Teach Today, Teach Tomorrow?

It’s the end of April. For many of you, this is the time that you will be receiving your notice of rehire or learn if you are going to be awarded tenure. In most places, if a district plans not rehire a teacher, it must give that teacher 60 days notice. Conversely if this is the year you are choosing to retire or resign, you will need to notify your district officials of your intent to leave.

If you are graduating from college this year and in on the midst of your job search, you should be receiving interviews, getting requests to teach sample lessons, and learning about anticipated vacancies in area school districts. Be mindful of the fact that shortages expected in the profession are basically the same as they have been for many years- teachers of science, mathematics, and special education.

I thought that it would be appropriate at this time to revisit some of the current statistics and facts regarding future job opportunities in the teaching profession.

According to recent reports from the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) this decade could mark the retirement of one third of America’s teaching force. Many of these anticipated retirements while be from Baby Boomers – those teachers born between 1946 and 1964, but not all. Many teachers who have been in the profession for just a few short years are also choosing to leave the profession. These are generally men and women who have been in the field for less than five years. They cite the fact that teacher morale is low and expectation grow ever higher. While some leave the profession for personal or family reasons, like the relocation of the job of a spouse, others cite additional reasons. Some feel that their college teacher preparation program was inadequate. Others underestimated the time and commitment required to be an effective and successful classroom teacher. Teacher turnover can be costly to a school district. According to a report issued by The National Commission of Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF), it cost districts nationwide over $7 billion (yes, that’s BILLION) in 2005 to recruit, hire and train new teachers. The revolving door in the education field is usually found in urban school districts, and school districts with a high poverty rate. The attack on teachers’ unions and changes in tenure laws, and teacher accountability has had a lot to do with the current disenchantment in education.  First year teachers need more “hand-holding” and mentoring to help them navigate the  ins and outs of  a new job. Administrators need to be clear about expectations from day one. Additionally, teachers in the United States need to be afforded the respect and dignity that their peers in other nations get.

c. 2013 j. margolis

National Library Week

The Week of April 14-20 has been designated as National Library Week. This event has been sponsored by the American Library Association since 1958 and encourages the public to use all libraries at their disposal; public, school, and even bookmobiles. The theme for this year is “Communities Matter @ Your Library.” This month's event provides a great opportunity for teachers to engage their students in library centered activities. The American Library Association website has posted available for down load as well as suggested activities for students. Many libraries will be sponsoring book sales, readings and author visitations as part of the celebration. Education World online magazine has lesson plans available for classroom teachers to use. http://www.educationworld.com/a_special/national_library_week.shtml.

Caroline Kennedy is the honorary chair and official spokesperson for this year’s events sponsored by ALA. For more information and ideas you might wish to check out their web site at http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek.

Also check out this site- http://atyourlibrary.org/national-library-week

There are lots of things for students to do at the library. They can do their homework, use a computer or even learn a new skill. It is also place to meet new friends. If your students do not have library cards at the local public library, encourage them to get one.

These events create many teachable moments for students and library based activities can be easily integrated into your regular curriculum. For those of you who teach in high schools, you want to have your students look at challenged and banned books and discuss why they are challenged and how do those challenges interfere with Constitutional rights.

c. 2013 J. Margolis

The Federal Government’s Role in Public Education

Dr. Benjamin Rush was a physician in colonial Philadelphia and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He wrote a treatise in 1786 observing that if the fledgling nation, the United States of America, were to survive; it would need an educated population.( For  more information about Dr. Rush and education see my blog of August 26,2012). Thomas Jefferson, our country’s third President also noted the importance of education to fuel the American economy. Interestingly enough, there is nothing in the Constitution of the United States about the education of its citizens. In fact there are no education requirements to run for President of the United States. That meant that public education fell under the Tenth Amendment, which basically stated that anything not specifically the purview of the federal government was under the control of the individual states. That meant that we had 50 state departments of education, 50 state certification requirements and 50 (or more) curriculums for public school children.

The role of the federal governmnet in education changed with the launching of Sputnik, the first satellite by the Soviet Union in 1957. The US discovered it was woefully behind in science and math as well as the number of students entering colleges and universities. In 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education ACT which provided funding for college students majoring in science and math and other major critical to national defense.

The second government incursion into public education came under the Johnson Administration. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was authorized in 1965 as part of the “War on Poverty.” The legislation allowed for funding at both the elementary and secondary levels. The monies could be used for professional development, instructional materials, for resources to support educational programs, and for parental involvement promotion. The use of the funds for creating a national curriculum was specifically prohibited.

The third set of laws regarding public education where enacted under the presidency of George W. Bush. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted in 2001 with multiple provisions. It required that all teachers be deemed “highly qualified” in the subject they taught. The law established parameters for yearly progress of each school district based upon, among other things, student performance on standardized tests (AYP).

The most recent federal government effort to involve itself in public education in this country is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This program begun by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Obama administration is an initiative to establish high standards in English and mathematics nationwide. The hope is that this effort will enable American students to be prepared to function in the new global economy.  It is hoped that the skills to be developed via these standards will extend classroom knowledge into real-world applications. For more information about this initiative and sample questions go to www.parcconline.org.

Despite your interpretation of the Constitution, federal government involvemnet in education is here and plans to stay for the foreseeable future.

c. 2013 J. Margolis

March Madness ( Sort of)

It’s that time of year again- March Madness. Perhaps you have a pool going in your teachers lounge or you and your friends and completed your brackets. From where I sit, the madness is palpable. The local college basketball team, Florida Gulf Coast University, a virtual unknown, has made it to the “Sweet Sixteen.” In one of the myriad of local television interviews, one college official stated that this national exposure would attract a higher caliber of student in the future. Personally, I don’t get the connection. This is the same institution that fielded a study two years ago about the feasibility of commencing an NCAA Division I football program. The cost of such a venture, as reported by the consulting firm, would be about $100 million. This prompted me to revisit the 2010 Knight Commission Report on Intercollegiate Athletics.  One of the statistics that jumped out at me was the per student expenditure.  On average a Division I school funded an athlete in the football program to the tune of $19138 per student. Conversely, a similar institution spent $13628 per student on academics. This brings me to a discussion of what is the purpose of a college education. I have stated this before. In my opinion a college is an academic institution first and a training ground for professional sports somewhere down the ladder. If we are ever to move toward a more permanent low unemployment rate and a higher personal savings rate, we need more educated college graduates who are prepared to enter many of the fields needed for our society to thrive and prosper. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal six Division I college basketball teams graduated less than half of their players on average during the past four years! The average anticipated graduation rate for this year’s male student basketball players is expected to be 70%.

Good luck to all of the remaining teams in the tournament. I hope that somewhere in that group is the next great teacher, Nobel Prize winner, or a skilled negotiator to bring peace in the Middle East.

c. 2013 J. Margolis

Preparing Students for the Military

High school teachers are faced with many responsibilities. They are charged with preparing students for college. They are supposed help students prepare for  entering the workforce. Teachers have also tried to answer the challenge of preparing students for life. These are all daunting tasks. But what about preparing high school graduates for the military? Ever since the federal government did away with the draft in 1973 at the end of the Vietnam War and moved to an all volunteer military force, the armed forces had the opportunity to be more selective in the educational capabilities of its recruits. But in reviewing recent scores of the Armed Forces Qualification Tests (AFQT) our high schools today are failing to prepare graduates for the military. According to a report provided  by the Education Trust in 2010 entitled :” Shut Out of the Military: Today’s High School Education Doesn’t Mean You’re ready for Today’s Army”, 1 out of  5 students  failed to qualify for enlistment in the Army based on their AFQT scores. This calls into question the value of a high school diploma as a predictor of success in the military. The Army has a stated goal of having 90 percent of its recruits with at least a high school diploma.   The Department of Defense uses the term “high quality” recruits to define its selection process. It defines a “high quality” recruit based on a combination of educational attainment and AFQT score. A “high quality” recruit is one who scores at or above the 50th percentile on the test and has a regular high school diploma or higher. The Defense Department strives to have all recruits be “high quality” as these recruits will be more likely to complete enlistment terms and perform better during training and in the service.

While the US has declined internationally in the education rankings of its students, its’ military is still perceived to be number one in the world. How long this will continue may very well be a factor of how well we prepare our students to be successful in the military as well as in life.  Our nation’s teaching force has just inherited another job.

c.2013 J. Margolis

Met Life Survey of the American Teacher

Each year since 1984 The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has produced a report that is a survey of current issues in American Education. The report entitled “The Met Life Survey of the American Teacher,” publishes the results of multiple surveys of current issues for this nation’s teachers. Here are some of the findings from this year’s survey.

According to the 2012 report, 39% of the teachers who responded were satisfied with their jobs. This is the lowest level of job satisfaction among members of the teaching profession in 25 years. Those who were analyzing the findings believe that the economy as well as the forthcoming Common Core State Standards may have had an effect on the results in this survey.

With regard to the new federal Common Core State Standards, about half of the teachers who responded to the survey felt that they would be able to successfully implement the new standards in their schools. However the report also noted that  they did not believe that the implementation of the new standards would have a positive impact on student achievement. If you live in a state that has a statewide student assessment system in place should be able to substantiate or refute these findings.

Turning to school administrators, 75% of principals surveyed believed that their jobs had become more complex for a wide variety of reasons. This portion of the survey also noted that there was about a 58% job satisfaction rate.

One of the positive statistics to come out of this year's survey was that  there was a general belief that parents have become more engaged in their children’s education.

Teachers, parents and administrators will find the report to be a candid look at the current status of education in America. Interested readers can also compare results with surveys for prior years. For more information or to link to this year’s report go to: https://www.metlife.com/metlife-foundation/what-we-do/student-achievement/survey-american-teacher.html?WT.mc_id=vu1101

C.2013 J. Margolis

Innovations in Education

A number of years ago I was teaching a gifted and talented pull out program in an elementary school in southern New Jersey. One of the gifts to the program was our first computer, an Apple IIE. The students were mesmerized by the computer and could not keep their hands off of it. They begged me to find software and activities so they could use this new devise.  During parents’ open house that year, the parents of the children in the program told me that their children could not stop raving about the computer and they wanted to buy one for Christmas. This was my first experience with technological innovations in the classroom.

Fast forward to 2013, over 30 years since my experience and we are now reading about schools doing away with books and paper, making them obsolete altogether. Students come to class with iPads and can almost instantaneously locate information that would have taken much longer to find by looking topics up in books or trekking to the library. Teachers too are issued iPads already loaded with applications that are suited for classroom use.

Now this particular school I had read about was a private parochial school in Florida but the implications for education are dramatic.  One obvious critical issue facing any effort to do this in the public school venue will be, of course, the cost. The school in Florida overhauled it entire wireless network and increased bandwidth with new fiber optic cable. This is an expensive proposition.  Committees were formed to determine the most suitable device for student use, examining Kindles, Nooks, Android tablets and even laptops.

Electronic education is coming to a school near you (if it hasn’t come already) and it is crucial that teachers stay on top of current technology so that they can be   there for students. Is this the end of textbooks as we know them? Who knows?  But what we are seeing and will continue to see is a major paradigm shift in what was once traditional education.

C.2013 J. Margolis