns three charter schools. He hates public ed.
But, I think that Utahns are starting to get the idea of what is happening. Two members of the current board lost in their primary elections, and Thomas was nowhere near first in his primary.
Utah has been in a downward trajectory for 30 years now. The legislature has never gotten over the (one day) teacher strike in 1990, and they’re especially vindictive against teachers since vouchers were voted down in 2006.
Here’s the deal, everyone who is breathing a sigh of relief that this is not their state: Utah is the canary in the coal mine. We’ve been dealing with these “reforms” for decades now. A lot of what other states have begun seeing in the last decade have been in Utah for 20 or 30 years. Computerized testing? We’ve been doing that for nearly a decade. Common Core testing? We were one of the first four to do it. Denigrating teachers, reducing pay, increasing class sizes? I’ve been in public education in Utah, as a student and teacher, since 1978. Teachers have been denigrated by Utah policy makers since at least that time.
Look at what’s happening to us, and realize that what is happening to us now will hit you eventually. Be prepared and educated, and maybe help out in our neck of the woods. Contact the state board with your concerns. We could really use the help, and then maybe other states won’t get any ideas. http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Contact-Us.aspx
Expect this to expand. Legislatures will tout this as “good for students who have content area experts in the classroom.” But the real reason is the teacher shortage.
I’m not a fan of what Utah is doing but at least they had the courage to say it is because of a shortage without pretending this was somehow awesome for kids. Because Detroit needs no licensure either and our Tea Party Devos-soaked legislature said it was crazy super awesome for kids. (But they didn’t note that Detroit can’t fill classrooms with adults.)
And who’s to blame for said teacher shortage? We all know the answer to that. The extrinsic benefits of being a teacher have been reduced so significantly that it’s no longer a career.
Expect a lot of this: An unemployed engineer teaches physics while still trolling for engineering jobs. In mid-March, they get hired by a company (who will obviously pay them more than a teacher’s salary). Two weeks notice. Teacher out. New teacher for the last few months. Yeah, sounds really stable and awesome for kids.
I am a damsel in distress. Please help me locate unlicensed doctors, dentists, accountants and attorneys. State licensure requirements are overly burdensome and redundant. I also need unlicensed electricians and plumbers. Teachers are the tip of the iceberg.
Abigail, you’ve hit the nail right on the head.
Teachers are not respected as trained professionals. How much longer will it be before the other professionals you mentioned are also treated the same way teachers are?
Zorba,
I have more ideas. Let’s eliminate driver’s licenses. Insurance agents, realtors and brokers also hold unnecessary licenses.
No kidding, Abigail. Why have any standards or required training for anything? Forget about licensing, education, training, anything.
All we need to worry about is what is cheaper, right? 😦
Don’t give Utah any ideas. The legislature will probably take some of those ideas and use them.
TOW,
Jersey is not far behind. They have loosened the motor vehicle inspection regulations. I believe they only check emissions at this juncture. Perhaps they should raise the bar for politicians. We seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Abigail
I remember a conversation I had with a Teach for America Corps Member — a fetching young lass half my age by the way — about how this topic.
“I know you’re TFA and that you guys do things your way, and all that,” I implored her, “but really, I believe that teaching should require the same demanding training, education, and apprenticeship period as other professions, and it should be receive the same commensurate compensation that accompanies that,” I said.
“Well, what professions are you talking about?” she responded skeptically.
“Well you know … doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists … ”
“But those aren’t easy like teaching,” she insisted with a wicked smile, “Those are REAL professions!” (with an emphasis on the word REAL.)
Not exactly a “How to Win Friends and Influence People” moment on her part. 😉
Jack,
I love TFA and the way they look at me disdainfully. It breaks my heat to bid them a fond farewell as they move on to bigger and better careers,
Interesting headline in today’s online Salt Lake City paper, The Deseret News:
“Utah’s Permanent State School Fund posted record earnings in fiscal year 2016”
That money is divided up with every school in the state, and then the community council of each school decides how to spend it. But the pot of money is really low: I think it was $7500 for each middle school last year.
Utah now requires that a portion of school funding be paid into the Rainy Day Fund, which can be used by anyone.
This will become the norm eventually. This is what the deformers want…the death of the career educator. I think we all feel it.
Teacher prep programs should consist of classes in the history of education, a class in the history of public education of the US, at least 3-5 classes of philosophy, including logic, linguistics, analytical thought, etc. . . , a couple of courses in ethics, different kinds of classroom management and pedagogical approaches, one specifically dealing with educational pedagogical philosophy in the US since 1850 or so and probably a few more. Not to mention the subject area course work and related courses. Students should be in the classroom in one fashion or another starting with the first year. Yes, it would be about a 6 year run, make it like a 6 yr dental or medical program.
With a median salary of $50K?
Well, maybe some Utah homeschool moms and OG tutors will apply …. I’d love to see the differences in results for ie- gains in literacy skills and how those results compare … If it’s like what I’ve been seeing from many homeschooled kiddo’s it might not be a disaster…. they might actually learn how to read and write and perform math with some level of proficiency….
Are you from Utah, M? Because the vast majority of homeschooled kids I get are way behind.
Threatened Out West–isn’t Utah the state where “Pay for Success” started (& failed, miserably)?
Also, wasn’t Lily Eskelsen Garcia originally a teacher in Utah?
Gee, perhaps the NEA can come to your defense (since the UEA President doesn’t seem to be having any luck)!!
After all, that’s what happened in Arkansas when the First Lady went after the Arkansas Teachers Assn. (again, read Carl Bernstein’s book, A Woman in Charge).
Yeah, pay for success never really got off the ground here, because it was SUCH a bad idea.
YES, Lily Eskelsen Garcia taught 5th grade in Utah for years, and was the UEA president back in the ’90’s. No help there. She has NEVER addressed the destruction of education in Utah to a national audience. She occasionally does an interview or article here locally about the problems, but nothing nationally is ever said. NEA supported the voucher fight in 2006, but has since abandoned the state.
I love to teach and I love my students. I mourn for what my teaching job used to be. I was allowed to teach and I was respected by everyone. I enjoyed so many awesome years of teaching. I am so very, very thankful for all of those fantastic years.
I despise what the deformers have done to our profession. With the high cost of higher education, I could never lie to anyone who asked for the truth. I know that I am an extremely positive person, and I look at what the excessive paperwork/workload, VAM, disrespect, and etc. have done to me. I am exhausted. I know we need awesome young people in our profession, but I could never lead a lamb to slaughter.
I do not judge anyone on how they deal with the abuse of this career. Everyone deals with stress in different ways. If a teacher can go through the demands of this job and still recommend it to others, I think that is wonderful. I could never do that and have a clear conscience. I know with the high costs of higher education, many people only have one chance to get it right. I know that my state is still looking into a way to dismiss a teacher with three years of low VAM scores. Who in the world could deal with that daily stress? You cannot make some students learn….no matter how hard you try.
Hey, I’ve been to a dentist for a root canal. Shall I presume that I can perform one? Do I have a volunteer who needs one?
C’mon, Patricia, you can easily tie one end of a string around your tooth & the other around a doorknob. The close the door, the tooth is out & no need for a root canal!
Just like having a non-teacher teach you!
Imagine for a moment the instant promotion of butchers to surgeons … or deck builders to bridge engineers. Imagine Cub Scout troop leaders as military generals … or menu makers as the next classic authors.
That’s pretty much what they’re doing in Utah … pickin’ newbie teachers out of a hat … like rabbits.
Not magic actually … more like voodoo.
And there’s this straight-faced education dolt from the state insisting that everything is gonna be just fine. That these warm bodies they collared on the street are going to hold some magic piece of chalk and morph into the next Mr. Chips … in a voodoo minute.
There’s something so odd about teaching … and it’s seldom mentioned. Everyone thinks they can teach. And in this case, someone thinks everyone else can teach … because they can breathe.
Just because someone taught their child to knot his sneakers in record time doesn’t make him the next Mr. Chips. Everyone is so seduced by Hollywood and tv-land that they actually think ordinarily talented folks could sail right into a classroom and every kid would sing the theme song “To Sir, with Love”. And the world would cry because of their greatness.
Nonsense. And they know it.
They’re trying to get top-shelf education on the cheap. Real cheap. Is cheap good for your kids? Is it?
Teaching is lots of stuff few imagine … and lots of hours even fewer acknowledge. It’s not a job you get very good at very quickly either … even with the best preparation. It’s not all knowledge either … it’s technique and personality and polishing a persona and perfecting a delivery … as well as knowing your subject inside out … and keeping current in the ever changing field.
It’s about intuition. And listening to that intuition. It’s about love … all sorts of love.
There’s easy love …for those kids that just joy you day-in-and-day-out. They’re great students, great kids … with great personalities and great everything.
Then there’s that hard love … for the kid with the green snot and the girl with the matted hair … and unpleasant aroma. Or for the boy who’s an accomplished bully at age 13 … and thinks this is his lot in life. Then there’s the broken child … who seems already to have quit life. And the loud, annoying sort … who’s probably masking a world of hurt. What about the invisibles? … the kids who practice invisibility because their daily ambition is to go unrecognized and un-included … for whatever dark reason. Prying them out of their darkness can take months … if it ever really happens.
There’s lots more to describe, but it’s unnecessary. What is necessary is to imagine engaging all of these kids in the right way day after day … and then seeing to it that they make educational progress as well. Making sure they’re prepared for the next level … the next challenges. Oh … and you lug all of this stuff around in your head and your heart … all the time.
And then, just to make this all even more interesting, weave in the mundane that actually captures most of your time … never-ending grading that snatches away your Sundays, faculty and department meetings, parent confabs, planning, gathering things you need and resources you want. Colleague exchanges and innovative thinking. Blend in some school politics and the usual work-place agita … and maybe some deep intrigue at times. Oh, and don’t forget your family … those folks you bump into when you’re half dressed. They want a piece of you, too.
But let’s forget all that. In fact, let’s ignore all that … and let’s go super cheap and super-stooopid.
Utah shouldn’t whirl around in surprise a few months from now … as these over-whelmed Socrates start vanishing in mid-year … and the test results are extra-awful … so bad, in fact, that some might think the kids tutored each other.
State education big shots should start practicing their surprised face … the phony mug-moment when they turn up their palms and shoulders and giggle that this memorable failure was such a shocker.
No, it’s not.
What’s shocking is how dumb these folks are. And how cheap they are. And how little they care for kids.
Good luck. They are gonna need it. Lots of it.
Denis Ian
To Threatened Out West @ 12:48 PM–Thanks for the answers!
I bet you (& everyone else reading this post/comments) guessed that I was being sarcastic.As a retired teacher I, for one, am DONE w/the NEA (as well as our state–IEA), not just because of the extremely early endorsement of HRC (w/o ANY input from the rank-&-file), but due, also, to the “pride” of the leadership over ESSA, the “meh” attitude/no-help-whatsoever in fighting “standardized” testing & NO support, even, for the opt-out movement.
(I would, however, like to congratulate the Mass. Teachers Assn, New Jersey Teachers Assn. & the two other NEA state affiliates {New Hampshire & Rhode Island?–unsure} whose leaders publicly opposed the early Dem endorsement–w/their members. Bravo!
Here’s the letter sent out today by our Utah state superintendent…..I find it interesting that she would like to hear from teachers as long as they are sharing success stories. No mention of how teacher voices are going to be at the table in long term collaboration efforts or involved with the task force.
6 organizations requested a hearing to speak directly to the short-sightedness of the proposal (which had already been passed). Sadly, the hearing demonstrated that the board had a narrow perspective of the problem. Let’s put the horse before the cart here folks. Task force then proposal. It was very frustrating to be at the hearing and have board members request data from the people testifying. Why were they not requesting this information prior to developing a solution?
Dear Education Colleagues,
As the school year begins for most of you, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for your dedication to ensuring Utah students are prepared for their future. The work of teaching and leading in schools is both daunting and joyful. I can think of no other profession that is as impactful as that of teaching and am proud to be counted among you. The Utah State Board of Education and their staff want to personally thank you for choosing this profession.
Much attention has been given to the recent Board passage of the Academic Pathway to Teaching (APT) license. The intention of this license is to respond to education leaders in the field who want another tool to be able to fill hard to staff positions, as well to create a way for potential effective teachers to enter the profession having come from other professions. This is not meant to be a slight to those of you who have come through a traditional route. The hiring and support of APT candidates is left to local discretion. We expect the hiring district or charter to support APT candidates by working with teacher preparation programs, professional development providers, and local experts to provide professional learning opportunities targeted at the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to be effective in the classroom. Effective mentoring is critical for all new teachers and we have to find better ways to support mentors with time and resources.
The Utah State Board of Education will be establishing a task force to study educator licensing and determine policies to improve licensure practices for all educators. In addition, we are engaged in the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation (NTEP) project. This is a three-year project, working with education preparation programs, to impact recruitment, preparation, and retention practices. Focus groups with educators have been held around the state to get input and ongoing stakeholder engagement will inform these Board projects.
Educator voices are very important to me. One of my personal goals is to promote your positive stories about public education. I specifically want to ensure your classroom success stories are being heard while getting clear about the conditions that make your job more challenging than it needs to be. To aid in this process I will have an interactive corner on the State Board website at http://www.schools.utah.gov. There you will find social media accounts and an email address where you can reach me directly. I wish you the best for a successful year.
With appreciation,
Sydnee Dickson, Ed.D.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Utah State Board of Education
250 E. 500 S.
P.O. Box 144200
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4200
801-538-7510 (LesLee Snelson)
I talked to Heidi Mathews today. She is the new UEA president. She stated that at the hearing, there were only 22 people who spoke in favor of the new directive and around 2000 (?) who commented against the proposal. The board voted unanimously for the proposal. It just goes to show how little respect USOE has for the teachers, parents and children of Utah. According to news reports, there is no real crisis or teacher shortage. The news reported between 9 and 11 openings for each of the following districts: Jordan, Salt Lake, Granite and Davis. There are more shortages in the rural areas but that has been an ongoing problem for decades. I believe this is a further effort to erode the teaching profession perpetrated by those who are supposed support education in the state. In addition, the political rhetoric and newly instigated standards, curriculum, and teacher accountability system have warned many young people away from education. Hiring non educators as teachers not only lowers the standards for teachers but begs the question- why did we increase teacher accountability measures, and teacher licensing requirements if we were going to resort to this? It seems counter productive!
Our governor did increase funding for education with in the state. But it has mostly covered the cost of student growth in the state. Parents and teachers agree that our class censuses are too high. Most agree that teachers make too little money. I have two children that work as assistant managers at Wal-mart. Neither has any education beyond high school. Both earn more than I do with ten years of experience and a master’s degree.
If teachers wish to have a greater voice in education, they need to increase their PAC spending. This money is separate from union dues and by law is the only funding the association has for political lobbying. This money goes directly to candidates that are pro-teacher/education and association political activities. 10 years ago, the state forced the association to collect PAC funds differently than association dues. Since this time PAC funds are extremely low. When educators do not support their association, legislators and USOE board members begin to ignore the teacher’s concerns. We as a group begin to lose our ability to negotiate. The push back of the legislation and USOE is in direct relation to the weakening of our association.
HERE IS The LINK TO THIS POST AT OPED,
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Starting-Monday-Utah-scho-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Education_Education-Higher_Educational-Crisis_Educational-Facilities-160817-549.html#comment613602
WHERE I URGE YOU TO READ MY TWO COMMENTS which have embedded links which will not appear in this paste below.
COMMENT ONE : Submitted on Wednesday, Aug 17, 2016 at 9:13:18 PM
It makes sense to lower professional requirements for a crucial job, if failure is your objective, not learning
The EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (EIC) https://greatschoolwars.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/eic-oct_11.pdf
has the plan and the ploys, of which this one! Lowering standards for the job, is a classic ploy to endure failure. and this is now possible since over two decades they have already most of the tenured professionals the real teachers we all remember. By the tens of thousands their lives and careers were upended, and no one cared, because few people knew the plan or that first ploy.
So… The plan is for the school (think ‘hospital) to fail. Defunding the schools first was a ploy that necessitated cutting he budgets for personnel. The second ploy was to remove the experienced professional.
THE ploy to silence the practitioners of the profession, and remove the experienced professionals worked like a charm.
Now, the next step in the ploy to end the teaching profession was to replace genuine professionals with ‘trained’ employees who can be fired at will, with no need for authentic evidence to support dismissal. Sort of like putting the ambulance medic, a smart and good civl employee, into the operating room and expecting successful outcomes, and then throwing them to the dogs when the patient dies..
Naturally, it was essential that the public never hear of the plan or the outrage that accompanied the civil rights abuse of such a huge portion of the population. No problem as the media was totally owned by the EIC
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
Of course” WH WOULD WANT TO TEACH. Certainly no one desires an expensive college degree that leads to a dead end.
Thus, we see the the privateers clever ploy in UTAH where they sell the idea (in the media) that they are intent on ‘reforming’ public education. They are! They redid it, forming a private education marketplace for hedge funds and charlatans.
COMMENT 2: Submitted on Wednesday, Aug 17, 2016 at 9:25:15 PM
The “rules” for the schools, as this post shows, now rely on the political appointments by The legislatures which are wholly owned by the EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX who also own the media.
Thus, it should come as no surprise– when their anti-learning Board of Education businesspeople, support the charter schools. They need public schools to fail!
SURE! They go for the teachers, first, but the public does not see it… NO stories, although the truth is out there on the net.
Thus, the State Board of Ed — with NARY AN EDUCATOR in sight — legislates “diminished requirements” for a crucial professional position…building in failure, not merely for the students, our kids, but for the teachers… whose LIVES DO NOT MATTER*, either these days.
* this is a subject I will pursue when I open my blog Speaking As A Teacher dotcom, this year. That link I wore in 2004.
Moreover — this is a built-in failure mechanism, for those people who enter the schools with the task of enabling learning in children.
Waiting in the wings, are the standardized tests, THE VAM and PARCC which will ensure that these ‘incompetent teachers’ can be dismissed and replaced in a few years.. How clever… ploy that keeps the budget down as novice teachers come and go.
Meeting the objectives for learning skills, with so many differentemergent minds in the room, REQUIRES an educated (and maybe even a talented & dedicated) professional—who has actually, met kids before, and has had some PRACTICE in appying the knowledge of their craft — their discipline- to the little human that depends on the teacher’s skill!
I mean, for crying out loud, these novices have to facilitate the actual LEARNING OF complex skills! Reading, writing and thinking are skills! How does a good teacher make this happen? (i.e facilitate learning through practice!))
Easy stuff ? Will a BA help a novice TFA to motivate and ‘teach’ a classroom filled to the overflow with 2016’s version of school kids?
Few with a BA who also pass a multiple choice test can do it. A few talented individuals will stay a while, but will be harassed out for actually implementing an authentic curricula of activities and materials.
The Common Core is inviolate. Insubordination will not be tolerated.
.. but what do I know after 4 decades of successful teaching.
http://www.opednews.com/author/comments/author40790.html
Answer; WLLL…what learning really looks like… according to the Pew/Harvard research on standards…for which I was the NYC cohort.,
I promise I will explain WLLL, on my blog Speak As A teacher dotNET which will speak about learning… when I get that blog up, hopefully this year.
It’s going to br broader than just UTAH. Although UTAH mah have taken the lead with the new ESSA replacement for No Child Left Behind.
Great job on the PAC’s that stood behind this new program!
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/faq/essa-faqs.pdf:
TITLE II, PART A REQUIREMENTS
D-1. Must a State ensure that special education teachers are “highly qualified,” as defined in section 9101 of the ESEA, as amended by NCLB, in the 2016-2017 school year?
No. The ESSA amended the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by removing the definition of “highly qualified” in section 602(10) and the requirement in section 612(a)(14)(C) that special education teachers be “highly qualified” by the deadline established in section 1119(a)(2) of the ESEA, as amended by NCLB. Accordingly, a State is not required to ensure that special education teachers are “highly qualified” as defined in the ESEA beginning with the 2016-2017 school year but must ensure that they meet the requirements described in D-1a.
D-1a. If the definition of“highly qualified”is no longer applicable to special education teachers, what are the federal requirements related to the professional qualifications of those teachers?
The ESSA amended section 612(a)(14)(C) of the IDEA by incorporating the requirement previously in section 602(10)(B) that a person employed as a special education teacher in elementary school, middle school, or secondary school must: 1) have obtained full certification as a special education teacher (including certification obtained through alternative routes to certification), or passed the State special education teacher licensing examination and hold a license to teach in the State as a special education teacher; 2) not have had special education certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis; and 3) hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Each State must continue to comply with these certification requirements during the 2016-2017 school year.
#SayDyslexia #1in5=>Dyslexia
YEAH… LOW PAYIS TH EPLY TO KEEP THE PROFESSION filled with novices.
Here is piece on Low pay from the Washington post, that Ranid Weingarten shared on Facebook
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/16/think-teachers-arent-paid-enough-its-worse-than-you-think/?postshare=4271471470211728&tid=ss_fb