All in All, We've Got Fewer Teachers in the Halls

Teachers are leaving, and their replacements are harder and harder to find. Wonder why?

     Let’s begin with the premise that teaching is hard work, and that good teaching is even harder.  Some teachers work hard, but fail through a deadly combination of inexperience, poor planning, poor educational preparation, ineffective staff development programs, the lack of a good mentoring program, poor administrative support or a deadly combination of all of the above.  If you really need proof that teaching is hard, simply ask any parent at the end of an extended school vacation if they are ready for school to resume. Parental valuation of the work done by teachers rises exponentially as the number of student vacation days increase. 

     I believe that the vast majority of teachers love teaching, but just as 50% of all doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class, some people are not destined to be great at what they choose to do. My first suggestion for those that want to teach is Don’t Do It If You Don’t Like Kids. Seems so simple, but you might be surprised at the number of those that think they want to teach because they get summers off.  Ha! That’s like the kid that told me he wanted to quit high school and join the Marines because he was tired of people telling him what to do. Great teachers will tell anyone who will listen that teaching is a calling. If you are not called, don’t answer.

     Just what is it teachers do, you might ask?  Here is a partial list of teacher responsibilities that aren’t listed in any contract:

 drug education alcohol abuse education character education special education  504 plans gender equity environmental ed women’s studies cultural ed school breakfast school lunch mentoring  daily attendance anti-bullying ed make up tests make- up work computer education internet safety ESL (ELL, ESOL) teen pregnancy   Alternative ed stranger/danger             anti-smoking ed mandated reporting CPR training defibrillator training anaphylactic shock training inclusion Online learning Tech Prep School to Work Gifted and Talented at- risk programs keyboarding dropout prevention gang education homeless ed service learning citizenship education bus safety credit recovery dress code cell phone monitoring body mass index monitoring financial literacy diabetes monitoring RTI (response to intervention) hearing/vision screening online education IEP meetings parent meetings faculty meetings department meetings counseling meetings system meetings system trainings testing training SAT prep ACT prep dual enrollment post-secondary options AP classes honors classes STEM STEAM adult ed career ed after-school programs interns psychological services evaluations grading lesson plans Classroom discipline extracurricular programs giving up planning periods to cover classes for absent teachers so systems don’t have to hire subs

 and oh yes, classes…

      I think you get the point. We have loaded onto every teachers’ plate many jobs that used to be called “parenting.”  Somewhere along the way we forgot that relationships and personalized learning are the foundation of an effective education for every child, and if we overload teachers with extraneous stuff that misguided politician or administrator thinks is “a great idea” they won’t have the time or inclination to do what we actually hired them to do - teach students in specific subjects and/or levels in a developmentally appropriate way.

     I believe most teachers deal with the issues listed above as part of the job and find ways to fit all these things and more into their teaching schedule. In an unscientific and informal survey, I asked almost 100 teachers over the past several months what they thought were the issues that made teaching unenjoyable and/or unbearable.  These are the “joy killers” they named:

1. a lack of administrative support for student discipline, 

2. reductions in valuable teaching time and frequent classroom interruptions,  

3. Lack of parental support and confrontational parents, 

4. ever increasing class sizes, 

5. Scripted teaching requirements,

6. Professional development taught by “experts” with little or no teaching experience,

7. increased paperwork requirements, 

8. increased expectations to do more and more with less and less,

9. Administrative rules and expectations on student make up work,

10. No money for classroom supplies AND

11. No-fail policies. 

     Don’t think it’s a case of one thing or another when a teacher decides enough is too much; it’s almost always a cumulative effect over time that eventually brings them to the breaking point. As one teacher pointed out “if I hear one more expert tell me about ‘unpacking’ one more time I cannot be held responsible for my actions.”

     Here’s another important point about education that must be addressed and addressed soon; the increase of district level administrators over the past decade in order to deal with unfunded mandates, rules, regulations and requirements not only from Congress and state legislators but from bureaucrats in the USDOE that has led us to the results in the chart below:

     These are the roots of resentment that over successive years cause many of them to throw up their hands and shout “I give up.” You can probably figure out that for every additional district administrator hired, that’s another $100K (or more) in salary that won’t go for teaching positions to reduce class sizes. I will bet your next month’s salary that not ONE of the district administrators teach even one class and many of them have NO teaching experience at all.  Far too many teachers far too often feel micromanaged and under supported.  No wonder.

     The replacements for the teachers that leave, by the way, are not breaking down the doors of preparatory classes to sign up for the job openings available.

     So what can you do to help staunch the rapid flow of teachers out of the profession AND encourage students to enter what was once a respected vocation?  Here are their suggestions:

1. Believe in and support teachers. Poverty is the culprit behind achievement gaps. Period. Teachers don’t cause poverty but, if supported, can effectively end it for many students.

2. Professional learning and development must be experienced teachers working IN SMALL GROUPS with new and beginning teachers. Pay good teachers to share their knowledge, experience and ideas in ways that allow them to stay in the classroom. One good teacher working with 3 or 4 novice teachers is a powerful tool.  Large groups listening to an “expert” they don’t know is not. Ever. PS - PD presenters - teachers resent playing “get to know you” games more than you can ever begin to understand. You are wasting time they could be spending in the classroom. Stop it now.

3. Pay good teachers more to work in rural and/or high poverty schools.  These schools are not difficult to find. 

4. Eliminate standardized testing for anything other than diagnostic purposes.

5. Magic bullets don’t work. The answer to improving education is found in the power of teachers to reach students on a personal level. Invest in people and not in programs. 

6. Technology is a tool for teachers and not an educational answer unto itself.

7. Modernize the school calendar.  Six hours of instruction over 240 days makes more sense from an educational standpoint than the current calendar held over from an agrarian society that no longer exists.

8. Hire administrators with the courage to support teachers. How can you tell an effective administrator? See where teachers are staying. They will know poor admin before the central office does. If teachers are leaving in droves, it’s not the kids, it’s not the parents, it’s ineffective administrators.

9. Help prevent legislative meddling in teaching and learning.  Politicians with unfunded mandates and legislative attempts to provide standardized solutions and legislate excellence have done far more to hurt education than to help. Expecting every child to succeed at the same level to the same degree at the same time displays enormous ignorance of fundamental differences in humans and our society. 

10. Find ways to encourage students to enter the teaching profession. Several colleges are now offering paid tuition for students agreeing to teach for several years after graduation. 

11. We also need to tell our stories of success and not allow negative voices to be the only ones heard. 

     Common sense tells us that unless we find ways to make teaching more attractive to both those in the profession and those who might be considering it, retirement numbers will continue to grow, and their replacements will not answer the call.  That also means that school systems, especially those in inner city and rural areas, will experience even greater teacher shortages than they are currently experiencing. For many states and districts the answer to teacher shortages has not been to make teaching more attractive but to lower standards for entry.  That’s not a solution, it’s submission and a guarantee of the continuation of the vicious cycle of poverty and failed education policy.