I often take a lot of flak for my stances on public education. I guess I am not your typical school board member. I have often said that in my opinion teachers make above and beyond a fair wage for the degree earned. Especially when you factor in the benefits. It seems teachers and their supporters have a hard time seeing what I as a parent see. What many parents see.
Before I go on I want to say that Cuyahoga Falls is very lucky. We have many caring dedicated teachers. But we have lackluster teachers as well. And yes, as hard as it is for some to admit, we have some teachers biding their time ‘til retirement. Please don’t insult my intelligence by pretending these things don’t exist in Cuyahoga Falls.
The Plain Dealer did an interesting series last week on teacher training, post graduate training, and quickie degrees. It’s a very insightful series. I’m particularly interested in the field experience degrees. The way Ohio’s economy is at the moment, I bet you could find a few accountants willing to teach high school math for 40K, summers off, spring break, two weeks at Christmas, and the lucrative benefits. In fact, I know of a teacher in CF who quit a six figure salary job to teach in CF. Why? Less stress, better bennies. At least that’s the story this teacher gave me.
Research questions quality of teacher education
Posted by Scott Stephens and Edith Starzyk May
Post-grad education training includes strong CSU course -- and quickie degree mills
Posted by Edith Starzyk and Scott Stephens
But the most telling part of the article for me was this- “In a four-year study released 20 months ago, Arthur Levine, former dean of Teachers College at Columbia University, found that students who intend to major in education, as a whole, have lower scores on college entrance exams than other college-bound students.” Eeek!
Read the articles and let’s talk about what we can do to ensure that Cuyahoga Falls employs quality dedicated teachers without resorting to the “pay them more” mentality. But if “pay them more” is the only solution in your mind, then I ask you to tell me- what I as a tax payer can expect in return as far as accountability and a return on my investment?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
We would all love to have the "bennies" that can be obatianed when some one works under the tabel and skips those tax payments "eh".
The district doesn't pay anyone under the table. I can't imagine anyone missing out on the lucrative benefits most school districts offer to avoid tax payments.
LESS STRESS??????? are you kidding me??? Once again Kelly, you are clueless on what teachers ARE responsible and accountable for, by the state, higher ups, principals, and families of the children.
Post a Comment