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The
Looming Teacher Shortage
Virginia's
recruitment
and compensation practices are aggravating the
shortfall of math, science and special ed
teachers. Schools could learn
some lessons from the private sector.
With
the rising tide of “Baby Boomers” reaching
retirement age, Virginia
will see a huge turn-over in teachers over the
next several years – a problem exacerbated by
the tendency of young people today to be career
hoppers, not “lifers.”
While
these trends may not lead to a generalized teacher
“shortage” -- there is evidence that enough
are coming into the pipeline to supplant those
leaving the system – they may exacerbate the
existing scarcity of science, math, and special
education teachers. In addition, rural school
divisions face a shortage of applications,
especially among male and minority applicants.
Sound
policy changes in two areas would help alleviate
this situation and improve the quality of
teaching: Broaden the applicant pool, and create
incentives for those in critical needs areas.
While
the state has created improved alternative routes
to licensure in recent years, career switchers
still find themselves confronted with expensive
coursework requirements to be permanently
certified, regardless of their background or their
ability to handle a classroom.
Surely
there’s a need to ensure teachers have the
ability to instruct. But certification alone
doesn’t guarantee that ability. Ask any high
school student: You’re certain to hear examples
of teachers who can’t teach. Meanwhile, overly
restrictive conditions do prevent the hiring of
some eminently qualified teachers. One Virginia school system rejected a retired
military officer, a former college teacher with a
degree in chemical engineering, from even being
considered to teach Advanced Placement,
college-level chemistry. Instead, the school
system backfilled with biology teachers, despite
their admitted ignorance of the subject matter.
Teachers
unions and education schools argue that detailed
certification is necessary to make certain
children learn. Yet, the most recent objective
national evaluation of Teach for America (TFA)
teachers – who temporarily join the teaching
world without education school credentials –
demonstrated that their students “made 10
percent more progress in a year in math than is
typically expected, while slightly exceeding the
normal expectation for progress in reading.” In
fact, when compared only to the students of
certified teachers and veteran teachers, the TFA
students “attained greater gains in math and the
same gains in reading.”
A
more flexible route to alternative licensure might
be to accept the American Board for the
Certification of Teacher Excellence’s
“Passport to Teaching” credential that
requires passing tests in pedagogy and content
knowledge. While local school divisions would have
the ultimate authority whether or not to hire such
an applicant, the ABCTE’s professional
assessment board, including Virginia’s
former Assistant Superintendent for Assessment,
has ensured a rigorous examination of a
prospective teacher’s skills.
Another option is to permit local school divisions greater
flexibility in determining their genuine needs:
One principal recently decried to me her inability
to hire science teachers for her special education
classes. The ones she wanted knew the subject and
had the skills to teach the kids but, because they
didn’t have that Special Education endorsement,
she could not do what was best for her students.
Once
in the teaching system, teachers are paid by a
salary scale that considers years of experience
and credit-hours earned, but not classroom
performance or even the market value of their
skills. Judging teachers on the basis of classroom
performance probably requires a move to
Value-Added Assessment See "Beyond
SOLs," Sept. 9, 2004) enabling an
accurate measure of a teacher’s skills. Adopting
that assessment model will enable localities to
accurately judge the effectiveness of their
teachers.
The
private sector pays more for hard-to-find skills
– a practice that school systems should emulate.
Paying teachers uniformly is what drives science
and math teachers to the high-tech world when the
economy is good, and it is a reason many teachers
are less likely to become instructors for the
harder-to-teach special education student.
Policy-makers need to examine the idea of
rewarding those in fields where the work is more
difficult or the skills are in greater demand.
Over
the last 50 years, the labor market for teachers
has changed. Talented women and
minorities, who once had few options other than
teaching, now secure the high-paying jobs once
closed off to them. But the resulting
ratcheting-up of teachers salaries will not, by
itself, ensure a high-performing teacher
workforce.
Instead,
it is time to take steps to widen the pool of
qualified applicants by lowering bars to
participation, and make certain we pay them on the
basis of their skills and what they accomplish –
not on the basis of “time served.”
--
October 4, 2004
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