By Antonio D. French
Filed Monday, June 19 at 10:23 PM
The following is by Peter Downs, member of the St. Louis Board of Education:
What's the problem with teachers?
Over the last few months, the dominant media in town have focused on conflicts between the superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools and teachers in the district. The superintendent lashes out at the teachers and the teachers' union responds with a vote of no confidence. It makes for interesting reading, but I think it misses the crucial issues. Instead of asking what is wrong with teachers, we should be asking a completely different question.
What is wrong with St. Louis Public Schools such that we cannot hire enough qualified teachers?
Since 2003, the school district has cut teaching positions almost twice as fast as enrollment dropped, yet we still have hundreds of classrooms staffed by uncertificated teachers.
Since 2003, the school district has cut over 1/5 of its teachers, but still failed to meet the No Child Left Behind requirement for a certified teacher in every classroom.
In August '03, William Roberti, then acting as superintendent, reported that the district had 3,496 teaching positions the previous year, which is when enrollment was about 40,000. Of those positions, he reported that about 570 were filled by substitutes and other teachers without certificates. He proposed to eliminate all of those positions, but was unable to do so for the simple reason that the state puts a limit on how many children can be under one teacher.
In June '04, he said the district had 3,165 teachers, and 200 of those accepted a deal to retire early so that the school district could reduce the number of teachers again.
Fast forward to June '06. Williams' budget papers state that the district had 2,765 teaching positions during the 2005-2006 year, which is 731 or 21% fewer than three years before, and enrollment had decllined to 35,000. So, in the period when enrollment declined by 12%, the number of teaching positions fell by 21%.
Of those 2,765 teaching positions, Williams told the school board that about 300 were filled by substitutes and teachers without certificates.
In May, Williams reported that he received word from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that it was prepared to penalize the school district for failing to meet the NCLB requirement that all children be taught by "highly qualified" teachers. He said the school district could lose up to $5 million unless it presented the state with a plan for staffing every classroom with a certificated teacher.
Williams' answer is to cut over 300 teaching positions, the uncertificated teachers, and budget for just 2,459 teaching positions in 2006-2007. That's a 30% cut in teaching positions in four years.
The school district has tried to cut its way to qualified teachers before and it did not work. I do not think it will work now, either. Williams strategy assumes that certified teachers will not leave, which we already know is happening anyway, or that the district will suddenly be able to hire replacements. Historically, however, as fast as the district has cut teaching positions, qualified teachers have left even faster.
Those who rant about teachers or the teachers union miss the point: it is a free market for teachers. They can go wherever they want. In the competition to employ teachers who meet the requirements of the law, SLPS is losing.
The real issue is not 'who is going to win, Williams or the union?' The real issue is what can we do to retain experience certified teachers in the district, and how can we convince more certificated teachers to come here?
16 Comments:
Finally, someone is looking at the underlying issue! We create subpar teachers by not valuing good teachers in the Unites States. If we made the starting salary for teachers high in the first place, then, as a profession, we would attract bright young people who realize that they can't get ahead on a current teacher paycheck, not just those who go in believing that the rewards are intrisic so a house payment will have to come from a second job after student loans are all paid.
Why are we willing to support adult men in luxury for playing a child's game like baseball, but a teacher should barely scrape by in this coutry - AFTER investing a lot of money in a college degree and certification. Even farm teams pay better than teaching. I believe that shows where American priorities lie.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 7:21:00 AM
I appreciate the argument that teachers are underpaid, and completely agree. It's not the only issue, though. I work in the nonprofit sector and plenty of people who could make more money elsewhere stay here because they believe in the cause. Perhaps it is because they feel respected and valued. Part of that is seeing that those "higher up" acknowledge good work and get rid of those who don't do it, no matter how many years they have had the job. And I don't think the danger factor can be ignored. My mother-in-law left her teaching position with SLPS after a 4th grader attacked her--of course, that was considered to be her fault and the child was not disciplined.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:29:00 AM
Why do we want certified teachers? Because that certification is supposed to represent the vetting they went through and should therefor show a level of quality. I don't know whether or not that is true in every case, as I don't know how difficult it is to become certified. While I agree we need certified teachers in our district, we also need good, qualified teachers, which certification, as I discussed above, may or may not represent. So, I ask, are any of the non-certified teachers good at teaching and qualified to teach their assigned subject areas? If so, can we assist them in becoming certified?
Offered as a corollary, and because 'everything I ever needed to know I learned from TV,' once on the Simpsons there was a teachers' strike. The parents and the community, after enduring too many hijinx by the kids not in school, pitched in to teach the classes. I wonder if a citizens' brigade of part-time teachers would be helpful or welcomed by the district. Why not have retired folks helping kids with reading and spelling, like my elementary classes did? Why not have computer specialists helping teach computer classes? Why not have accountants helping teach math? The community could augement the existing teaching force, and I'm sure many would donate the time for a thank you and some recognition. Food for thought....
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:55:00 AM
Travis, that's just unfeasable: No Child Left Behind is why, State mandates is why.
Not that I'm not all for some hippie utopia where we all pitch in to raise the kids and stop quarreling amongst ourselves cuz, for godsakes won't someone think of the children.
But,
We SHOULD have certified teachers. We SHOULD be able to meet alot of the previsions set forth in these education mandates. What the good Mr. Downs is saying is that the Super shoulden't be considering which teachers to axe next, he should be considering what the hell is so wrong that we can't retain the good teachers (the ones in the union) that we DO have.
Anon is right, alot of the teachers are there NOW because they actually give a damn about the kids they're teaching. But it's hard to pull your butt into school each day when the administration doesn't have your back, and you gotta fight the daily battle on both fronts.
I'm still givin the new Super some time before I'm convinced he'll botch this. I dunno why but, might as well.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 3:28:00 PM
There are a lot of good comments here but this district is still missing the oppturnity to correct some major issues. First let us get off the teachers back for a while and focus in on the students. Where else in the St. Louis area is a student allowed back into school after a ten-day suspension for starting a fight? How about after being caught with drugs? Or trying to bring in a gun, pipe, scissors, or something else that isn’t allowed into school? Then my all time favorite is a student threatening a teacher but allowed back because he/she is a special needs student at that should be expected. All of these incidents happened with students in my classroom. Until Mr. Downs and the rest of the School Board adopt a discipline policy and enforce it these problems will continue to arise.
Next is student accountability. Let us remember that education is fifty percent teaching and fifty percent student learning. All to often when students are assigned an assignment only about ten percent of the assignments are turned in on time. The best way for students to learn is actually doing the work that is assigned to them (this is called practice or reinforcement).
Along with the students doing their part the parents need to make sure the students the students are doing their homework or other assignments. Not to mention instill some socially acceptable behaviors in cooperation with the teacher for the classroom. For example how many teachers have been interrupted by a cell phone call during class? Then the teacher is told to be quiet because a student is on the phone. Parents will always be the best teachers a child will have. In order for the teachers to do their jobs they need the support of the parents.
This leads into parental involvement. In the high school I teach in that has an enrollment of about 800 students less than fifty parents show up for parent teacher night. Along with that I teach about a 125 students and on parent conference day I will see maybe ten to fifteen parents. Now granted the district teacher parent conference days are not very parent friendly. Many of the families who are able have moved to neighboring districts. Some have called this white flight but I call it intelligent flight. Take a look at the number of all the races who may have started in this district but are now in Hazelwood, Ferguson-Florissant, Lindbergh, Mehlville, and so on. During the past school year I had several good students ask me about the tech schools, and the previously mentioned school districts.
Now let us take a look at some of the reasons why this district is not able to attract good quality teachers. The first is the news media. During September (I believe but I do know it was early in the school year) of last year on the news was a gang fight at Vashon. This particular story was the lead on every major news network for three nights in a row. That makes for some good teacher recruitment. I can understand why a student teacher or even a veteran teacher who needs a job would somewhere else of change professions.
Then there are the articles in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporting about how teachers spend most of their time handling discipline problems instead of teaching. Quite often these articles are accompanied with picture(s). Teachers, good or not so good, want to teach not handle problems or teach socially acceptable behaviors that should have been taught at home. The public is led to believe that the classrooms are battlegrounds instead of environments for learning. So, if I were a new or veteran teacher why would I want to teach in this district?
The district also needs to support the teachers as well. New teachers are going to make mistakes. Just like any other job the first year is always the roughest. Teacher certification classes do not prepare you for everything, especially handling discipline problems. But when something happens like a student leaving class without permission administrators will chastise the teacher for allowing this. Instead the administrator should provide methods of preventing this behavior in the future. Not to mention an administrator disciplining a teacher in front of students. Any classroom management that teacher may have had is now gone. Also the Central office needs to investigate a situation instead of being afraid of a lawsuit. After all isn’t that why we have a district lawyer?
Another reason is poor planning for upcoming school years. This district is notorious for changing their minds mid-year. Don’t get me wrong we need to make changes but evaluate the change before implementing it for the next school year. We as a district need to the stop with quick fixes and the spaghetti philosophy of education (trying several programs to see which one will work). We have the students go through a programming exercise only for it to change after the first quarter. Putting students in an extra math, english, or science class thinking that they will learn more. Students, as well as adults, lose their attention after twenty minutes. The student has lost ten weeks of learning the process of a subject and is expected to know what their classmates have already done. Good teachers evaluate their lessons to see what needs to be changed to enhance student learning. Administration needs to do the same. Planning for the 2007-2008 school year should start now not in January of 2008.
There are a lot of good things happening in this district besides sports or groups redoing sports fields. Unfortunately the general public does not see this. For this teacher, I have built up a reputation among the students that they know I mean business. If you wish to pass my class you have to do the work. But I also make the time to see each student to see if they need (extra) help. Plus if I say something they know I am going to follow through with it. However this district has a tendency to back down when a parent threatens a lawsuit. If this district wishes to retain good teachers it needs to step up and address these and other issues. Otherwise this teacher and others will leave the district even if it means going back a couple of steps on the pay scale.
Everyone in this district is responsible for education. When a student fails it is a reflection upon the student, parents, teachers, administrators and Board members. So, Mr. Downs the challenge is this “What will implement to recruit and retain students, good teachers and administrators?” Will you go back and evaluate your program after a school year to make changes for it to work better? Are you willing to make a long-term commitment to let the program build up a reputation or discard it after a year because it did not provide the results you wanted?
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:55:00 PM
Ben Smith:
I'm not sure which point I made--certifying the non-certified teachers or the community assisting with teaching--that you disagree with. I look at it this way. We currently have a great number of teachers that are not certified. So, why not just assist them in becoming certified, and in the meanwhile let the community resources assist all the teachers in educating our future?
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:07:00 PM
Come on downs, you know the deal, Sub teaching in the city is a hussle for folks who cant get a good job, I took the job once and half the building was subbing. I even met some people who made a career out of subbing. Its a hussle.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:51:00 PM
What must be done for the sake of the kids is to have the school board, the Superintendent and the Mayor should sit down and devise a strategy to retain and recruit teachers. That could include some incentives for long time good teachers as well as bringing in new teachers.
With all the backstabbing and sniping, all the public hate everyone seems to have for each other, why would a teacher stay in here
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 3:29:00 AM
To Travis, programs are in place to help teachers to get certified. For example if you have a Bachelor’s degree several Universities in the area have Teacher Education/Certification programs. After the certification classes the teacher can spend another year and receive their Master Degree in Education. But this takes approximately two years to complete (three years if they continue to work on their Master’s). There are also financial assistance grants and loans depending upon subjects (not all subjects are in critical need). The City of St. Louis also had an interest free loan program for teachers who buy a house in the city. You would know if this program would still be in place. Programs are out there but it takes time to go through all the classes required buy the state.
Anon 1 & 2 makes the point of teachers being underpaid. I know people in the non-profit sector who make twice as much as me with just a Bachelor’s degree. In fact my wife makes $10,000 per year more than I do, again with just a Bachelor’s degree (after changing jobs into a major utility after getting her Bachelor’s degree). My commercial friends who have Master’s are well into six figures ($150,000 and higher) and a couple have even offered me a job. I turned them down for two reasons. The first is I value their friendship and I am afraid that working for them would destroy that friendship. Second, you can believe this or not, I really enjoy teaching. Once you get through all of the bs these students are really not all that bad. However until this country views education differently teachers will continue to be underpaid. I wish we were paid like the teachers in Japan, Germany, France, and Spain who get the equivalent of our and their executive salaries. But these teachers are also well respected by members in their communities (actually to the status of celebrities). At the same time if they are not performing they will soon be looking for another job. So Travis are you willing to leave your job for a $35,000 a year job, go back to school to get certified as a teacher, then spend countless hours preparing lessons, grading assignments, and then hoping a student does well enough for you to keep your job? If not then you have just answered your question and to why it is hard to get certified teachers. This is the only profession that you have to depend on someone else to see if you are doing a good job or not.
Now for Brian Harris. Are you saying that substitute teaching is only for those who cannot get a job anywhere else? You make this sound that we should allow illegals in because this is a job that Americans will not or don’t do. Your view of substitute teaching is in lines with the corporate joke about teaching “if you can’t do, teach, if you can’t teach, teach p.e., if you can’t teach p.e., become an administrator.” If you are subbing are you doing the lessons that the regular teacher left for you (if they did leave something) or are you just a warm body in the classroom sitting at the desk reading a book letting the students do pretty much whatever they want? Plus what is your definition of a good job. I have met a vast amount of people in just about every job category. Be careful because what you may think is a good job could be a joke to someone else. There are jobs out there for everyone who chooses to work. As I tell my students find what you like to do and someone out there will pay you for your services.
To Anon 3 all I have to say is, are you really sure you want the Mayor involved? Look at what happened with this district with his “School Board” in place. There are reasons why school districts should be separated from City governments. Teachers and Administrators are degreed professionals. There are going to be some lively discussions about how to educated children. The main problem in this district is that both sides of table do not feel they have to change the way they have doing their jobs. This separates us from all of the other districts because if you are not preparing students for the MAP test on the first day school you are out. In other districts both administrators and teachers sit down and they set long-term goals and stick with them. What does this district do, fight amongst themselves through the news media. Until both sides can sit down and discuss education we will continue this (seemly forever) downward spiral.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 9:09:00 AM
I'd say anon 3's comment puts the reigning perspective nicely in a nutshell. Have the school board, superintendent, and mayor figure out the answer? How about putting some teachers at the table? Once again, teachers are not included, and who better to tell us how to retain good teachers than good teachers themselves? I'm not a teacher, by the way.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 9:15:00 AM
ANONY.... what sub do you know that teaches what the teacher left??? "The New Guy" LOL, only for a while then that new guy wont be teaching anything.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 12:19:00 PM
Anon:
Great information. Thank you. What I don't understand is why those non-certified teachers already working for the district don't use the resources you outlined to become certified.
As a matter of fact, I have considered offering to the newest Confluence Academy, which is across from my house, to teach computer classes part-time, if they would have me. I previously thought that people had to be certified to teach. So, with this new information, I just might do it.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 2:38:00 PM
I am Anon #3 and your comments were right. I did forget the teachers union and that was omited by mistake. After all, it was 4:27 AM!
Teachers, both those that have been around for a while as well as new ones, need to feel that both the district AND THE CITY cares about them. Mayor Slay does have some resources that could be used as incentives to help. He must be included.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 7:20:00 PM
one of the anonymous people is very disrespectful, leaving a book of information like this is your blog or something, could you please figure out how to condense your information so I dont have to scroll two miles to see the next comment?
Thursday, June 22, 2006 12:40:00 AM
Teachers don't want to stay in this district because it is a mess. They appear to take the brunt of everything and anything that is wrong with this district. It appears to me that some major relationship building needs to take place between administration, teachers, parents and students.
By building relationships between people, it is conducive to people taking responsibility and ownership of their portion of a situation.
Parents-get involved and stay involved. With your children, your schools and your teachers. Build a relationship with them. Take responsibility for your childrens behavior or better yet, make your children responsible for their own behavior.
Substitutes-come to school prepared to teach something, even if you were not left a lesson plan. It is your responsibility to continue the relationship the teacher has with their students.
Administration-help to create parent involvement. Support your teaching staff. Celebrate their achievements. Let them know what training is avail to improve their skills. Test and evaluate changes before implementing them. Go back to the "zero tolerance" policy for discipline. Teachers should not have to bear the sole responsibility for disciplining students or the lack thereof. Administration and parents should also be responsible for discipline. If a parent does not want to be responsible for their childs behavior, then let them take their children elsewhere for education. Your teachers are not babysitters.
Students-go to school, do your homework, and learn to take responsibility for your own actions. If everyone cares, listens, works together and makes a small amount of an effort in the same direction instead of in opposite directions while pointing the finger at someone else, this district may have a chance to keep the great teachers we have, recruit new teachers and flourish for the sake of our children.
Friday, June 23, 2006 3:41:00 PM
saint louis public schools will forever Flop! its too much federal dollars and state money in the system, if you notice any school system in the nation at any point in time that was getting 100% fed money has always failed! And thats part of the reason the rich send their kids to private schools, Not all public schools take 100% fed money, clayton high gets alot of its money from local business and so do alot of other west county high schools. but the feds and state have conditions you have to meet if you take the money and thoses conditions are making the systems fail on a national scale.
Saturday, June 24, 2006 12:17:00 AM
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