Why is there a teacher shortage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS tried a merit pay a few years ago. It involved lots of paperwork by the teacher and, from what I could tell, had nothing to do with who were the best teachers. In fact, DS had one of the teachers who had done this, and I thought she was average --at best. She was very afraid of the principal. Long story: DS was inappropriately placed--the teacher told me this, but she was afraid to tell the principal and have him moved. I did not push as I probably should have. Nice gal--and nice to the kids, but couldn't stand up for what was right.

A few years ago? It must have been at least 25 years ago. I don't want it, but we haven't had it since I've been with FCPS.

Fairfax County Schools tried a merit pay system back in the 1980s, so yes it has been a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious what are the experiences of teachers at TJ or Sidwell - i.e. places with 'self-selecting' student bodies.

Is teacher satisfaction up super high in those schools?

At private schools, teachers are paid MUCH less and the jobs usually don't come with benefits. In addition, sometimes you have to deal with pushy parents, etc. However, the class sizes are reasonable, the resources are better, and the students tend to be better behaved.

I worked at a school similar to TJ/Blair. It had it's own challenges, but all the students were well behaved in class and generally wanted to learn. The hours were still long Jobs at the "best" schools tend to be harder to get and pull the top teachers away from schools that have more challenges.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County Schools tried a merit pay system back in the 1980s, so yes it has been a while.

They had the "board certified" thing that paid more. Don't know if they still do or not. l But, that has been in this century.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Fairfax County Schools tried a merit pay system back in the 1980s, so yes it has been a while.

They had the "board certified" thing that paid more. Don't know if they still do or not. l But, that has been in this century.

The National Board Certification? I don't consider that merit pay. That's really no different than getting paid more because you have a Masters degree.

[Anonymous]

I think it's wrong that public school teachers don't get pay increases for years-of-service, like federal government employees do. Teachers deserve merit bonuses too (based on what, I don't know), but at least having a pay step increase to look forward to might be something to motivate someone to stick it out longer, and give the more senior teachers some encouragement that their years of experience are being rewarded.

[Anonymous]

Teacher pay goes up a step every year and then there is usually an overall COLA as well (just like the feds) unless there is a major budget problem (thats been the case a loto recently unforutnatly)

The problem is as someone posted there aren't enough grades in teaching. Imagine if you had to stay on the GS-9 schedule for your entire career.

The only seperation is by education level completed and thats only usually +15, masters, and PHD

Teachers don't really attract people for money though and I'm not sure we should try to attract people interested in money either. The people that do care about money often go for administration positions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher pay goes up a step every year and then there is usually an overall COLA as well (just like the feds) unless there is a major budget problem (thats been the case a loto recently unforutnatly)

The problem is as someone posted there aren't enough grades in teaching. Imagine if you had to stay on the GS-9 schedule for your entire career.

The only seperation is by education level completed and thats only usually +15, masters, and PHD

Teachers don't really attract people for money though and I'm not sure we should try to attract people interested in money either. The people that do care about money often go for administration positions

Yeah, teachers should be willing to earn peanuts because they love their jobs!

Seriously, what other jobs do we say that about? If you want to attract smart, talented people in any other field, you have to pay them decently. The idea that teachers should be an exception is so bizarre. The teachers I know who went into a administration wanted to keep teaching, but they had families to support, and admins earn more. If they had been paid more as teachers, they would have kept doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter teaches in a self-contained middle school autism classroom. She absolutely loves it! The pay isn't great. But honestly, $50,000 for a kid only a year out of college isn't bad. She works as an education instructor at the zoo during the summer. Her yearly salary is about $58,000.

She gets to school at about 7:15 and is never back at her apartment before about 5pm. She only lives a couple of miles from her school. It is a long day, especially when you add in the parent conferences, back-to-school nights, school events,.... But she is passionate about "her kids" and has had a heart for ESE since her high school years. And she is very good at what she does! If your kid has her as a teacher, you are lucky!

Yes, first year teachers in public schools are paid decently compared to other first year professionals. However, teacher salaries don't increase at the same rate as other professionals.

[Anonymous]

I left teaching and it wasn't about the pay it was about the bratty over coddled children. Parents today just don't know what their parenting style is doing to these kids with no accountability and leaving a teacher feeling like they will get into trouble if they dare challenge anything about their perfect little one. I don't even want to be involved in upper education because I'll just have to deal with the same entitlement mentality as these kids get older. Working in sales now at the encouragement if some of my other educator friends and am okay with it. Miss teaching but can't do it in thus current age if parenting.

[Anonymous]

left teaching and it wasn't about the pay it was about the bratty over coddled children. Parents today just don't know what their parenting style is doing to these kids with no accountability and leaving a teacher feeling like they will get into trouble if they dare challenge anything about their perfect little one. I don't even want to be involved in upper education because I'll just have to deal with the same entitlement mentality as these kids get older. Working in sales now at the encouragement if some of my other educator friends and am okay with it. Miss teaching but can't do it in thus current age if parenting.

Well put. All you need to do is read the thread on the teacher who kept the kids in from recess (which I do not approve of). However, everyone was ready to fire the teacher. Of course, though, I bet these parents never get their kids out to play in the afternoons or on weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I left teaching and it wasn't about the pay it was about the bratty over coddled children. Parents today just don't know what their parenting style is doing to these kids with no accountability and leaving a teacher feeling like they will get into trouble if they dare challenge anything about their perfect little one. I don't even want to be involved in upper education because I'll just have to deal with the same entitlement mentality as these kids get older. Working in sales now at the encouragement if some of my other educator friends and am okay with it. Miss teaching but can't do it in thus current age if parenting.

I left teaching too. However, I found the kids charming and fun. They were bratty sometimes, but they were also teenagers, so mostly they were hilarious. I found the adults intolerable. The parents were irritating, but at least I could understand that they wanted the best for their kids. I found the impossible demands of the county and the admins to be the intolerable part. Oh yes, for sure you can teach remedial algebra to a class of 47 students while having too few desks and no supplies....

I will add that the more we treated the students like delinquents and animals, the more they acted like delinquents and animals. At one point the admins locked the bathrooms and left only one open because "students were vandalizing them". Imagine a school of 2,000 and only 5 toilets for the ladies. Of course the students started to act out.... In so many matters the feelings of the students were never considered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher pay goes up a step every year and then there is usually an overall COLA as well (just like the feds) unless there is a major budget problem (thats been the case a loto recently unforutnatly)

The problem is as someone posted there aren't enough grades in teaching. Imagine if you had to stay on the GS-9 schedule for your entire career.

The only seperation is by education level completed and thats only usually +15, masters, and PHD

Teachers don't really attract people for money though and I'm not sure we should try to attract people interested in money either. The people that do care about money often go for administration positions

This is not the case in every school system. Baltimore City did away with the yearly step increases a few yrs back. Now you will automatically go up a step every 2 yrs if you are deemed effective in your end of year evaluation. If you are effective but want a raise the next year, you have to get AUs through coursework or through other avenues (teaching AU courses, etc).

[Anonymous]

I left teaching too. However, I found the kids charming and fun. They were bratty sometimes, but they were also teenagers, so mostly they were hilarious. I found the adults intolerable. The parents were irritating, but at least I could understand that they wanted the best for their kids. I found the impossible demands of the county and the admins to be the intolerable part. Oh yes, for sure you can teach remedial algebra to a class of 47 students while having too few desks and no supplies....

I will add that the more we treated the students like delinquents and animals, the more they acted like delinquents and animals. At one point the admins locked the bathrooms and left only one open because "students were vandalizing them". Imagine a school of 2,000 and only 5 toilets for the ladies. Of course the students started to act out.... In so many matters the feelings of the students were never considered.

Yes, amazing. The more they treat the teachers like imbeciles, the more they act like imbeciles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher pay goes up a step every year and then there is usually an overall COLA as well (just like the feds) unless there is a major budget problem (thats been the case a loto recently unforutnatly)

The problem is as someone posted there aren't enough grades in teaching. Imagine if you had to stay on the GS-9 schedule for your entire career.

The only seperation is by education level completed and thats only usually +15, masters, and PHD

Teachers don't really attract people for money though and I'm not sure we should try to attract people interested in money either. The people that do care about money often go for administration positions

I don't know what jurisdiction you are in but it is not Fairfax County or Alexandria. Over the past 10 years we can count on one hand the number of full steps we've received. We aren't running in place, the escalator is going up and we're falling back.

[Anonymous]

Teaching is an easy job! It's not long hours. Population is growing and no one wants to teach in a crappy school though.