What is Wrong With This Picture?

A good friend of mine just emailed me and told me he is running for the school board.  He asked me for some of my opinions about education and problems teachers are facing.  I thought I'd share.

1. Who are we expecting to lure into this profession when we are only willing to pay our teachers $25,000 a year? I made more money as a waitress working part time in college than I did when I started teaching. We lose the stability of the system when we don't choose to pay for career minded professionals who will remain in their jobs for more than 2 or 3 years. This state is going to get what they pay for unless our government leaders and tax payers are willing to make drastic changes. Funds need to be re-distributed first. Clean house!!!  Lots of money is wasted in education.

2. 30+ kids is too many. Fewer than 25 in upper grades and fewer than 20 in lower grades is much more manageable and allows children access to their teacher.

3. Many administrators impede teachers and kids, particularly at the district level.  A good administrator will remove burdens from teachers and make resources available to them, not make more policies, call more meetings, and create more hoops to jump through.  I worked for a principal who was highly effective.  There was a feeling of loyalty at our school.  Teachers were motivated and willing to work hard.  Sadly, this scenario is often the exception, not the rule.

4. Focusing on standardized tests as the only important outcome of the school system is dumbing down our kids.  Teaching is an art.  Great teachers can impact children in ways that standardized tests can't measure.

5. Get rid of teachers who are ineffective. Why is it so hard to fire them? They transfer them from school to school and then put them in the district office when they have finally caused too much trouble. No wonder the whole place has gone to pot!

6. Good teachers can manage themselves, their classrooms, and their resources much better than someone else can micromanage it for them. Sadly, there is so much top-down control that good teachers are impeded.

7. The closer resources are to the kids, the more they benefit.  Get the resources to the teachers.  So much is lost when out of touch employees at the district are given all of the power to make decisions about the distribution of funds.  

8. Why aren't our parents held more accountable?  Sadly, if a child was never nurtured, played with, read to, or talked to when they were 0-5, the schools can't help much when they're 5-18.  Too many parents are passing the buck!  

9.  Where are the incentives for our great teachers?  Unfortunately, they are often punished for doing a great job with harder classes, more out of the classroom responsibilities, and tougher parents.  

10.  Kids who create problems need consequences.  Boundaries make children feel safe.  Irrational parents should not be able to remove the consequences of their children's choices.

Oh... the list could go on and on.  There are still so many wonderful educators in the system.  We need to work on keeping them, and adding more to their ranks.  Tell a teacher thanks today!