Why is there a teacher shortage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the above. I quit teaching after four years. It's a hard job, especially at an urban, low income school like The one I was at.

I'm entering my 5th year in an inner city 95% FARMS school and I am so very tired. My DD goes to a private middle school and I was just so excited to make it through her entire Back to School Night without hearing the word "data." How refreshing it was! I feel like my admin and the higher ups just see my students as data points. It's really creepy and sad how much they hang on every data point. We always need constant streams of data. I hate the beginning of the year so very much. I hate Sunday nights with a passion. I feel like teachers at schools like mine are expected to be the "saviors" of our students. I give my best at all times but I have 2 kids of my own and at the end of the day, they are my first priority.

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/america-has-a-teacher-shortage-and-a-new-study-says-its-getting-worse/2016/09/14/d5de1cee-79e8-11e6-beac-57a4a412e93a_story.html


Washington Post article claims there's been a dramatic decrease in new teachers entering the profession:

"Enrollment in teacher-preparation programs dropped from 691,000 in 2009 to 451,000 in 2014, a 35 percent decline, according to the study, “A Coming Crisis in Teaching? Teacher Supply, Demand and Shortages in the U.S.”"

It also claims nearly 2/3 of teachers leave before retirement age.

If teaching is supposed to be such a cushy job, "summers off, home by 3", and so well paid with great benefits ... why aren't people rushing to become teachers?

In what universe, I wonder? A low supply of teachers means school districts will need to start paying much higher salaries, because they'll be fighting over the dwindling supply of teachers coming out of school. Eventually that will encourage more people to go into teaching and help keep the experienced ones around longer. It's just supply and demand for labor, and the school districts/states need to start acting like any other corporation faced with a smaller pool of people to hire.

As an aside, a lot of teachers don't even take the summers off, they're working second jobs or teaching summer school to make extra money.

[Anonymous]

^^ sorry, smaller pool of people to hire FROM

[Anonymous]

I always find the people who champion the market-side economics in the public sector choose to not see why there's a teacher shortage. It's because we, as a society, do not value the job enough either through pay or through support (i.e. administrative support for teachers). I'm married to a teacher and it's pretty clear teaching would be a ton better if teachers could have administrative support, i.e. someone to handle things like scheduling, correspondence, copying, etc. Or else pay way, way more.

Nope, the solution is to throw 22 year olds with a summer camp's worth of teaching training into the classroom. And you think that's going to save education in this country. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plus crazy parents. Today on DCUM: a mom of a HS kid who wants a teacher fired because the teacher mentioned her kid was "chatty," and a mom of a kid in K who volunteered in the classroom for 30 minutes the second week of schools and wants the teacher fired because based on her lengthy observations she "seemed more comfortable with" the white girls than boys or minorities.

I missed the one with the K parent who observed that the teacher was more comfortable with the white girls. Can you post link or share which forum it was under?

[Anonymous]

teaching is hard. i've never taught in the classroom but just remembering it from my days in school - that is a brutal job, with no pay, no respect, always feel like you are one or two steps away from getting fired in today's society.

i would only teach if i could pick my students - teaching in a public school where you can't pick your students is only for those with a heart of gold.

[Anonymous]

I have nothing but the utmost regard for teachers. Nevertheless, 100K+ may not be cushy for 8 months of actual work but with regular hours and a pension it doesn't seem that shabby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the above. I quit teaching after four years. It's a hard job, especially at an urban, low income school like The one I was at.

+1 because the average teacher tenure is five years. For some reason, teachers leave their jobs at a high rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always find the people who champion the market-side economics in the public sector choose to not see why there's a teacher shortage. It's because we, as a society, do not value the job enough either through pay or through support (i.e. administrative support for teachers). I'm married to a teacher and it's pretty clear teaching would be a ton better if teachers could have administrative support, i.e. someone to handle things like scheduling, correspondence, copying, etc. Or else pay way, way more.

Nope, the solution is to throw 22 year olds with a summer camp's worth of teaching training into the classroom. And you think that's going to save education in this country. Sigh.

Do you have a teaching degree? My daughter was in the classroom with kids from her very first semester of college. Every semester for four years involved some kind of practical classroom work. Her entire senior year was an internship. The first semester of her senior year she had a mentor in the classroom with her. The second semester, the class was all hers.

[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!

How is $50000 for 9-10 months of work not a great salary? She is not making much less than engineers if you extrapolate for the months she is off.

I think people that live in urban and/or wealthy areas have a skewed idea of how much teachers across the country are paid. The average starting salary in Georgia is ~34000. If the average salary in Atlanta is ~44000, being really simplistic with calculations, this means someone in rural Georgia is making ~24000. Two married teachers wouldn't even hit $50k.

[Anonymous]

Every teacher friend of mine tells me not to get into the profession. The scrutiny and privatization of our schools is making it an undesirable job, regardless of pay structures.

[Anonymous]

I taught for three years. Couldn't hack it. Now I have a desk job and make over $100K.

Now that charter schools are everywhere, teachers are seeing reduced benefits - no more pensions, no more substitutes - plus longer hours.

Teachers need to be paid more and respected more, especially excellent teachers. Teacher programs should be competitive and there should be apprenticeship programs set up in which excellent teachers team teach with new graduates.

If you sign up to teach for 10 years, perhaps your loans should be forgiven and you receive a substantial bonus ($50K?).

I could go on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD says that none of her friends' parents would pay for an education degree because it was seen as a low status, low pay field. A slightly older young woman who is a family friend became a teacher for a year and then quit because her parents offered to pay for grad school if she chose a less stressful career. She's studying public policy now.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the above. I quit teaching after four years. It's a hard job, especially at an urban, low income school like The one I was at.

I'm entering my 5th year in an inner city 95% FARMS school and I am so very tired. My DD goes to a private middle school and I was just so excited to make it through her entire Back to School Night without hearing the word "data." How refreshing it was! I feel like my admin and the higher ups just see my students as data points. It's really creepy and sad how much they hang on every data point. We always need constant streams of data. I hate the beginning of the year so very much. I hate Sunday nights with a passion. I feel like teachers at schools like mine are expected to be the "saviors" of our students. I give my best at all times but I have 2 kids of my own and at the end of the day, they are my first priority.

+1000