Is a good teacher worth $125,000?
Posted by Heather on March 13, 2008
I came across an interesting article in The New York Times yesterday:
A New York City charter school set to open in 2009 in Washington Heights will test one of the most fundamental questions in education: Whether significantly higher pay for teachers is the key to improving schools.
The school, which will run from fifth to eighth grades, is promising to pay teachers $125,000, plus a potential bonus based on schoolwide performance. That is nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns, roughly two and a half times the national average teacher salary and higher than the base salary of all but the most senior teachers in the most generous districts nationwide.
The article goes on to say that prospective hires will go through a rigorous screening process, and that some of the applicants are veritable rock stars of education. In return for the huge salary, the teachers will teach larger classes and take on more responsibilities so the school can save money.
I’m not sure what I think about it. I certainly believe that teachers deserve a better shake than they get now, because it’s absurd to expect any professional with a masters degree to work 50+ hour weeks for little respect and horrible pay.
Believe me, I know; my husband was an English teacher for years in middle and high schools, both rural and urban. No matter where he went, the pay was crap, the stress was high, and the bureaucracy was oppressive. He came home every day with an armload of papers to grade (on his own time) and a heavy heart because it was so discouraging when students came to school high, couldn’t care less about their education, didn’t get the encouragement they needed from home.
At one middle school where he taught, he told me that he overheard 11- and 12-year-old girls talking about how they’d had oral or anal sex so they wouldn’t get pregnant. At a different school, he was subtly pressured to pass student athletes who were nearly illiterate. Parents regularly skipped parent/teacher conferences, but they were really attentive when it came to telling my husband off for giving their special snowflake a detention or a Zero on a paper. It was just insane. He finally decided to go back to school to become an R.N. because, whatever horror stories he’d heard about nursing, teaching was so much worse.
So that makes me wonder: is pay enough to ensure a successful school? Sure, it’ll attract some great teachers, and that’s no small thing. But a lot of the problems my husband had as a teacher stemmed from students and their home lives. Would schools really need to find miracle worker teachers if students and parents were more invested in getting a good education?
And there aren’t enough miracle workers to go around for the whole country anyway, which is why the TEP Charter model might work as a targeted effort at best. But there are plenty of teachers who are still pretty good at what they do, nonetheless, and they would do just fine if they were given the respect and tools they need in the classroom.
And parents’ concerns should be addressed too: I’m in favor of teacher’s unions, but school administrators need to be able to fire abusive or incompetent teachers (even tenured ones) without worrying about the union bringing down the hammer.
There are so many facets to this, and no easy answers. But at least the creator of this innovative new charter school is trying to find a solution—can’t have enough of that, can we? Good luck to him, and I’ll be watching with interest.
Discuss: What do you think is the biggest problem in education today? What do you think we can do to fix it in the short term? Long term?
March 13, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I think one of the biggest problems nowadays is standardized testing. I mean, it’s all about “teaching to the test”.
When I was in 5th grade, my teacher had us write reports and take tests. But we had a chess tournament, an UNO tournament, we studied birds based on photos and books he would bring in (he was an amateur birdwatcher), and we would go out and play a class game every day at 2:30 until the final bell.
Even just a few years ago, I volunteered in a class that had an entire science unit on astronomy using Star Trek as a framework. Another on the scientific method and analysis was framed as a CSI-type “criminal investigation” unit. Kids learn more when they are exposed to information in a way that is fun. Rote memorization and regurgitation is not fun.
Short-term - repeal No Child Left Behind, give more power to teachers to establish their curriculums, re-evaluate the number of standardized tests and reduce them.
Long-term - remove bad or ineffective teachers, offer easier pathways for non-education majors to earn teaching credentials, return governance of education to educators instead of to bean-counting administrators or poltiical appointees.
March 13, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I think the biggest problem in education is one that is also a problem in society in general - children do not have the respect for adults that they once had. I think it is partially the fault of too many TV shows, video games and movies and the role models they see on them, and partially the fault of permissive parents. I think the teachers and parents need to work together to determine that education is in the best interest of all students and that the students need to be respectful and appreciative of their education before anything will change.
March 13, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Children and parents have somehow been absolved from any responsibility in the education equation. Johnny has no desire to learn. Even though they love to espouse all the hollow cliché platitudes about “my child comes first,” Johnny ’s parents real number one priority is themselves. They could not care less as long as they get to live their lives without making a commitment of time to Johnny’s education and growth as a person.
Teachers are underpaid for the responsibility and pressure they are subjected to daily, but throwing money at the problem can only work in those few areas that can really afford to attract the best and the brightest. The true secret is that those schools that can afford to attract the best and the brightest teachers are the ones where the parents also truly want to be active in the lives of their children and not just give lip service like “my child comes first.”
Until the parents and the children care enough to participate in the education process and are held accountable for their own results, no amount of money is going to solve the problem. Like many other things in life, you get out of education what YOU put into it.
Now I must go wrestle the King and chop down some trees.
Joe LeDuc
March 13, 2008 at 11:08 pm
When Kentucky values education, then the schools will improve. As long as we think its who you know and not what you know we will have lousy schools, lousy government and a lousy economy.
March 13, 2008 at 11:34 pm
All three of the previous comments include reasons why we’re so happy that we found a good fit for our child at a Waldorf School. Many of the school’s positive aspects actually remind me of stories I heard about the one room school that my mother attended when she was a child. Waldorf kindergarten students begin and end their half day program on the playground, no matter the weather. The playground consists of a fenced yard, mulch, a sand box, a slide, logs, and a few digging tools and buckets. Students, parents, and teachers appreciate the free play and plan ahead for muddy and/or wet clothing. Each week the students bake bread, make vegetable soup, paint, draw, sing, sew, listen to and repeat stories and rhymes, and learn to move their bodies. The school is run by an Administrative Team, most of whom are parents of students who attend the school. Employees of the school are servant leaders who receive similar pay for the services they provide. Many of the teachers also have children who are students at the school. The school discourages the use of media (T.V., videos, computers, etc.) until the upper grades. The dress code is simple but not easy in our culture, no logos or pictures allowed on clothing. Main lessons are reinforced through handwork, woodworking, music, body movement, art, and foreign language which are taught in all of the grades. Parents are required to volunteer at the school a minimum of 20 hours per year. The school strives to educate mind, body, and spirit. Teachers direct the students in writing and illustrating their own text books. Oh yeah, and the teachers follow their classes. In other words, a first grade class begins with a teacher who will serve as their main lesson teacher through all of the grades. These teachers know their students and their families and are committed to teaching and learning with them. Waldorf schools aren’t for everyone, but they are a refreshing alternative for many.
http://www.cincinnatiwaldorfschool.org/
http://www.waldorflouisville.org/
March 14, 2008 at 4:18 pm
My daughter is in a public elementary school here in Lexington (Julius Marks) and she and I love it. The administration, teachers and staff seem absolutely dedicated to doing the best they can, and the PTA is friendly and welcoming. If we could give each and every one of them a raise to what they are worth the school district would be out of money in two weeks.
I agree with what you wrote, Heather, I don’t think it’s just the quality of the teachers or the schools that are necessarily the problem today (although they certainly can be) I think a lot of it is caused by the parents. Even the best teachers in the world (one of whom teaches my daughter) can’t help a terrible home situation, nor can a kid benefit from the best curriculum in the world without parental support.
But at the same time, one thing that bothers me is Kentucky’s seemingly draconian enforcement of “The Core Curriculum.” There are lots of ways to teach a theme or reinforce an idea, but right now almost every minutiae is detail by the state.
Children are different.
Schools are different.
Towns are different.
Give the teachers some leeway–how easy it would be to burn completely out teaching the same thing year after year on top of low wages and a difficult job. It would be nice to introduce some more room for improvisation, and let the teachers go with their gut.
March 15, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I agree with you. The main problem today is a lack of respect in both adults and children. Parents who are apathetic and have a lack of respect for authority figures pass that along to their children. I think many of our problems in society as a whole can be traced back to this lack of respect.
I taught public school for 5 years before deciding to stay home with my 2 children. I can’t think of anything I would rather choose as a profession. I absolutely LOVE teaching, but I don’t think I will ever go back. It makes me extremely sad to acknowledge that, but it is true. I feel like crying as I type this. Teachers are paid too little- both monetarily and in regards to respect by parents, students, and the public. Teachers have too many responsibilites outside the 8 hours they have students in the classrooms. Bus duty, school programs, sponsoring sports and/or academic teams, grading papers…you have no time left for your own kids. Most teachers do this gladly though.
When I taught school after I had my first child, I never felt like I was able to give my all to my child or my students. It is just such a huge job to be an educator.
If offering teachers huge salaries ups school performance, great. However, this implies in some way that teachers aren’t giving their all because of low pay. I don’t feel this is true at all. Yes, as some have already mentioned, there are teachers that need to be fired. The majority of people in education don’t fall into that category though.
I am not sure if we can fix the problem. I know that sounds pessimistic - I guess I am. How do you restore basic respect and the idea of doing the right thing because it is right? How do you undo the unraveling of society?
March 17, 2008 at 10:00 am
Watch season 4 of “The Wire”. Nothing I have ever seen helps you understand the challenges of inner city school systems and the nuances of the problem than Season 4 of that show which makes a special effort to concentrate on that as a theme for the season. It pulls no punches.
March 17, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I taught high school, and currently I have two, like Sally, at JME. Before we moved here, we had our kids at another excellent public elementary school. It just makes a difference when you have a group of parents who are interested in their children’s education - not to be confused with smothering them with good intentions. Helpful parents and dedicated teachers make the system work. From the other side of the desk, yes, I saw ugly things happening every day, but I also saw brilliant, wonderful, sparkling things happen that made my heart sing. An average student who suddenly finds his or her great interest, or any kid who comes to you and says: “Thanks, you helped me understand this. I get it now!” I may be in the minority, but I don’t think today kids are far more disrespectful; I’ve seen too many terrific kids come through my classroom. I also went, for my first four years, to a rural school district in Kentucky in the very early 70s where many kids were horrible to their teachers and to each other. Our bus driver carried a baseball bat for a reason. (Let’s just be clear: my children will never ride a bus). My mother had some similar stories from the 30s and 40s in another part of the country. There will always be the good and bad. I grew up to have such fabulous high school teachers I wanted to be one myself. But what drove me out was, as I had a different career before teaching, the lack of respect from within the system for a teacher’s time and value (more than just money). How do we change how an entire profession is viewed from within and without? I don’t think it’s in the cards as long as most of those who make the rules and the laws have little understanding of the education profession itself. I will work to make a difference by being supportive of my kids and their teachers. I think that’s where it has to start.
April 2, 2008 at 11:38 am
I just wanted to point out how cliche it is to say that “today’s kids have no respect”. Your parents probably say that about YOUR generation and your grandparents probably think it about your parent’s generation.
At the same time… Call me a hypocrite, but… I’ve been teaching ESL abroad and I know these aren’t American kids, but still, I think this problem is world-wide (I have friends teaching all over the world): kids are lazy, parents don’t care and even excuse it, and no one respects teachers. I would never have dreamed of behaving the way my students behave, but everyone acts like its normal and acceptable! When I was 12 I knew how to SHUT UP and LISTEN. I never would have yakked incessantly after being asked 28 times in a row to be quiet.
Teachers need to be paid more, plain and simple. It’s degrading to pay people so little for a job that (1) is so difficult, due to disrespectful students and (2) is so IMPORTANT. Our children are everything! I’m terrified at the thought of this current batch of schoolkids running the nation some day. And a teacher pay increase is NOT going to change their attitudes. We need to pay teachers more AND get stricter with the kids.
April 29, 2008 at 3:38 pm
As a teenager reading this (albeit one who cares about her education) I disagree strongly that the problems with the school system are due to lack of respect by students. By that definition, I’m part of the problem - a teacher has to earn my respect, rather than simply getting it because they’re older than I am. That isn’t to say I don’t respect my teachers (I do, a lot; I’ve been lucky enough to have a number of truly amazing teachers), but I don’t feel required to respect them anymore than I am required to respect a classmate or coworker. I am required to be civil, though.
You’re right, though, Heather, that home lives are a problem. The best we can hope to do is try to create a stable learning environment for students, because unfortunately, we can’t give a Common Sense Test to every parent in the country. I think that teachers who work in environments where a large percentage of their students are ESL, or have a highly transient population, or have a high drop-out rate, or a low education rate among parents (I could go on) should be paid more. The harder the job, the more specialized type of teacher you need, the higher the pay rate. Of course, that means that inner city & rural teachers would make more than those in affluent suburbs, and we all know how likely that is.
One of the major problems I see is lack of flexibility. It’s hard to convince a class full of students who may not go to college that Shakespeare is important to their lives, or a dedicated science student that four credits of history is really worth it, or a writer to take calculus. I love school, and even I think that a good number of my classes are completely pointless and my time could be better spent on something else. (I would say no required courses whatsoever, but even I’m not quite that optimistic about my fellow students.) I believe that if we allowed students to specialize earlier, and provided more options, that might fix some of the problems. (I love the British school system for that reason.)
About teacher’s pay, I think it should be merit-based, as it is in nearly every other career. (Yes, I know, you can’t evaluate teachers like that. Except that every other profession manages it - why is teaching so very different?) I do think that paying more would make a difference in quality of teaching, especially in math and science. When you can make so much more in industry, what incentive is there to teach? You can make a difference, yes, but that’s not really enough to keep people in education. If pay is increased, we might be able to tempt some of that talent towards education and keep the talent that’s already there.
If teachers were paid more, it would also indicate that we, as society, valued education, and perhaps that might trickle down to the students and their parents.
(The cynic in me does want to know how much $125,000 is really worth, when you live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.)