1. Too many teachers are coming out of college lacking relevant training. There is too much focus on educational theory, methods and evaluation procedures, not enough on running a classroom and knowing your subject well enough to deconstruct it and teach it. Too many colleges of education run their operation like a country club, doing all they can to squeeze out the non-education majors and restrict certification to education majors (state departments of education have culpability in this as well). When rookie teachers come into the workforce, they are basically thrown to the wolves with a gradebook and a curriculum framework. This was done in years past, but back then there was not the level of accountability that there is today. As a result...
2. Too many of these same teachers leave the profession within 5 years. Many go into a private sector they are ill-equipped for. Many others go into administration, which leads us to....
3. There is entirely too much administration. A quick trip to the local school district’s central office will reveal a plethora of “Special Assistants” and “Program Coordinators” and “Assistant Superintendents” and “Project Managers,” many of whom make considerably more than experienced classroom teachers. While classroom teachers make less than the median household income in 35 states, education administrator salaries average over $90,000 a year nationally. In Texas, the number of teachers went up 27% from 1998 to 2008, while the number of administrators went up 36% in that same time frame. This is not a phenomenon unique to secondary schools either. In the University of California system, the number of faculty members went up 27% from 1997-2012 while the number of senior management positions (administration) rose 154%.
4. When Federal dollars come, there are so many regulations and restrictions on what the money must be spent on that you'll end up with a room full of something you don't need while you have textbooks that are 7 years old and falling apart.
5. There are too many rules and these rules are unevenly enforced. This applies to rules governing students, teachers, and administrators.
6. In many places, if a student receives a failing grade, the teacher has to justify the grade and document everything they've done to help the child pass. A passing grade = less paperwork = greater incentive to artificially pass the student = a student who is ill-equipped for the next level.
7. Students are evaluated by standardized testing. Standardized tests are produced by companies that have a government contract to produce a test that is not too easy (so a certain failure rate should be built-in), quick and easy to grade, and cheap to produce. The authenticity, relevance or accuracy of what the test assesses isn't even in the picture. For example, in Mississippi, 8th grade students are required to take a statewide writing test...that is multiple choice...no writing involved.
8. Teachers and Principals are also evaluated by their students’ standardized testing. In districts that rely on these tests for teacher evaluations or salary bonuses, either corruption is rampant (as the Atlanta scandal showed), or the turnover rate is so high that quality candidates don't want to work there and those districts are left with the dregs of the profession.
9. Too many parents don’t take a vested interest in their child’s education. A parent was once asked on a school survey what sort of training they’d need to help their child study or do their homework, the parent responded “None. Why should the parent have to help the child, that’s the teacher’s job.” Too many parents think this way, and unfortunately so do too many people pulling the strings of education policy in this country. Which brings me to my last point...
10. Too many people with a vested interest in education are not involved in it, and too many people who don’t need to be involved with it, are.
2. Too many of these same teachers leave the profession within 5 years. Many go into a private sector they are ill-equipped for. Many others go into administration, which leads us to....
3. There is entirely too much administration. A quick trip to the local school district’s central office will reveal a plethora of “Special Assistants” and “Program Coordinators” and “Assistant Superintendents” and “Project Managers,” many of whom make considerably more than experienced classroom teachers. While classroom teachers make less than the median household income in 35 states, education administrator salaries average over $90,000 a year nationally. In Texas, the number of teachers went up 27% from 1998 to 2008, while the number of administrators went up 36% in that same time frame. This is not a phenomenon unique to secondary schools either. In the University of California system, the number of faculty members went up 27% from 1997-2012 while the number of senior management positions (administration) rose 154%.
4. When Federal dollars come, there are so many regulations and restrictions on what the money must be spent on that you'll end up with a room full of something you don't need while you have textbooks that are 7 years old and falling apart.
5. There are too many rules and these rules are unevenly enforced. This applies to rules governing students, teachers, and administrators.
6. In many places, if a student receives a failing grade, the teacher has to justify the grade and document everything they've done to help the child pass. A passing grade = less paperwork = greater incentive to artificially pass the student = a student who is ill-equipped for the next level.
7. Students are evaluated by standardized testing. Standardized tests are produced by companies that have a government contract to produce a test that is not too easy (so a certain failure rate should be built-in), quick and easy to grade, and cheap to produce. The authenticity, relevance or accuracy of what the test assesses isn't even in the picture. For example, in Mississippi, 8th grade students are required to take a statewide writing test...that is multiple choice...no writing involved.
8. Teachers and Principals are also evaluated by their students’ standardized testing. In districts that rely on these tests for teacher evaluations or salary bonuses, either corruption is rampant (as the Atlanta scandal showed), or the turnover rate is so high that quality candidates don't want to work there and those districts are left with the dregs of the profession.
9. Too many parents don’t take a vested interest in their child’s education. A parent was once asked on a school survey what sort of training they’d need to help their child study or do their homework, the parent responded “None. Why should the parent have to help the child, that’s the teacher’s job.” Too many parents think this way, and unfortunately so do too many people pulling the strings of education policy in this country. Which brings me to my last point...
10. Too many people with a vested interest in education are not involved in it, and too many people who don’t need to be involved with it, are.
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