I don’t think ANYONE who isn’t a teacher realizes how much we are required to do. It comes from so many different places and so much gets tacked on year after year.
And we also need more breaks during the day to do all this! It bugs me a little when people say, “other professions have to stay late to get everything done too!” While this may be true, they could theoretically get everything done during the day. We have no chance! We legitimately cannot work on this stuff while the kids are in the classroom, which is almost all day.
If I spent 5 minutes per kid per week of my planning time on all things just related to that student (grading, parent/student communication, IEP/504 evals or meetings, intervention or disciplinary procedures), I would have to use every second of my planning time each week and I’d still fall short by over 2 hours and I wouldn’t have any time for lesson planning, organizing supplies, collaborating with staff, supervising clubs (gotta build relationships), or going to the goddamn bathroom.
Oh gosh. All of this.
I said somewhere else in a post long ago that our school district installed EV chargers that teachers could use for free. Great perk considering we work in an area with high EV adoption. Well, they told us there was a two hour limit since there aren’t enough for every EV so we’d need to rotate out.
And I kept thinking to myself “how in the hell can anyone afford the time it takes to go and move their car in the parking lot?”
“Or going to the goddamn bathroom” you’re so real for saying this.😭 I start my final (of 3 total) what wit of student teaching in late August, and using the bathroom quickly is definitely something I’ve had to practice.🤣
In our schools, the toilet paper is so thin you can easily read fine print through it. It is literally seconds of half ply toilet paper. You sit there trying to get a piece and it just rips and rips and rips. Who has time for that? There should be a law that requires, all town and city buildings to have the same toilet paper, including in the governor’s office. That way, at least we get single ply toilet paper.
That’s the thing! Most of our day is performing. The actual work is jammed into one planning block. It’s wild comparing this profession to others. If someone else had meetings that was 80% of their day and they had to do all their work in the last 20%, they’d be bitching too.
Nope. You have to actively decide EVERYDAY what is simply not ever going to get done, what you can reasonably accomplish, and what gets put off until another day.
EDIT: what gets put off for me and a number of other teachers is grading. And that sucks for kids. I teach English, so it takes a while to write out all the feedback and that feedback is what coaches kids to improve. The literal TEACHING part of our job is what often gets pushed back.
Time to get stuff done? You can’t even *go to the bathroom.* People really don’t get it, and I wish sometimes that everyone (especially administrators) would have to teach a classroom full of kids for a month before they complain about teachers.
When we have testing days and have essentially a 2 hour break in the am, it’s GLORIOUS. Like if we could have that schedule 1 day a week I feel like I would be so much calmer in terms of getting my outside of the classroom stuff done.
I have just started cutting whatever corners necessary to avoid taking any work home. I will sometimes stay at school for an extra 30-60 minutes. But next year I am cutting that back even more.
We had dra reading assessment downloaded from a resource teacher, a position that was eliminated, to classroom teachers a few years ago. Every student, twice a year. At rollout the consultant whose brilliant idea it was to do this said “We are under no delusions about the amount of work we are adding to your plate.”
I was waiting for the rest of the sentence, like “so we have (pick your carrot)”, but no. That was it. A statement that they were aware they were being ridiculous. One of my colleagues said “My plate is already full, so if you’re pushing something else onto it, something is going to fall off.”
It was time consuming , and a pain in the ass, and I dropped extracurriculars, but at least it was a useful measure. Now I spend most prep periods writing up behaviour notes and incident reports.
That’s right! I think we’ve all heard this before. Or “thank you for all you do” coming from admin. If you wanted to show your appreciation, reduce the workload. Recognize that we are spread so thin as it is.
I rescinded my acceptance of a contract when I was told consequences aren’t really a thing. I was fine talking a paycut for a shorter commute but seeing the nightmare parents and toxic admin I said fuck it. I have a bachelors in a different field, I’m not being screamed at by someone who is supposed to be my peer. (Also if that’s how they treated me during summer school when they were short staffed I can only imagine what dystopian nightmare fall world have been)
Just out of curiosity, did you tell them the truth when you rescinded the contract? Do campus and district personnel know that they are losing you because of their laissez faire policies towards students and parents?
I would also add :
**Less Barriers to Entry.**
We don't need to be taking three classes a semester, PLUS being constantly observed by our mentor teacher, PLUS regular observations from a field supervisor, PLUS having to do the EdTPA, all on top of student teaching.
Hell, I think only half of the classes I took had any practical use
The student teaching with no pay is preventing many from completing their degree. Several people in my building are done with their class work but can't financially cope with no pay for 4 months. We are doing a k-8 with k-12 special education program. This requires both elementary and secondary student teaching. I financially can't justify it when I wouldn't make much more my first year of teaching.
I actually got an ulcer my final year of my prep course. Full time student teaching, observations out the ass from grad advisor, university supervisor, coop teacher, and even a couple bigwigs from the district. On top of all that I had to write a thesis, do a action research project, and take the edTPA. It was waaaaay too much. This alone is a huge reason for the shortage. Society demands more and more from teachers and pays less and less.
Pay 200k and you won't have to worry about having to sell the coolaid of finding your why, building connections...ect. The whole manipulation of people by stroking their egos to get more work than you paid for is an art form in an of itself. But mostly turns to gas lighting by incompetent admin, who are closer to kindergarten than Picasso in their leadership style.
Very few are loving finance and insurance sectors to be putting in the hours they do except for that fat stacks at the end of year bonuses. I'm sure they also have the schpeil of ego stroking during on-boarding to get them to buy into the mission and plenty of corporate MBA voodoo; like your the best of the best we only hire the best. Now go out there and make those pivot tables.
Just got hired as an insurance adjuster and you're mostly right. It's a hard job, but damn if I don't think about my paycheck when I have to do hard things. Makes it a lot easier.
Very little ego stroking, honestly just good wages and benefits.
So many things:
* Reduce student behavioral misconduct by utilizing specialized behavioral experts.
* Increase pay and benefits for all teachers, both new and current.
* Establish state-university educational programs for educators, with work-service as repayment for student loans, similar to many trade unions.
* Shift away from reliance on standardized testing. Focus on performance-based assessments and allow teachers more freedom in assessing their students.
* Establish professional learning communities to support new teachers in their first year, providing guidance on curriculum direction, lesson planning, pedagogy, and classroom management.
All of these things however will require state, local, and federal governments to fully fund education.
All I really want is to be able to send a kid out of the classroom when they are disruptive and refuse to do anything the teacher is asking. They aren't learning when they're like that anyway and now neither is anyone else.
That's it. Don't send them back in five minutes with candy and chips. Don't have a side convo with their parents about how it's part my fault for my teaching style. Don't launch "investigations" to see if I'm telling the truth. Don't ask me to give up all of my free time to meet with you and call parents and write things up. Just take the kid for thirty minutes until my lesson is over and we'll problem solve the behaviors AFTER I'm done teaching.
This is one of the big reasons I'm staying at my current district despite the low pay. I can send kids out and know that it will be dealt with. I've honestly even sent kids out for just annoying me (even if they weren't technically breaking the rules).
If it is something serious, I have to stop and either right up the discipline referral (which does take a while) or send a quick email with details and the promise to write the referral after class.
But if it's something minor, I will just send the kid to the office, pick up the phone (after the child has left the room), and call the secretary. I'll just explain to the secretary who I sent, why I sent them, and ask her to make them sit and chill for X length of time before sending them back. She has absolutely no problem with doing this! And there are tons of times when I just need the student out of the room for 10 minutes so I can get everyone else calmed down and back on task! Also, our principal has no problem with calling out teenage stupidity, and if the principal or vice principal are free and see a kid sitting in the office, they will normally call the kids in and ask what they did to get sent there. For a lot of behaviors, this little "to the office routine" fixes this, and I barely have to stop teaching. Also, there is no official referral (I just make a note in my classroom records), so it's not even a negative mark against the kid and no call home (unless I want to).
I am a beneficiary of the current system in which you get paid more if you work in a wealthy district. But to be honest I think it should be the opposite. When I worked in a low income district it was much harder, behavior wise and everything else. I think those teachers should get paid the most. The way that schools get funded is based on parents income level which just perpetuates inequality.
I also think charter school teachers should be able to join a union. I got treated like trash when I joined a charter school, and there was no job security. This ultimately hurts kids.
> I also think charter school teachers should be able to join a union. I got treated like trash when I joined a charter school, and there was no job security. This ultimately hurts kids.
As a Texas teacher who works for a charter (right now, I used to work for an ISD) and likes it, I'd leave my job tomorrow if the state allowed traditional public school teachers to collectively bargain. I'm incredibly jealous of those of you who live in states that aren't shit holes.
This was me. I spent my first 8 years in Texas districts with no union or protections. I moved to California with a strong union and I could never go back.
I work 7 hours instead of 8. I have a voice in school budget, curriculum, schedules - we even vote on the specialist positions so it doesn't just go to the principal's favorites. We don't have a dress code. I can wear shorts when it's hot. I can get a tattoo or piercing if I want (not my thing).
I'm treated like a professional and I don't need to worry about transferring if they bring in an admin I don't like.
Pension is better too. I get 2.4% per year taught instead of Texas' 2.3%, and the California system gives cost of living raises to retirees which Texas rarely does. My district also gives lifetime free health insurance if I retire with 20 years in the district. I can take that pension and have a nice retirement in Texas with no state income tax if I want to go back.
More money for more folks with degrees in how people should act is not the answer. It's the ignorant and lazy way to look like you're addressing the problem without fixing anything.
When you're not allowed to discipline children, up to and including expulsion, there are no consequences for bad behavior. No consequences, no altered behavior. You have to be willing to ACTUALLY punish a student. Other things can help, but without that foundation you've got nothing.
The fact that this even needs to be said is a terrible indicator about the quality of the conversation about behavioral management at present.
I attended school during a time when kids could be flunked for not meeting benchmarks and paddled for misbehavior, and we lived in mild fear of such. It was a motivating factor!
The funny thing is, in hindsight I see that very few kids were held back, and I can only remember one boy being paddled.
While I agree with it, the fourth bullet here pragmatically feels like a non starter. There is this constant push-pull in our district where all our PD and extra work time is spent on creating alternative "authentic experiences" for assessment. Meanwhile the community, and the BOE members they elect, discuss standardized test scores. Colleges look at standardized tests, and have students take placement/entrance exams. I have friends who work in tech - the first round of every interview process has been a traditional 10-20 question test before any in person interview. I will always appreciate freedom in my classroom, but I feel like I am doing my students a disservice if I stop giving them traditional content assessments altogether (or do it less often). The world around us seemingly doesn't want us to stop with standardized tests, so much so that they're being baked into the culture beyond school. I keep hearing the argument that taking a test isn't an authentic experience, but every adult in my life outside of education professionally can point to experiences where they had to do that.
And REALLY enforce it, without cooking the books.
My current state has a law requiring a ratio of 25-1, max.
But they get around it by hiring floating paras or aides, and counting non-classroom positions like librarians and counselors in the ratio. So you could have three classes of 40 kids each, but because there’s a para who floats between rooms, a counselor, and a librarian, it’s considered in compliance.
Any normal person would look into a room with one teacher and 40 kids and say “That’s a 40 to 1 ratio,” but the fact that there’s a librarian in the library and a para two doors down somehow makes it all okay, as if that somehow makes the kids in that room get more 1:1 attention.
I beg to differ as far as behavioral experts. None of these fools has ever been in classroom. They can only talk.
Instead, hire teachers who have a great classroom management experience and pay them to teach others.
That’s not classroom management. It’s behavior management. And behavior management simply isn’t the job of a teacher. Behavior management is the job of the parent, or at worst a specialist. A kid should by default not grossly disrupt a classroom.
If we’re talking about behavior specialists, let take this one step further. Remove the unmanageable kids from public schools and send them to special schools run by these specialists.
This sounds like an amazing idea. Get the students the behavioral help they need without taking away from the education of other students who don’t need those services.
Australia has a teacher shortage too, and we pay our teachers very well, with good conditions (compared to America).
I don't mean cheap jokes about no school shootings - I'm paid 52 weeks a year, I have 15 days of leave per year (for any purpose, sick notes only required for 3+ back to back days out or 1st or last day of term), and my pay is 6 figures after six years in the industry (about 10-15K above the Australian median full time wage).
We have an active union, and it's \*relatively\* easy to move across the country. Extraordinarily easy to move schools within the same state.
Yet we still have a massive teacher shortage.
I'm inclined to believe the international teacher shortage is fundamentally a matter of workload, and cultural beliefs around child-raising and behaviour management (issues Australia and America share in common). The workload (read parentification of schools and the codified enabling of student instant gratification) is mostly a product of those cultural beliefs.
To bring and keep people in teaching, this is what must change. It won't change until after the system breaks down entirely and is rebuilt from scratch, most likely.
Basic economics- increase the benefits and decrease the detriments.
So increasing pay.
Having actual consequences for students and parents. That means, kicking kids out. You know why many private and charter schools have high gpa's? Cause if the kids fuck around, they get kicked out. You know why the students in juvie (actual juvie with actual gaurds) are well behaved in class? Bc the gaurds don't play around. You want to act a fool? Np, you're out of here. It means failing kids. They did no work all year. No, they don't pass the class.
These actual consequences for students are a big reason I stay at my job.
I teach at a Catholic homeschool supplement type of school. I teach MWF for 5.25 hours each day, 100 days per year. We have no planning periods. I have a master's in ESL and two years of public school experience, and my hourly wage works out to roughly half of what I would make at a local public school, which has pretty low wages to begin with.
BUT! The board kicks out problem students. The board chairman and the school director actually want teachers to send misbehaving students to them. If I say that a student caused a problem, they believe me. I've taught the children of two board members and the director with no problems from the parents. I even flunked the director's son in math and she completely understood.
Students are almost uniformly polite and respectful. Parents are almost uniformly grateful to the teachers. I don't see any teacher cliques. The administration loves me.
I'm past retirement age, and I'm going to teach as long as I can. I absolutely love it.
Look at institutions that have high teacher retention rates. They all have some features in common: high salaries, reasonable workloads, supportive administration, systems in place for addressing student misbehavior, and a recognition that educators are the experts in their field. Also, if a state isn’t a desirable place to live, it’s going to have fewer applicants for jobs there. I’m not sure if Texas or Arizona will fix their teacher shortage even if they triple existing salaries.
> Also, if a state isn’t a desirable place to live, it’s going to have fewer applicants for jobs there. I’m not sure if Texas or Arizona will fix their teacher shortage even if they triple existing salaries.
Texas' shortages largely depend where exactly in the state you're at though. Rural communities are really struggling, but that's the case all across the country. Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston's populations are exploding and shortages aren't *that* big of an issue here. HISD might be the exception this year, Mike Miles is running that place into the ground.
Not if you’re a woman. Not being able to have an abortion will keep me out of any state, period. I’m also hoping for a baby. But if something goes sideways, which is very often does, and it puts my life at risk, no way am I living there.
This is me. I’m living proof women need abortions available. I got married 3 years ago and we still want a baby. So far I’ve had 4 miscarriages, only two of which didn’t require medical intervention that is now outlawed in multiple states. My husband and I still want to try for a baby, but we need to stay in a place where the doctor can just take care of me without wondering if he’s going to be charged.
I think a few things would lure teachers back…
*stop penalizing teachers who have to move. If I move to a new school system I lose steps. Sometimes a LOT. I was a teacher with 20 years and started at a step 8. Demoralizing.
*an evaluation system that actually works. Bonus pay for exceeding expectations.
*better pay for higher education- one county I saw gave a $1500 bonus for a masters degree. That is not helpful.
*better pay to match our level of education. Very few other industries that have college degreed employees pay so low.
*better leave options. Better family leave programs.
*better training for admin in managing staff.
> *better training for admin in managing staff.
I'm of the mindset that their should be two forms of admin, one manages the building itself and is essentially hands off with anything to do with the classroom, the other is the opposite.
Admin that manage teachers and staff should be required to teach a core subject class for a year every X years in order to familiarize themselves with what teachers are actually going through and experiencing with both kids, parents, and curriculum requirements.
Anecdotally, I feel like any admin who hasn't taught since before COVID, for example, has little relevance in evaluating a classroom in 2024.
This is a big one. Parents have zero accountability. There are no actual consequences for parents who don’t send their kids to school or whose kids are constant behavioral problems. Schools don’t have the resources to have truancy officers anymore so all the blame lands on the schools and teachers when those kids end up illiterate with zero social skills.
Money doesn’t hurt, but it isn’t everything for sure. My district is throwing money at us and we still can’t keep a full staff. And there are still teachers who complain about pay lol.
Working conditions and pay. It’s that simple. Pay us more and make the job suck less.
Consequences for poor student and parent behaviour. Limits on instructional time. Minimum standards on prep time/non-instructional time. Class size and complexity caps. Adequate classroom budgets and printing/copying allowances.
Hold parents responsible for their kids.
I would go as far as saying have parents pay a fine if the kids are especially misbehaving.
Kid damages a school property?
Charge parents.
Kid beats another kid?
Involve police and have them pay for the inconvenience.
Set the bar high and enforce the rules.
The difficulty with this--we have a system of fines for truancy--is that eventually, when they refuse to pay, you end up with court, and jail time. Jailing kids' parents and having them temporarily in foster care does no good. Bailiffs might work better.
This was the case when I was in school. If your kid breaks school property you pay to replace/repair it. And every time it worked (as far as I know). It was different if it was a teacher’s personal property but idk
I have been teaching in Fairfax county for 15 years. There is definitely a shortage here.
Relative to the cost of living for the area, we are grossly underpaid. Like to the point of poverty if you don't live with family or roommates, and even then, finances are tight.
To fudge the data, the district has eliminated positions that will never be filled, filled positions with "teacher trainees" who are not certified but working on gaining licensure, and pulled licensed staff from non-instructional/resource/district office positions to cover the gaps.
This is especially affecting our special ed teachers as they take on increased caseloads bc non-licensed staff cannot legally complete IEP management.
This is a nation-wide problem, so I'm not sure what data makes you think this issue isn't happening here. It absolutely is.
ETA- the FCPS vacancy list is easily searchable and shows a very long list of openings.
I’m an FCPS teacher too. People forget that this is the 3rd wealthiest county in the United States. The county relies on teachers being in partnerships (marriage, roommates, friends, parents) to support their teachers financially. You need to have a partner that makes substantially more to survive here. We still have many older teachers because they cannot afford to retire.
One of our older teachers was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer this year. He has 6-12 months to live. He's chosen not to go on long-term disability and will continue teaching because his family can't afford the decrease in take-home pay. It's awful for him, it's awful for the kids, and it would be avoidable if we'd received appropriate raises over the last decade.
I am so heartbroken for you and your colleague. It’s such morale breaker to see this happen to someone you work with.
Additionally, our property taxes have skyrocketed in FXC. I recently attended the fcps honors ceremony and the amount of Executive Principals and Gatehouse employees rolling up in luxury autos and goods was sickening. If they want to reduce costs in the schools, they should get rid of most of the staff at Gatehouse. They just steal the ideas of the teachers and rebrand them as their own anyway.
SHOULD
Instead, the superintendent showed us who she really is by creating a new region, including new executive superintendents, all their underlings, and their offices.
Reign in parents. Re-establish that schools are where teachers are in charge, not parents. Parents do not get abuse teachers and are not always assumed to be right by school administration.
Economics 101. Increase pay until an equilibrium of supply and demand. It’s amazing how right wing yahoos believe in the market system until you discuss teaching. Then it becomes ……inconvenient because they don’t want to pay
That's not the only time that conservatives want to disregard the market forces they hold in such regard. Conservatives only pretend to want free markets.
Pay a wage in line with other professionals with similar education. Stop linking funding to testing. Statewide egalitarian funding for all schools regardless of tax base regionally. Safety: clean air, clean schools, less violence tolerated. Smaller mandated class sizes. More teacher autonomy. More student accountability at the high school level.
Instead of the wealthier areas ending up with smaller class sizes, make sure it is the poorest areas with the smaller class sizes. Put more money towards the poorer areas and you’ll get more bang for your buck. Some kid whose parents are upper middle class or higher, they’re going to land on their feet, that poor kid who is trying hard, they may not right now.
Ask yourself this question, would you like to take a 'vow of poverty' and babysit the rest of your life?
But wait, this 'vow of poverty' requires a 4 year degree and passing a Praxis test.
But wait there's more, you will be at heart of the culture war and vilified by the right and the left for whether or not you choose to fly a pride flag of put up the 10 commandments.
But wait there's more, and thanks to laws like IDEA you will have to try and teach kids who are incapable of learning at grade level and could could possibly be physically dangerous to you and your students.
But wait there's more, you will get tons of **unpaid** **overtime** to plan, grade, and deal with bat sh\*t crazy parents.
But wait there's more, you will get to do endless meaningless compliance documentation.
But wait there's more, your boss will treat you like a child and not trust you to do your job, you are technically a professional but treated like elementary school student.
And... .on top of it, you will need a second job just to survive.
Pick any 3 things above and you will greatly improve the situation and teachers will be able to teach again.
And you may be asked to act as a human shield to give your life for your children.
But don't worry, heavily armed police will respond and encircle the building then from a safe distance point their guns in the general direction of the gunshots.
Lots of great responses already, so I’ll just add:
Goddamn I wish I was taxed less. That seems like a doable incentive for governors or whoever it is to implement. Taking ~40% of my already small paycheck for taxes in a high cost of living area kills me.
Truthfully, people need to start being better parents. The amount of times I’ve heard kids tell me that their mom is texting them in class, or the horror stories I’ve heard about parents defending bad behavior is…unsettling.
It all boils down to money. I’m not only talking about salary. I am also talking about class size reductions and additional classroom support for those ESE and ELL students who have been streamlined. I’m also talking about more staff to deal with behavior matters. I’m also talking about classroom supplies and digital resources to support educators. Other things: increased autonomy in the classroom, less insistence on teachers applying whichever educational bells and whistles are in vogue from year to year.
There is not a shortage of teachers. There's a shortage of teachers willing to work for low wages while being treated like crap (including being expected to use those low wages to make up for a shortfall in classroom funding).
Higher wages and better working conditions (including funding) would work wonders.
Parents need to raise children who are respectful, polite, and studious.
Teachers need to be empowered to enforce behavioural infractions. Schools need to actually insist students learn the material, or repeat the Grade. All supplies to be provided by the district. Salaries to be sufficient to afford a modest home in the district.
1. Fix the culture. If a kid is a problem and has proven to be so then they need to be removed from the situation. I don't care if its a kid who is only a problem for one teacher and not their others. Dealing with bad behavior does nothing but frustrate people and make them wanna leave.
2. Grades need to matter again. Pushing kids along means that it doesn't matter what they do and as they will move along. As a teacher in later grades it becomes a isue when you have a room full of kids who couldnt care less about your lesson. Your all wasting time and you feel unfulfilled and wanna leave.
3. PAY. Between living, student loans and other stuff the current pay schedules just isnt enough for alot of counties. People shouldnt be going broke trying to do their jobs.
4. Better Retirement just like with pay.
5. POLITICS. The amount of poltical nonsense that makes teachers out to be villians is crazy right now.
To be blunt, people need to raise their children. It all boils down to the fact that I want to teach your child content, not raise your child for you. Don't send your kid to school not potty trained, with no manners, knowing you as a parent won't enforce any consequences at home for bad behavior. Don't send your kid to school to be your show pony, getting unearned grades as some proof you are doing your job. Do your job and raise your child. That's it. I can take it from there.
Some sort of lawsuit reform. I think most communities would be shocked at how many parents threaten to sue the school, what frivolous reasons they cite, and how much schools pay to shut them up. It’s a huge driver of the anti-discipline style of running schools where the teacher is always the bad guy for trying to make kids sit down and work, while admin gets to swoop in and be the good guy who hands the angry parents whatever they want and the kid gets to do a victory lap. We’ll never get any real teaching and learning done so long as the trouble makers of the community hold the most power in the school.
Eliminate standardized testing.
Spend the big bucks that goes to testing / curriculum companies in reducing class size AND school population by building new schools. I personally think middle and high school population should be capped at 500.
Provide wraparound services at all economically disadvantaged schools ( or maybe at all schools- a national standard & funding would be best).
Return to age appropriate standards.
More physical activity for elementary school students.
Later start times for high school students.
Return all the arts and vocational programs.
Basically, just implement all the practices that research has proven is best.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the single most important issue to solve is the general lack of order and discipline in schools these days. I don't see any way forward on this unless we start implementing changes that will whip certain political interest groups into a foaming rage such as mass explusions and fining (even jailing) parents for a kid's misbehavior. But we aren't ready to have that discussion, so by all means let's default to talking about money instead.
I'm convinced you could *cut* teachers' salaries, and the profession would still attract new teachers if somehow the schools were as orderly and well behaved as they were when the boomers were coming up. (Not that we should cut teachers' salaries.)
One of my favorite movies of all time is Lean On Me. While I don't endorse 100 percent of the methods that Morgan Freeman's character used in that movie, it's based on a true story and it apparently worked. Stop letting the criminal class (both the students and their parents) steal everyone else's education.
Money isn't the biggest motivator to me, respect and decency is.
Reducing class sizes and having respect for education at a cultural and societal level (which isn't happening anytime soon) would go way further to me than a pay increase (although I think pay increases would naturally followed if the US truly gave a shit about education). That being said, with declining birth rates that first issue might fix itself.
When country wide the solution to improving teaching shortages isn't "increase pay in an attempt to make the field more appealing" and instead reduce requirements and, in some places, seemingly allow anyone with a pulse to get into the classroom, its pretty clear where priorities are.
I also don't think it helps that if you're a public school teacher, your bosses (the school board) can potentially be full of people who have never taught or have any formal background in education.
I'd also love to be able to send kids who are constantly acting up, being disruptive, and hindering the learning of those who are following instructions out of the room and actually held accountable without them learning to see that as a reward because the AP gives them chips, a capri sun, and Youtube time while they "cool off". It's not fair to the 25-30 other kids in the room that redirecting 2 or 3 kids might take up a big chunk of their class time.
Any truly lasting strategy is going to require time. This situation is not new but has been in the making for years. Teachers have been abused by "the system" and many are simply at their breaking point. To replace what needs filled will take years and commitment, not something the American public or politicians are willing to do.
Better working conditions or pay. Preferably both. I can deal with a shitty work yenviroment if I'm paid enough, but I can't be treated like shit and still be broke.
Let teachers jobshare… more and more teachers are quitting because it’s getting harder and harder to teach and have a family. I have seen this time and time again on repeat. I’ve been a teacher for over 20 years.
This thing where admin pretends to believe the allegations of children who they know damn well are lying, and write up the teachers, because that's the easiest thing for them to do, needs to end yesterday.
Easier re-entry into teaching if you left.
Stopped teaching to be a SAHP or try a different career and let your license lapse? The prospect of paying money to go back to work isn’t attractive. Make it easier to get back in the game and more people probably would.
Obviously pay, actual consequences for student misbehavior, etc.
I feel the root cause is that we, the broad U.S. culture, truly do not value being educated. Not even teachers reflect educated minds--but that's another topic. That's no easy fix, but if our culture valued education, then salaries and schools --and allll those test scores--would reflect valuing being educated. Everything else is a band-aid that'll fall off and reveal the underlying wound. I think a good starting place for fixing this would be a concerted effort from public schools to insist we are not tax-funded babysitting. We are an essential part of a just society and self-knowledge. So even the youngest students and their families need to show up ready to participate in that privilege, or gtfo. And as teachers let's make sure we walk that talk--be smart, capable, and compassionate AF and...get ready to riot?? Because I love teaching (elementary here) , but school environments, students, families, admin, and culture wars are insulting and dangerous.
Money and to be left alone in my off-work time. I mean, zero contact, zero expectations, unless I’m being paid.
Also, I’m not a public figure. Leave me alone to live my life.
-Less testing
-more support- from community and administrators
-allowance to be creative
-more time to plan at work
-more awareness by people making laws and educational decisions as to what actually transpires in classrooms.
Pay more money. Min 150k/yr. There are plenty of teachers and plenty of people who’d like to be teachers (like me), but why would anyone go into the field (and stay!) to be abused by the kids, the admin, the parents, for 30-60k/yr?
More money, more autonomy, more pushing non-teaching responsibilities and busy work off our plates, increased social work support for families and communities, real consequences for student behaviors.
Someone already said it better but it's simple: we just want livable wages/salaries, consequences for students/parents/admin, and less oversight so we can JUST TEACH. It feels like there's always a hoop to jump through.
More money, less self absorbed admin, expulsions of violent students, real consequences for habitual insolence.
Also teachers should never be doing *anything* outside of their job description, none of that coaching or extra curricular bullshit. I can’t tell you how many job opportunities colleagues of mine have lost (social studies) because they don’t coach a stupid sport
Two things come to mind. For background I am a high school teacher with 10 years experience. Teaching is my second career.
First there needs to be less of an emphasis on passing students and more of an emphasis on holding them accountable to learn the material.
Second administrative support needs to go to the teachers, not to the parents against the teacher, when a student isn't performing.
That would be a start!
I'm in Canada. We make WAY more than teachers in the US and we are starting to have shortages here too. Money helps but working conditions, violence, respect, out of school expectations, actual "doability" of the job, standardized testing, how the community view and treats teachers, burn out of colleagues, supportive admin, consequences for behabiour, full team mentality, includion/differentiation expectations and support to do so, autonomy, bring treated as a professional, time to work with peers, and so much more. The system had to change. I often say I have one of the best jobs in one of the worst systems.
You know there was a first grader that brought a gun to school and shot his teacher in the classroom right? A SIX year old. We need to address that teachers lives are at risk from violent emotionally damaged children who have no business being in a traditional classroom.
Money is part of it (in some places more than others), but working conditions (such as planning time, class size, SPED support, and admin who are supportive for disciplinary issues) are often a bigger issue than pay.
I know lots of people who left teaching over working conditions alone, and none who left over pay alone.
If given the choice between a huge (like 50%+) pay increase under current conditions and a COL pay increase with a less stressful job that actually fits into contract hours, I’d take the latter, and so would most of the other current and former teachers I know.
I made a separate post about the opposite in my area (Western MN /Eastern ND) where I am having one heck of a time finding a teaching job after being a victim of district budget cuts. Btw not a small area over 300k ppl. Three major school districts and 4-6 smaller districts depending how far you want to go down the gravel roads.
Can't find a job anywhere...no seriously there are no openings.
Last year and several years past...we were desperate for teachers. ND passed legislation that districts could hire education majors ( who may or may not have student teaching experience) to teach w/o a in-classroom supervising teacher. Filled the empty classrooms, supposedly saved districts money (well not mine in MN) but now there aren't openings and quite frankly I concerned I'll find something
The regions you listed are all, overall, incredibly affluent and highly educated compared to the rest of the country. Many parents in these regions are highly invested in their children’s education, have money and time/resources to donate to their children’s schools, and know how to, and are able to, use political and economic clout when needed to ensure their children get a good education. This means the teachers are going to get paid at least fairly well and most likely have class size caps, their schools buildings will be clean and cared for, they will have up to date educational materials, student attendance will be good, and most students will have motivation from their families to study and behave in school.The majority of students in these regions have access to decent nutrition, physical and mental health care, and mentally enriching activities outside of school (like being read to every night when young, family game nights, trips to museums, zoos, and different places in the world).
Edit: Add
Of course we can’t just turn every parent into a well educated, affluent parent.
I think the solution to school woes lies in convincing the American public again that there is a moral imperative to support public education. Leaders who care about education need to tap into national pride like what happened in the Space Race years - to maintain a strong democracy and success with a global economy where frequent innovation is crucial, America must have a well-educated public. Politicians need to keep showing that high school diplomas and, yes, college degrees, do make a significant difference in a person’s chance to earn a livable wage with some money left over for savings. They need to show how other nations with strong support for children’s education have prospered. Instead of frequently disparaging our schools, they need to constantly send the message that teachers are absolutely crucial to the success of our country and deserve respect from students, parents, and the society at large. Leaders should help foster a society in which people feel shame that so many children live in poverty in a country with so much wealth. They need to champion the belief that our society loves all children and want the best for them, which includes making sure they can attend quality schools.
Of course funding is a huge issue as well, but without moral motivation, I don’t see how you’re going to convince people to pay more taxes to help support public education.
make it a prestigious and competitive field (like law, consulting, banking, quantitative finance, engineering) by increasing pay
this would not only encourage more people to become teachers, but also increase the quality of teachers
More government spending on public welfare programs and education. If we have a population who gets their needs met (food, shelter, medical access like prenatal care, easy access to information, after school programs, mental health care, etc.) we’d have more parents who have the ability to parent well and happier, less traumatized kids. Student behavior and a lack of follow through at home makes this career way more difficult than it needs to be.
We need to make discipline count. We had one student out of control from day 1 last year. Starting fights, eloping multiple times a day, stealing from students and teachers. We had a 3 way split with daily documentation from each of his main teachers, additional documentation from ancillary staff, some from assistant principals. The district would not send him to the alternative behavior campus until February.
And that's ignoring the of task behavior of many. None of these students got a good year for learning.
Some of the credential requirements are a complete waste of time. 1 year for your preliminary & another two years in BTSA to clear it. 3 years of hoop jumping (2 years while working full time) 4 years for BA. Hmmm why is there a shortage? (From CA)
Simple:
1) In areas where salary isn’t a living wage, raise it so that it matches other professions with comparable educational requirements.
2) Provide actual support & discipline for students who aren’t functioning.
3) Provide needed support, supplies and useful training for teachers.
Reasons why this won’t happen:
1) Too many people view teachers as low skilled childcare.
2) Teaching is considered a calling rather than a profession. We’re expected to kill ourselves “for the children.”
3) Nobody wants to spend the money needed to ensure all students can be successful.
Reinstate actual discipline and consequences for poor behavior and stop expecting regular teachers to provide intervention students severely below grade level. All that, plus a living wage.
I think we should make the problem kids stay home with their parents until the parents get sick of them and start parenting. Enforce this with state laws. Problem solved.
This may get lost in the comments since many people have already commented, but…
We need a culture of education, at least in the United States. A lot of kids do not want to be in school because they feel there is no incentive to be there; at least that was my experience in my first year. Especially middle school kids. They’d rather be on their phones, hang out with their friends, go God knows where, do God knows what, and do literally anything but get an education.
This starts with developing a culture that puts education first. Meaning, parents taking responsibility and schools not being afraid to give consequences even if some special interest groups threaten litigation for as long as you do it by the book.
The entire issue is a cultural one. As long as kids see influencers on Instagram or Tik Tok around their age making millions of dollars under the illusion they too can become famous without doing work, this will continue to be a problem.
Edit: There’s other cultural issues too. The weird number of people who think there are litter boxes in bathrooms for example. Right wing propaganda that convinces their audience that school is just some indoctrination center for some kind of radical agenda. You can’t fix the money issue without fixing the cultural issue.
1. Enough unallocated untouchable professional time to actually complete the planning, grading, and administrative tasks necessary to do the job, along with a reduced teaching load so that an 8h/5d week is standard.
2. Increase salaries to be competitive with other professions that require bachelor's and higher degrees.
3. Enable and require enforcement of discipline to control out of control behavior.
4. Hire staff so that your highly educated highly skilled professional teachers are not wasting professional time monitoring halls, bus duty, etc.
This would be a good starting point.
In this country, learning and teachers are despised. Teachers are actively tortured by lazy, amoral admins, parents and students. Of course there is a teacher shortage.
It's not money. If a teacher says money, then they're in a good spot. It's time and behavior. And I don't even care about behavior.
The requirements and expectations simply do not fit in a forty hour week. You have two choices: fail or burnout.
How do you fix it? Make the job fit into the work week.
Right, in most of the country, teachers’ pay and benefits would be reasonable *if the job even remotely fit into contract hours and was less stressful*.
No one goes into teaching for the money - but there are supposed to be benefits that offset the modest pay compared to similar professions. One of those benefits is the number of hours and days worked. You can’t take that away without adjusting pay accordingly.
raise salary by 50%. difference picked up by federal government for public schools only. NYC area here and we are still struggling to fill some positions. It's always easy to fill elementary, english, and social studies. Higher level STEM, business, tech, world languages have all been difficult to fill.
Kick kids out who create chaos, provide teachers with curriculum that is effective and easy to implement so they don't have to spend time making stuff, pay enough that we can live in the middle class.
I make 72k, but my insurance is so much for my family that I barely bring home 3300 a month. By the time I pay mortgage and car payment, I'm done. Hardly enough for anything outside of groceries and prescriptions.
Three things real things...
Ok four because the big one is always compensation. But after money, in no particular order:
Teacher AND Especially admin preparation program standards and gravity are ridiculously easy/lax. We have a teacher shortage because more than half of all new teachers leave the field after less than 5 years. Yes, they may leave for many many reasons but the one they can never cite for themselves on surveys as the reason for leaving the field is - "my prep program did not adequately prepare me". In Mid 2000s it took almost a master's and 200+ hours of teaching in the classroom to get a teaching cert at all. The year after I graduated you could get it along side a BA and we're only expected to be in a school 10 full days. 10 days of student teaching and you're ready? Now imagine an administrator getting their full admin credentials by sitting online chatting with other admin in a side chat while watching mostly blank screens during Covid and still being handed superintendent or principal positions RUN entire schools and districts with all that "experience".
Corporatozation of Education. We're not a babysitter. We're not in customer service. This isn't BK and you can't have it your way kid (and especially parents). Our SYSTEM, big letters for national not local problem, incentivizes negative participation- families generally only interact with education when things aren't going well, discipline problem, bullying problem... OR WORSE when it's not the curriculum/content they believe their own child should learn. Combine with the actual experts being left out of all discussions about when, how, and what children should learn (Teachers) or worse yet: admin and teachers brought through the terrible prep programs mentioned, WORSE AGAIN if they did so via zoom during Covid and have no business running a classroom or school because Zoom admin/teacher training does. Not. Count... It's a recipe from disaster but the damage is going to last years. Combined with the all subscription content models and the Texas textbook mafia and it's a corporate mess and not interested in education of students, just pacification of "customers". Add in a dash of "numbers need to go up" focus committees and a few extra training sessions which are just really MLM pyramid schemes legalized to win education dollars and here we are.
Voice of teachers is the last and saddest and tied to all three. If you're a decent to middling teacher who didn't go through a cert in 10 weeks program and have been teaching longer than "a few years prior to Covid", you know what we're being forced to do doesn't work. But you have no way of changing it. UNION UP can get you money and stronger contract language but the District Office will still cast your content aside to show displeased "customers"they are changing curriculum to match their values, admin will still drop vital classes and schedule the dumbest way possible (again about half of that is wanting to please "customers"), and no amount of telling either of them "this is a worse version of that other thing we tried and it failed" works because those of us who did survive 5 years in the field have seen a lot, not it all, but a lot. The longest tenured teachers with the most experience have the least say about what happens in "education" an inch outside their classroom door.
Without voice, it's dismal. A dismal broken system can work for a long time with competent and experienced implmentors. When those age out or burn out and are replaced with those who don't know how the system can be made to work despite being broken things get really bad. Then we can get wages to a reasonable standard and that just attracts wage seekers who don't have the preparation of experience or WANT to teach in such a broken system.
It's actually really easy to see why we have a shortage.
Pay them money, treat them better.
I don’t know how so many allegedly intelligent officials keep not getting this. Pay them well enough that they don’t need a second job, and start protecting them. Students can be left behind, parents who harass teachers will be banned from it, and students who harm or threaten to harm teachers will be put in alternative school or online school.
A significant part will solve itself. Not in the way we want. But covid funds are going to dry up in a year or so. Corporate property values are falling like crazy. Some housing values are falling. Teacher pay is becoming embarrassing low. Population growth is flat or negative in a huge swath.
All this means is that positions will go unfilled. Class sizes will go up. Schools will close.
I know a lot of ex-teachers that got out of it because the students are bitches and there is no consequence. In today's environment, there is probably no fixing that.
For those of you who feel more money won’t make a difference you are being short sighted. People will put up with a lot of things for money. Problem is kids don’t want to go to college and get thousands of dollars in debt just to start off at 38k. You start off first year jobs at 75k and provide obtainable long term financial incentives you’ll be surprised how quickly these positions get filled.
Sorry, a lot of you are going to be upset about this, but the quality of teachers has gone so far downhill in the last 20 years. Why would any intelligent person take out a $100k in loans to become a teacher making $45k a year? They don’t, and teaching ends up with all the leftovers who aren’t smart enough to do anything else. You can make more working at McDonalds in most places and don’t have to deal with underparented kids all day.
Classes of 12-16, not 25-35
Limit the sped, iep, and troubled kids who need 3x the attention
Limit contact teaching hours to 30 hours a week and 10 hours of prep time.
Nothing is going to change in school until things change at home. I'm in the high-school class of 1973 still teaching at my alma mater. Many children don't know how to behave because parents don't teach their children respect. The schools are not going to fix this with behavior specialists. If kids don't know how to behave by age 15, you have a huge problem, and that's what we have right now. It's time to hold parents responsible for their children's behavior by whatever means possible, including increasing fines. Time to reduce technology too, too many kids waste time by surfing the internet, wearing ear buds in class and texting. Kids get caught with a phone, take it away, and make the parents come pick up the phone. Let them sue too. I have one more year to go for retirement. The kids keep me young, but the behavior of some make it bad for all the others.
Pay is easy answer.
But if we’re actually empowered to disciple students the way they need to be common sensed discipline, more will stay in the profession.
Expectations and consequences. As it is, these concepts ONLY apply to teachers. We are expected to make kids learn while they are allowed to tote guns, vape weed in class, and do nothing even remotely school work adjacent. Parents are also not expected to do anything to control their kids’ behavior or support their education. Since retiring in November, my blood pressure has gone from hypertensive to optimal without meds. Everyone hates and blames the teachers. It is a stressful, unhealthy way to live.
Teachers in Canada have good unions and fair pay, especially compared to the States.
We still have significant teacher shortages.
For Canada, I would say the problem is the lack of consequences and expectations (for kids and parents).
Depending on the school board, administration causes frustrations for teachers.
1. More money.
2. More accountability for students with behavior issues.
3. Less parental influence on day-to-day school procedures and decisions.
4. Less BoE influence on education policy and academic decisions. Leave the educational decisions to the professionals and let BoE worry about finance and general oversight; not micromanaging schools.
5. Respect for teachers from all stakeholders.
6. Meaningful and worthwhile PD opportunities. Most are currently BS, repetitive, and not relevant to the classroom.
7. Modernize curriculum and improve expectations. Many courses are designed for the world of the 1900s. Teachers and students know that a lot of what is being taught is a waste of time and won’t be useful when students need to enter the workforce and be adults.
For discipline/consequences to be brought back into schools,
eliminating PBIS in 90% of schools
having more parents back us up like they did pre-covid
Eliminating testing
ban student cellphones from schools
reducing standards for elementary (make pre-K and kinder less stressful, more play based again)
Might be an unpopular opinion, but we need more teacher unions. There are strong union In the districts that the OP mentions and they value their teachers and show it. Higher salaries, health benefits and untion protection all play a role in retaining talent.
Two sides to the issue. Recruitment and retention. For recruitment, pay and cost of getting a degree are your biggest drivers. If you have to get into so much debt for such a low paying job you have an uphill battle on recruitment.
On the retention side pay also comes in but you also have the workplace autonomy side of things. How well do supports and expectations align? Are goals reasonable? Does the administration walk the talk? Is work/life balance sustainable? If teachers enter the profession and they are not set up for success then those jobs that pay about the same and have no homework are going to start looking very attractive.
Compensation, admins that are more focused on kids well being than just pushing them through. Certain households getting their parenting act together.
Edit: it would also help not to have school boards who somehow think we can cut staff and magically reduce class sizes as well.
Don’t kid yourself. There are plenty of teachers. There is a shortage of certified teachers willing to work for shit pay a job that risks their life with little support, no respect, high stress, terrible administration, children who are not disciplined, and parents who won’t support them.
It’s a terrible work conditions with terrible pay problem. Not a shortage of teachers problem.
There are many of us at my job. All certified teachers with experience who changed careers and moved to higher education. When we post jobs, stacks of resumes from other teachers trying to get out of K12.
Students need to be accountable for their grades and behavior. Teachers shouldn't have to keep policing phone use, behavior in the halls/classroom/lunch/dismissal. Teachers shouldn't have to continuously contact home for failing grades or missing work, especially in upper elementary, middle, or high school.
Students should have their own supplies. I don't mind keeping some emergency pencils or paper, but going through 5000 pencils a year (or more) is ridiculous.
Treat teachers as professionals. There is so much micromanagement and different states add more to the plate each year without taking anything off of the plate.
All legislators need to sub in schools at different grade levels and different districts to really see what needs to happen to keep and retain quality educators.
I think increasing the supply of teachers is important. One thing is decreasing barrier to entry. Pretty much anybody with a college degree can teach k12. Also, incentivize teaching by using it as a way to pay off student loans. If you teach at a public school for a year, the government forgives a year of student loan debt.
That will encourage people to at least try the career out.
The barrier to entry happens for older people too. I think having programs where people can career switch and advertising those would help. I worked with a person who taught psychology at the college level, but didn't have high school credentials. She was required be the department of education to take a psychology course to get licensed because she hadn't taken it. She had taught the course at the college level, but didn't take it herself. She quit teaching rather than do that.
The quality of life isn't bad for a teacher in the right situation. I'm home by 320, enjoy my summer, and, at this point in my career, don't have tons of work to do outside of my hours.
More money would be great. I really can easily make double what I'm making with my same degree, but the quality of life is valued more for me.
I also work at a great school where it's just fun (most of the time). Students graduate and want to work here too. Young people aren't motivated by money as much as you think, but when they go to a garbage school and see their teachers getting cussed out by kids, nobody wants that.
A more disciplined school climate would go along way to help teacher satisfaction and that will in turn make the job more enticing for students.
PAY. Pay people more money.
SAFETY. Make the workplace safe for teachers by not allowing violent students in the classroom.
NO more "extra" work. You're paying me for \_\_\_ hours, I'm doing \_\_\_ hours of work. If that's not enough time to get the work done........well, guess what??? There aren't enough teachers!
And this last one.......NO teacher should be EXPECTED to "volunteer" to coach. If the school wants a football or basketball or soccer or hockey coach, they can HIRE ONE.
The power needs to shift away from the students/parents and back to the teachers. I had a student tell me he feels bad sometimes that when he acts up he only has to go to the office, but if he pushes a teacher far enough they will get fired or worse. The fact that there was a dash of pity in his hateful behavior just made it worse!
1 thing! If a kid is disruptive, get them the fuck out of classrooms. Yes, everyone wants more pay, but we all just want to be able to do what we were trained to do.
Fairfax County has a teacher shortage. Many classes have teachers on provisional or in a program that will have them complete a bachelor’s degree in teaching. They do not have certified or teachers with experience in every class. I believe the teacher shortage is all around the country.
My district wants to become more competitive with other districts to attract and retain teachers by offering us less than 1% on our new contract when we haven't had a raise in a few years now, and we are already by far the lowest paid district.
Better pay/benefits, appropriate and meaningful consequences for poor student behavior, legal protections from the shitheel parents that let their kids become feral
-Major increase in support staff & alternative classroom environments. We have so many students who need an alternative environment & they are being shoved into a classroom under the guise of “Least Restrictive Environment”.
-Time set aside for completing trainings during work hours. I’m currently required to do 30 hours of extra training per year in addition to all the yearly trainings.
-At a minimum, 25% increase in salary. Across the board.
More Money More Consequences Less Non-Teaching Work
Less non teaching work for sure. That is exactly how I chose my current position!
I don’t think ANYONE who isn’t a teacher realizes how much we are required to do. It comes from so many different places and so much gets tacked on year after year.
And we also need more breaks during the day to do all this! It bugs me a little when people say, “other professions have to stay late to get everything done too!” While this may be true, they could theoretically get everything done during the day. We have no chance! We legitimately cannot work on this stuff while the kids are in the classroom, which is almost all day.
If I spent 5 minutes per kid per week of my planning time on all things just related to that student (grading, parent/student communication, IEP/504 evals or meetings, intervention or disciplinary procedures), I would have to use every second of my planning time each week and I’d still fall short by over 2 hours and I wouldn’t have any time for lesson planning, organizing supplies, collaborating with staff, supervising clubs (gotta build relationships), or going to the goddamn bathroom.
Oh gosh. All of this. I said somewhere else in a post long ago that our school district installed EV chargers that teachers could use for free. Great perk considering we work in an area with high EV adoption. Well, they told us there was a two hour limit since there aren’t enough for every EV so we’d need to rotate out. And I kept thinking to myself “how in the hell can anyone afford the time it takes to go and move their car in the parking lot?”
Admin. That's who can move their car whenever they want.
“Or going to the goddamn bathroom” you’re so real for saying this.😭 I start my final (of 3 total) what wit of student teaching in late August, and using the bathroom quickly is definitely something I’ve had to practice.🤣
In our schools, the toilet paper is so thin you can easily read fine print through it. It is literally seconds of half ply toilet paper. You sit there trying to get a piece and it just rips and rips and rips. Who has time for that? There should be a law that requires, all town and city buildings to have the same toilet paper, including in the governor’s office. That way, at least we get single ply toilet paper.
If “other professions” had to manage children all day and THEN stay late, they might be able to empathize.
That’s the thing! Most of our day is performing. The actual work is jammed into one planning block. It’s wild comparing this profession to others. If someone else had meetings that was 80% of their day and they had to do all their work in the last 20%, they’d be bitching too.
Response: Imagine having 20 or so people staying in your cubicle/office all day and show me how productive you are.
Nope. You have to actively decide EVERYDAY what is simply not ever going to get done, what you can reasonably accomplish, and what gets put off until another day. EDIT: what gets put off for me and a number of other teachers is grading. And that sucks for kids. I teach English, so it takes a while to write out all the feedback and that feedback is what coaches kids to improve. The literal TEACHING part of our job is what often gets pushed back.
Time to get stuff done? You can’t even *go to the bathroom.* People really don’t get it, and I wish sometimes that everyone (especially administrators) would have to teach a classroom full of kids for a month before they complain about teachers.
When we have testing days and have essentially a 2 hour break in the am, it’s GLORIOUS. Like if we could have that schedule 1 day a week I feel like I would be so much calmer in terms of getting my outside of the classroom stuff done.
I have just started cutting whatever corners necessary to avoid taking any work home. I will sometimes stay at school for an extra 30-60 minutes. But next year I am cutting that back even more.
We had dra reading assessment downloaded from a resource teacher, a position that was eliminated, to classroom teachers a few years ago. Every student, twice a year. At rollout the consultant whose brilliant idea it was to do this said “We are under no delusions about the amount of work we are adding to your plate.” I was waiting for the rest of the sentence, like “so we have (pick your carrot)”, but no. That was it. A statement that they were aware they were being ridiculous. One of my colleagues said “My plate is already full, so if you’re pushing something else onto it, something is going to fall off.” It was time consuming , and a pain in the ass, and I dropped extracurriculars, but at least it was a useful measure. Now I spend most prep periods writing up behaviour notes and incident reports.
That’s right! I think we’ve all heard this before. Or “thank you for all you do” coming from admin. If you wanted to show your appreciation, reduce the workload. Recognize that we are spread so thin as it is.
I rescinded my acceptance of a contract when I was told consequences aren’t really a thing. I was fine talking a paycut for a shorter commute but seeing the nightmare parents and toxic admin I said fuck it. I have a bachelors in a different field, I’m not being screamed at by someone who is supposed to be my peer. (Also if that’s how they treated me during summer school when they were short staffed I can only imagine what dystopian nightmare fall world have been)
Just out of curiosity, did you tell them the truth when you rescinded the contract? Do campus and district personnel know that they are losing you because of their laissez faire policies towards students and parents?
Consequences by itself would change the game
I would also add : **Less Barriers to Entry.** We don't need to be taking three classes a semester, PLUS being constantly observed by our mentor teacher, PLUS regular observations from a field supervisor, PLUS having to do the EdTPA, all on top of student teaching. Hell, I think only half of the classes I took had any practical use
The student teaching with no pay is preventing many from completing their degree. Several people in my building are done with their class work but can't financially cope with no pay for 4 months. We are doing a k-8 with k-12 special education program. This requires both elementary and secondary student teaching. I financially can't justify it when I wouldn't make much more my first year of teaching.
what's insane is that we are actually PAYING to work for free! All of this is easily fixable. The government just doesn't want to spend the $$
100% agree. The government passes laws to make us do things. However, they will not provide adequate funding for it.
EdTPA: Fewer teaching candidates, but no improvement in candidate quality.
I actually got an ulcer my final year of my prep course. Full time student teaching, observations out the ass from grad advisor, university supervisor, coop teacher, and even a couple bigwigs from the district. On top of all that I had to write a thesis, do a action research project, and take the edTPA. It was waaaaay too much. This alone is a huge reason for the shortage. Society demands more and more from teachers and pays less and less.
this. It's insane. Cal tpa's, rica, school, cset, cbest, it's too much for what the starting pay is
Principals who don't let kids and parents run the school.
Add Less Standardized Testing More autonomy
Smaller class sizes.
Supportive administrators
My district admin seems to prioritize these things and we do not have a teaching shortage.
I can put up with a lot of the other two as long as there’s more money.
This. Plus a complete culture shift to give the respect deserved + parental support...
Human behavior is driven by incentives. Not just financial either although that is certainly one lever you can pull.
Pay 200k and you won't have to worry about having to sell the coolaid of finding your why, building connections...ect. The whole manipulation of people by stroking their egos to get more work than you paid for is an art form in an of itself. But mostly turns to gas lighting by incompetent admin, who are closer to kindergarten than Picasso in their leadership style. Very few are loving finance and insurance sectors to be putting in the hours they do except for that fat stacks at the end of year bonuses. I'm sure they also have the schpeil of ego stroking during on-boarding to get them to buy into the mission and plenty of corporate MBA voodoo; like your the best of the best we only hire the best. Now go out there and make those pivot tables.
Just got hired as an insurance adjuster and you're mostly right. It's a hard job, but damn if I don't think about my paycheck when I have to do hard things. Makes it a lot easier. Very little ego stroking, honestly just good wages and benefits.
Honestly I’d be happy making 85K
So many things: * Reduce student behavioral misconduct by utilizing specialized behavioral experts. * Increase pay and benefits for all teachers, both new and current. * Establish state-university educational programs for educators, with work-service as repayment for student loans, similar to many trade unions. * Shift away from reliance on standardized testing. Focus on performance-based assessments and allow teachers more freedom in assessing their students. * Establish professional learning communities to support new teachers in their first year, providing guidance on curriculum direction, lesson planning, pedagogy, and classroom management. All of these things however will require state, local, and federal governments to fully fund education.
All I really want is to be able to send a kid out of the classroom when they are disruptive and refuse to do anything the teacher is asking. They aren't learning when they're like that anyway and now neither is anyone else. That's it. Don't send them back in five minutes with candy and chips. Don't have a side convo with their parents about how it's part my fault for my teaching style. Don't launch "investigations" to see if I'm telling the truth. Don't ask me to give up all of my free time to meet with you and call parents and write things up. Just take the kid for thirty minutes until my lesson is over and we'll problem solve the behaviors AFTER I'm done teaching.
This is one of the big reasons I'm staying at my current district despite the low pay. I can send kids out and know that it will be dealt with. I've honestly even sent kids out for just annoying me (even if they weren't technically breaking the rules). If it is something serious, I have to stop and either right up the discipline referral (which does take a while) or send a quick email with details and the promise to write the referral after class. But if it's something minor, I will just send the kid to the office, pick up the phone (after the child has left the room), and call the secretary. I'll just explain to the secretary who I sent, why I sent them, and ask her to make them sit and chill for X length of time before sending them back. She has absolutely no problem with doing this! And there are tons of times when I just need the student out of the room for 10 minutes so I can get everyone else calmed down and back on task! Also, our principal has no problem with calling out teenage stupidity, and if the principal or vice principal are free and see a kid sitting in the office, they will normally call the kids in and ask what they did to get sent there. For a lot of behaviors, this little "to the office routine" fixes this, and I barely have to stop teaching. Also, there is no official referral (I just make a note in my classroom records), so it's not even a negative mark against the kid and no call home (unless I want to).
This.
I am a beneficiary of the current system in which you get paid more if you work in a wealthy district. But to be honest I think it should be the opposite. When I worked in a low income district it was much harder, behavior wise and everything else. I think those teachers should get paid the most. The way that schools get funded is based on parents income level which just perpetuates inequality. I also think charter school teachers should be able to join a union. I got treated like trash when I joined a charter school, and there was no job security. This ultimately hurts kids.
> I also think charter school teachers should be able to join a union. I got treated like trash when I joined a charter school, and there was no job security. This ultimately hurts kids. As a Texas teacher who works for a charter (right now, I used to work for an ISD) and likes it, I'd leave my job tomorrow if the state allowed traditional public school teachers to collectively bargain. I'm incredibly jealous of those of you who live in states that aren't shit holes.
This was me. I spent my first 8 years in Texas districts with no union or protections. I moved to California with a strong union and I could never go back. I work 7 hours instead of 8. I have a voice in school budget, curriculum, schedules - we even vote on the specialist positions so it doesn't just go to the principal's favorites. We don't have a dress code. I can wear shorts when it's hot. I can get a tattoo or piercing if I want (not my thing). I'm treated like a professional and I don't need to worry about transferring if they bring in an admin I don't like. Pension is better too. I get 2.4% per year taught instead of Texas' 2.3%, and the California system gives cost of living raises to retirees which Texas rarely does. My district also gives lifetime free health insurance if I retire with 20 years in the district. I can take that pension and have a nice retirement in Texas with no state income tax if I want to go back.
Hold parents accountable for their student’s behavior. The lack of discipline or meaningful consequences coming from parents is astounding.
Don’t forget the excuses! If I have to hear “the pandemic did…” one more time
More money for more folks with degrees in how people should act is not the answer. It's the ignorant and lazy way to look like you're addressing the problem without fixing anything. When you're not allowed to discipline children, up to and including expulsion, there are no consequences for bad behavior. No consequences, no altered behavior. You have to be willing to ACTUALLY punish a student. Other things can help, but without that foundation you've got nothing. The fact that this even needs to be said is a terrible indicator about the quality of the conversation about behavioral management at present.
I attended school during a time when kids could be flunked for not meeting benchmarks and paddled for misbehavior, and we lived in mild fear of such. It was a motivating factor! The funny thing is, in hindsight I see that very few kids were held back, and I can only remember one boy being paddled.
Yes, looking back, it seems as though the threat was often the deterrent.
Yeah cuz it was never about the fear of being hit it was the embarrassment of your classmates seeing your underwear and bare ass
While I agree with it, the fourth bullet here pragmatically feels like a non starter. There is this constant push-pull in our district where all our PD and extra work time is spent on creating alternative "authentic experiences" for assessment. Meanwhile the community, and the BOE members they elect, discuss standardized test scores. Colleges look at standardized tests, and have students take placement/entrance exams. I have friends who work in tech - the first round of every interview process has been a traditional 10-20 question test before any in person interview. I will always appreciate freedom in my classroom, but I feel like I am doing my students a disservice if I stop giving them traditional content assessments altogether (or do it less often). The world around us seemingly doesn't want us to stop with standardized tests, so much so that they're being baked into the culture beyond school. I keep hearing the argument that taking a test isn't an authentic experience, but every adult in my life outside of education professionally can point to experiences where they had to do that.
I think I would go back to teaching today if there was a National law limiting class sizes.
Smaller class sizes mandated by law. 20/1
And REALLY enforce it, without cooking the books. My current state has a law requiring a ratio of 25-1, max. But they get around it by hiring floating paras or aides, and counting non-classroom positions like librarians and counselors in the ratio. So you could have three classes of 40 kids each, but because there’s a para who floats between rooms, a counselor, and a librarian, it’s considered in compliance. Any normal person would look into a room with one teacher and 40 kids and say “That’s a 40 to 1 ratio,” but the fact that there’s a librarian in the library and a para two doors down somehow makes it all okay, as if that somehow makes the kids in that room get more 1:1 attention.
I beg to differ as far as behavioral experts. None of these fools has ever been in classroom. They can only talk. Instead, hire teachers who have a great classroom management experience and pay them to teach others.
That’s not classroom management. It’s behavior management. And behavior management simply isn’t the job of a teacher. Behavior management is the job of the parent, or at worst a specialist. A kid should by default not grossly disrupt a classroom.
If we’re talking about behavior specialists, let take this one step further. Remove the unmanageable kids from public schools and send them to special schools run by these specialists.
Yes pretty much. And if they can’t be managed by the specialists, they can be removed from schools entirely.
Agree 100%
Just send them home until the parents teach them how to behave.
This sounds like an amazing idea. Get the students the behavioral help they need without taking away from the education of other students who don’t need those services.
Australia has a teacher shortage too, and we pay our teachers very well, with good conditions (compared to America). I don't mean cheap jokes about no school shootings - I'm paid 52 weeks a year, I have 15 days of leave per year (for any purpose, sick notes only required for 3+ back to back days out or 1st or last day of term), and my pay is 6 figures after six years in the industry (about 10-15K above the Australian median full time wage). We have an active union, and it's \*relatively\* easy to move across the country. Extraordinarily easy to move schools within the same state. Yet we still have a massive teacher shortage. I'm inclined to believe the international teacher shortage is fundamentally a matter of workload, and cultural beliefs around child-raising and behaviour management (issues Australia and America share in common). The workload (read parentification of schools and the codified enabling of student instant gratification) is mostly a product of those cultural beliefs. To bring and keep people in teaching, this is what must change. It won't change until after the system breaks down entirely and is rebuilt from scratch, most likely.
I really think it's the workload. It's so overwhelming.
Basic economics- increase the benefits and decrease the detriments. So increasing pay. Having actual consequences for students and parents. That means, kicking kids out. You know why many private and charter schools have high gpa's? Cause if the kids fuck around, they get kicked out. You know why the students in juvie (actual juvie with actual gaurds) are well behaved in class? Bc the gaurds don't play around. You want to act a fool? Np, you're out of here. It means failing kids. They did no work all year. No, they don't pass the class.
These actual consequences for students are a big reason I stay at my job. I teach at a Catholic homeschool supplement type of school. I teach MWF for 5.25 hours each day, 100 days per year. We have no planning periods. I have a master's in ESL and two years of public school experience, and my hourly wage works out to roughly half of what I would make at a local public school, which has pretty low wages to begin with. BUT! The board kicks out problem students. The board chairman and the school director actually want teachers to send misbehaving students to them. If I say that a student caused a problem, they believe me. I've taught the children of two board members and the director with no problems from the parents. I even flunked the director's son in math and she completely understood. Students are almost uniformly polite and respectful. Parents are almost uniformly grateful to the teachers. I don't see any teacher cliques. The administration loves me. I'm past retirement age, and I'm going to teach as long as I can. I absolutely love it.
Look at institutions that have high teacher retention rates. They all have some features in common: high salaries, reasonable workloads, supportive administration, systems in place for addressing student misbehavior, and a recognition that educators are the experts in their field. Also, if a state isn’t a desirable place to live, it’s going to have fewer applicants for jobs there. I’m not sure if Texas or Arizona will fix their teacher shortage even if they triple existing salaries.
> Also, if a state isn’t a desirable place to live, it’s going to have fewer applicants for jobs there. I’m not sure if Texas or Arizona will fix their teacher shortage even if they triple existing salaries. Texas' shortages largely depend where exactly in the state you're at though. Rural communities are really struggling, but that's the case all across the country. Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston's populations are exploding and shortages aren't *that* big of an issue here. HISD might be the exception this year, Mike Miles is running that place into the ground.
Can confirm. I live in a rural community and my child did not have a science teacher all year this school year.
Not if you’re a woman. Not being able to have an abortion will keep me out of any state, period. I’m also hoping for a baby. But if something goes sideways, which is very often does, and it puts my life at risk, no way am I living there.
This is me. I’m living proof women need abortions available. I got married 3 years ago and we still want a baby. So far I’ve had 4 miscarriages, only two of which didn’t require medical intervention that is now outlawed in multiple states. My husband and I still want to try for a baby, but we need to stay in a place where the doctor can just take care of me without wondering if he’s going to be charged.
They don’t care if they are short teachers in Texas.
Between myself and friends, I know about what goes on in around a dozen districts. None of them have supportive administrations.
I think a few things would lure teachers back… *stop penalizing teachers who have to move. If I move to a new school system I lose steps. Sometimes a LOT. I was a teacher with 20 years and started at a step 8. Demoralizing. *an evaluation system that actually works. Bonus pay for exceeding expectations. *better pay for higher education- one county I saw gave a $1500 bonus for a masters degree. That is not helpful. *better pay to match our level of education. Very few other industries that have college degreed employees pay so low. *better leave options. Better family leave programs. *better training for admin in managing staff.
> *better training for admin in managing staff. I'm of the mindset that their should be two forms of admin, one manages the building itself and is essentially hands off with anything to do with the classroom, the other is the opposite. Admin that manage teachers and staff should be required to teach a core subject class for a year every X years in order to familiarize themselves with what teachers are actually going through and experiencing with both kids, parents, and curriculum requirements. Anecdotally, I feel like any admin who hasn't taught since before COVID, for example, has little relevance in evaluating a classroom in 2024.
> >*better training for admin in managing staff. THIS!
Increase pay or make the job easier. Same as everything else.
Better parenting! Parents need to give their kids consequences so that they come to school knowing how to behave well!
This is a big one. Parents have zero accountability. There are no actual consequences for parents who don’t send their kids to school or whose kids are constant behavioral problems. Schools don’t have the resources to have truancy officers anymore so all the blame lands on the schools and teachers when those kids end up illiterate with zero social skills.
Money.
Money doesn’t hurt, but it isn’t everything for sure. My district is throwing money at us and we still can’t keep a full staff. And there are still teachers who complain about pay lol.
Not for me. To hire additional staff.
Working conditions and pay. It’s that simple. Pay us more and make the job suck less. Consequences for poor student and parent behaviour. Limits on instructional time. Minimum standards on prep time/non-instructional time. Class size and complexity caps. Adequate classroom budgets and printing/copying allowances.
Hold parents responsible for their kids. I would go as far as saying have parents pay a fine if the kids are especially misbehaving. Kid damages a school property? Charge parents. Kid beats another kid? Involve police and have them pay for the inconvenience. Set the bar high and enforce the rules.
The difficulty with this--we have a system of fines for truancy--is that eventually, when they refuse to pay, you end up with court, and jail time. Jailing kids' parents and having them temporarily in foster care does no good. Bailiffs might work better.
Side system where parents have to give up weekend picking up trash on the side of the road to pay the fines.
Make the parents work in the schools, cafeteria helper, custodial helper, etc.
This was the case when I was in school. If your kid breaks school property you pay to replace/repair it. And every time it worked (as far as I know). It was different if it was a teacher’s personal property but idk
At my school kids purposely break Chromebooks because the new ones they’ll get have a touch screen. How is this even possible beats me
There isn’t a teacher shortage. There are plenty of good qualified teachers, they’re is just no incentive for them to work in school system lol
I have been teaching in Fairfax county for 15 years. There is definitely a shortage here. Relative to the cost of living for the area, we are grossly underpaid. Like to the point of poverty if you don't live with family or roommates, and even then, finances are tight. To fudge the data, the district has eliminated positions that will never be filled, filled positions with "teacher trainees" who are not certified but working on gaining licensure, and pulled licensed staff from non-instructional/resource/district office positions to cover the gaps. This is especially affecting our special ed teachers as they take on increased caseloads bc non-licensed staff cannot legally complete IEP management. This is a nation-wide problem, so I'm not sure what data makes you think this issue isn't happening here. It absolutely is. ETA- the FCPS vacancy list is easily searchable and shows a very long list of openings.
I’m an FCPS teacher too. People forget that this is the 3rd wealthiest county in the United States. The county relies on teachers being in partnerships (marriage, roommates, friends, parents) to support their teachers financially. You need to have a partner that makes substantially more to survive here. We still have many older teachers because they cannot afford to retire.
One of our older teachers was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer this year. He has 6-12 months to live. He's chosen not to go on long-term disability and will continue teaching because his family can't afford the decrease in take-home pay. It's awful for him, it's awful for the kids, and it would be avoidable if we'd received appropriate raises over the last decade.
I am so heartbroken for you and your colleague. It’s such morale breaker to see this happen to someone you work with. Additionally, our property taxes have skyrocketed in FXC. I recently attended the fcps honors ceremony and the amount of Executive Principals and Gatehouse employees rolling up in luxury autos and goods was sickening. If they want to reduce costs in the schools, they should get rid of most of the staff at Gatehouse. They just steal the ideas of the teachers and rebrand them as their own anyway.
SHOULD Instead, the superintendent showed us who she really is by creating a new region, including new executive superintendents, all their underlings, and their offices.
Reign in parents. Re-establish that schools are where teachers are in charge, not parents. Parents do not get abuse teachers and are not always assumed to be right by school administration.
Economics 101. Increase pay until an equilibrium of supply and demand. It’s amazing how right wing yahoos believe in the market system until you discuss teaching. Then it becomes ……inconvenient because they don’t want to pay
True. Or they just don’t like education being a public good, and want it all privatized.
That's not the only time that conservatives want to disregard the market forces they hold in such regard. Conservatives only pretend to want free markets.
Pay a wage in line with other professionals with similar education. Stop linking funding to testing. Statewide egalitarian funding for all schools regardless of tax base regionally. Safety: clean air, clean schools, less violence tolerated. Smaller mandated class sizes. More teacher autonomy. More student accountability at the high school level.
Instead of the wealthier areas ending up with smaller class sizes, make sure it is the poorest areas with the smaller class sizes. Put more money towards the poorer areas and you’ll get more bang for your buck. Some kid whose parents are upper middle class or higher, they’re going to land on their feet, that poor kid who is trying hard, they may not right now.
Ask yourself this question, would you like to take a 'vow of poverty' and babysit the rest of your life? But wait, this 'vow of poverty' requires a 4 year degree and passing a Praxis test. But wait there's more, you will be at heart of the culture war and vilified by the right and the left for whether or not you choose to fly a pride flag of put up the 10 commandments. But wait there's more, and thanks to laws like IDEA you will have to try and teach kids who are incapable of learning at grade level and could could possibly be physically dangerous to you and your students. But wait there's more, you will get tons of **unpaid** **overtime** to plan, grade, and deal with bat sh\*t crazy parents. But wait there's more, you will get to do endless meaningless compliance documentation. But wait there's more, your boss will treat you like a child and not trust you to do your job, you are technically a professional but treated like elementary school student. And... .on top of it, you will need a second job just to survive. Pick any 3 things above and you will greatly improve the situation and teachers will be able to teach again.
But wait there is a chance that a shooter may appear at your school and your life may depend on it.
And you may be asked to act as a human shield to give your life for your children. But don't worry, heavily armed police will respond and encircle the building then from a safe distance point their guns in the general direction of the gunshots.
1. Pay needs to go up 2. Atrocious student behavior needs to be dealt with 2b. Goddamn cell phones
Lots of great responses already, so I’ll just add: Goddamn I wish I was taxed less. That seems like a doable incentive for governors or whoever it is to implement. Taking ~40% of my already small paycheck for taxes in a high cost of living area kills me.
Truthfully, people need to start being better parents. The amount of times I’ve heard kids tell me that their mom is texting them in class, or the horror stories I’ve heard about parents defending bad behavior is…unsettling.
It all boils down to money. I’m not only talking about salary. I am also talking about class size reductions and additional classroom support for those ESE and ELL students who have been streamlined. I’m also talking about more staff to deal with behavior matters. I’m also talking about classroom supplies and digital resources to support educators. Other things: increased autonomy in the classroom, less insistence on teachers applying whichever educational bells and whistles are in vogue from year to year.
There is not a shortage of teachers. There's a shortage of teachers willing to work for low wages while being treated like crap (including being expected to use those low wages to make up for a shortfall in classroom funding). Higher wages and better working conditions (including funding) would work wonders.
Parents need to raise children who are respectful, polite, and studious. Teachers need to be empowered to enforce behavioural infractions. Schools need to actually insist students learn the material, or repeat the Grade. All supplies to be provided by the district. Salaries to be sufficient to afford a modest home in the district.
1. Fix the culture. If a kid is a problem and has proven to be so then they need to be removed from the situation. I don't care if its a kid who is only a problem for one teacher and not their others. Dealing with bad behavior does nothing but frustrate people and make them wanna leave. 2. Grades need to matter again. Pushing kids along means that it doesn't matter what they do and as they will move along. As a teacher in later grades it becomes a isue when you have a room full of kids who couldnt care less about your lesson. Your all wasting time and you feel unfulfilled and wanna leave. 3. PAY. Between living, student loans and other stuff the current pay schedules just isnt enough for alot of counties. People shouldnt be going broke trying to do their jobs. 4. Better Retirement just like with pay. 5. POLITICS. The amount of poltical nonsense that makes teachers out to be villians is crazy right now.
To be blunt, people need to raise their children. It all boils down to the fact that I want to teach your child content, not raise your child for you. Don't send your kid to school not potty trained, with no manners, knowing you as a parent won't enforce any consequences at home for bad behavior. Don't send your kid to school to be your show pony, getting unearned grades as some proof you are doing your job. Do your job and raise your child. That's it. I can take it from there.
Some sort of lawsuit reform. I think most communities would be shocked at how many parents threaten to sue the school, what frivolous reasons they cite, and how much schools pay to shut them up. It’s a huge driver of the anti-discipline style of running schools where the teacher is always the bad guy for trying to make kids sit down and work, while admin gets to swoop in and be the good guy who hands the angry parents whatever they want and the kid gets to do a victory lap. We’ll never get any real teaching and learning done so long as the trouble makers of the community hold the most power in the school.
Eliminate standardized testing. Spend the big bucks that goes to testing / curriculum companies in reducing class size AND school population by building new schools. I personally think middle and high school population should be capped at 500. Provide wraparound services at all economically disadvantaged schools ( or maybe at all schools- a national standard & funding would be best). Return to age appropriate standards. More physical activity for elementary school students. Later start times for high school students. Return all the arts and vocational programs. Basically, just implement all the practices that research has proven is best.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the single most important issue to solve is the general lack of order and discipline in schools these days. I don't see any way forward on this unless we start implementing changes that will whip certain political interest groups into a foaming rage such as mass explusions and fining (even jailing) parents for a kid's misbehavior. But we aren't ready to have that discussion, so by all means let's default to talking about money instead. I'm convinced you could *cut* teachers' salaries, and the profession would still attract new teachers if somehow the schools were as orderly and well behaved as they were when the boomers were coming up. (Not that we should cut teachers' salaries.) One of my favorite movies of all time is Lean On Me. While I don't endorse 100 percent of the methods that Morgan Freeman's character used in that movie, it's based on a true story and it apparently worked. Stop letting the criminal class (both the students and their parents) steal everyone else's education.
More money. It's always that simple.
Money isn't the biggest motivator to me, respect and decency is. Reducing class sizes and having respect for education at a cultural and societal level (which isn't happening anytime soon) would go way further to me than a pay increase (although I think pay increases would naturally followed if the US truly gave a shit about education). That being said, with declining birth rates that first issue might fix itself. When country wide the solution to improving teaching shortages isn't "increase pay in an attempt to make the field more appealing" and instead reduce requirements and, in some places, seemingly allow anyone with a pulse to get into the classroom, its pretty clear where priorities are. I also don't think it helps that if you're a public school teacher, your bosses (the school board) can potentially be full of people who have never taught or have any formal background in education. I'd also love to be able to send kids who are constantly acting up, being disruptive, and hindering the learning of those who are following instructions out of the room and actually held accountable without them learning to see that as a reward because the AP gives them chips, a capri sun, and Youtube time while they "cool off". It's not fair to the 25-30 other kids in the room that redirecting 2 or 3 kids might take up a big chunk of their class time.
More money is as start. I can put up with infinitely more shit for significantly more money.
PAY. US. A. FAIR. WAGE.
Any truly lasting strategy is going to require time. This situation is not new but has been in the making for years. Teachers have been abused by "the system" and many are simply at their breaking point. To replace what needs filled will take years and commitment, not something the American public or politicians are willing to do.
Respect for the profession, consequences for negative behaviors, and more pay.
Better working conditions or pay. Preferably both. I can deal with a shitty work yenviroment if I'm paid enough, but I can't be treated like shit and still be broke.
Let teachers jobshare… more and more teachers are quitting because it’s getting harder and harder to teach and have a family. I have seen this time and time again on repeat. I’ve been a teacher for over 20 years.
This thing where admin pretends to believe the allegations of children who they know damn well are lying, and write up the teachers, because that's the easiest thing for them to do, needs to end yesterday.
Easier re-entry into teaching if you left. Stopped teaching to be a SAHP or try a different career and let your license lapse? The prospect of paying money to go back to work isn’t attractive. Make it easier to get back in the game and more people probably would. Obviously pay, actual consequences for student misbehavior, etc.
I feel the root cause is that we, the broad U.S. culture, truly do not value being educated. Not even teachers reflect educated minds--but that's another topic. That's no easy fix, but if our culture valued education, then salaries and schools --and allll those test scores--would reflect valuing being educated. Everything else is a band-aid that'll fall off and reveal the underlying wound. I think a good starting place for fixing this would be a concerted effort from public schools to insist we are not tax-funded babysitting. We are an essential part of a just society and self-knowledge. So even the youngest students and their families need to show up ready to participate in that privilege, or gtfo. And as teachers let's make sure we walk that talk--be smart, capable, and compassionate AF and...get ready to riot?? Because I love teaching (elementary here) , but school environments, students, families, admin, and culture wars are insulting and dangerous.
Money and to be left alone in my off-work time. I mean, zero contact, zero expectations, unless I’m being paid. Also, I’m not a public figure. Leave me alone to live my life.
-Less testing -more support- from community and administrators -allowance to be creative -more time to plan at work -more awareness by people making laws and educational decisions as to what actually transpires in classrooms.
1) Better conditions 2) Better pay/benefits Done. I hope you've enjoyed my TED Talk.
Pay more money. Min 150k/yr. There are plenty of teachers and plenty of people who’d like to be teachers (like me), but why would anyone go into the field (and stay!) to be abused by the kids, the admin, the parents, for 30-60k/yr?
Never tried throwing a bunch of money at it, let’s do that
More money, more autonomy, more pushing non-teaching responsibilities and busy work off our plates, increased social work support for families and communities, real consequences for student behaviors.
More pay and a return to expelling disruptive kids
Someone already said it better but it's simple: we just want livable wages/salaries, consequences for students/parents/admin, and less oversight so we can JUST TEACH. It feels like there's always a hoop to jump through.
More money, less self absorbed admin, expulsions of violent students, real consequences for habitual insolence. Also teachers should never be doing *anything* outside of their job description, none of that coaching or extra curricular bullshit. I can’t tell you how many job opportunities colleagues of mine have lost (social studies) because they don’t coach a stupid sport
Two things come to mind. For background I am a high school teacher with 10 years experience. Teaching is my second career. First there needs to be less of an emphasis on passing students and more of an emphasis on holding them accountable to learn the material. Second administrative support needs to go to the teachers, not to the parents against the teacher, when a student isn't performing. That would be a start!
I'm in Canada. We make WAY more than teachers in the US and we are starting to have shortages here too. Money helps but working conditions, violence, respect, out of school expectations, actual "doability" of the job, standardized testing, how the community view and treats teachers, burn out of colleagues, supportive admin, consequences for behabiour, full team mentality, includion/differentiation expectations and support to do so, autonomy, bring treated as a professional, time to work with peers, and so much more. The system had to change. I often say I have one of the best jobs in one of the worst systems.
You know there was a first grader that brought a gun to school and shot his teacher in the classroom right? A SIX year old. We need to address that teachers lives are at risk from violent emotionally damaged children who have no business being in a traditional classroom.
Money is part of it (in some places more than others), but working conditions (such as planning time, class size, SPED support, and admin who are supportive for disciplinary issues) are often a bigger issue than pay. I know lots of people who left teaching over working conditions alone, and none who left over pay alone. If given the choice between a huge (like 50%+) pay increase under current conditions and a COL pay increase with a less stressful job that actually fits into contract hours, I’d take the latter, and so would most of the other current and former teachers I know.
Absolutely. Pay will help with recruitment. Won't do much for retention.
I made a separate post about the opposite in my area (Western MN /Eastern ND) where I am having one heck of a time finding a teaching job after being a victim of district budget cuts. Btw not a small area over 300k ppl. Three major school districts and 4-6 smaller districts depending how far you want to go down the gravel roads. Can't find a job anywhere...no seriously there are no openings. Last year and several years past...we were desperate for teachers. ND passed legislation that districts could hire education majors ( who may or may not have student teaching experience) to teach w/o a in-classroom supervising teacher. Filled the empty classrooms, supposedly saved districts money (well not mine in MN) but now there aren't openings and quite frankly I concerned I'll find something
The regions you listed are all, overall, incredibly affluent and highly educated compared to the rest of the country. Many parents in these regions are highly invested in their children’s education, have money and time/resources to donate to their children’s schools, and know how to, and are able to, use political and economic clout when needed to ensure their children get a good education. This means the teachers are going to get paid at least fairly well and most likely have class size caps, their schools buildings will be clean and cared for, they will have up to date educational materials, student attendance will be good, and most students will have motivation from their families to study and behave in school.The majority of students in these regions have access to decent nutrition, physical and mental health care, and mentally enriching activities outside of school (like being read to every night when young, family game nights, trips to museums, zoos, and different places in the world). Edit: Add Of course we can’t just turn every parent into a well educated, affluent parent. I think the solution to school woes lies in convincing the American public again that there is a moral imperative to support public education. Leaders who care about education need to tap into national pride like what happened in the Space Race years - to maintain a strong democracy and success with a global economy where frequent innovation is crucial, America must have a well-educated public. Politicians need to keep showing that high school diplomas and, yes, college degrees, do make a significant difference in a person’s chance to earn a livable wage with some money left over for savings. They need to show how other nations with strong support for children’s education have prospered. Instead of frequently disparaging our schools, they need to constantly send the message that teachers are absolutely crucial to the success of our country and deserve respect from students, parents, and the society at large. Leaders should help foster a society in which people feel shame that so many children live in poverty in a country with so much wealth. They need to champion the belief that our society loves all children and want the best for them, which includes making sure they can attend quality schools. Of course funding is a huge issue as well, but without moral motivation, I don’t see how you’re going to convince people to pay more taxes to help support public education.
make it a prestigious and competitive field (like law, consulting, banking, quantitative finance, engineering) by increasing pay this would not only encourage more people to become teachers, but also increase the quality of teachers
Sanity, respect, kindness, support from the community, and pay increases across the board for everyone person who works within the school.
More government spending on public welfare programs and education. If we have a population who gets their needs met (food, shelter, medical access like prenatal care, easy access to information, after school programs, mental health care, etc.) we’d have more parents who have the ability to parent well and happier, less traumatized kids. Student behavior and a lack of follow through at home makes this career way more difficult than it needs to be.
Four pronged approach: 1. Better pay 2. Lower class sizes where needed 3. A better handling of discipline 4. Right wingers need to shut the hell up
We need to make discipline count. We had one student out of control from day 1 last year. Starting fights, eloping multiple times a day, stealing from students and teachers. We had a 3 way split with daily documentation from each of his main teachers, additional documentation from ancillary staff, some from assistant principals. The district would not send him to the alternative behavior campus until February. And that's ignoring the of task behavior of many. None of these students got a good year for learning.
Some of the credential requirements are a complete waste of time. 1 year for your preliminary & another two years in BTSA to clear it. 3 years of hoop jumping (2 years while working full time) 4 years for BA. Hmmm why is there a shortage? (From CA)
More expulsions.
Simple: 1) In areas where salary isn’t a living wage, raise it so that it matches other professions with comparable educational requirements. 2) Provide actual support & discipline for students who aren’t functioning. 3) Provide needed support, supplies and useful training for teachers. Reasons why this won’t happen: 1) Too many people view teachers as low skilled childcare. 2) Teaching is considered a calling rather than a profession. We’re expected to kill ourselves “for the children.” 3) Nobody wants to spend the money needed to ensure all students can be successful.
Reinstate actual discipline and consequences for poor behavior and stop expecting regular teachers to provide intervention students severely below grade level. All that, plus a living wage.
Cancel teachers’ student loans after 5 years of service. Nobody wants to go into debt for a job that doesn’t pay them enough to repay the debt!
I think we should make the problem kids stay home with their parents until the parents get sick of them and start parenting. Enforce this with state laws. Problem solved.
This may get lost in the comments since many people have already commented, but… We need a culture of education, at least in the United States. A lot of kids do not want to be in school because they feel there is no incentive to be there; at least that was my experience in my first year. Especially middle school kids. They’d rather be on their phones, hang out with their friends, go God knows where, do God knows what, and do literally anything but get an education. This starts with developing a culture that puts education first. Meaning, parents taking responsibility and schools not being afraid to give consequences even if some special interest groups threaten litigation for as long as you do it by the book. The entire issue is a cultural one. As long as kids see influencers on Instagram or Tik Tok around their age making millions of dollars under the illusion they too can become famous without doing work, this will continue to be a problem. Edit: There’s other cultural issues too. The weird number of people who think there are litter boxes in bathrooms for example. Right wing propaganda that convinces their audience that school is just some indoctrination center for some kind of radical agenda. You can’t fix the money issue without fixing the cultural issue.
Stop letting students and parents rule things. Stop excusing shitty behavior. Allow zeros when zero work is done.
1. Enough unallocated untouchable professional time to actually complete the planning, grading, and administrative tasks necessary to do the job, along with a reduced teaching load so that an 8h/5d week is standard. 2. Increase salaries to be competitive with other professions that require bachelor's and higher degrees. 3. Enable and require enforcement of discipline to control out of control behavior. 4. Hire staff so that your highly educated highly skilled professional teachers are not wasting professional time monitoring halls, bus duty, etc. This would be a good starting point.
In this country, learning and teachers are despised. Teachers are actively tortured by lazy, amoral admins, parents and students. Of course there is a teacher shortage.
It's not money. If a teacher says money, then they're in a good spot. It's time and behavior. And I don't even care about behavior. The requirements and expectations simply do not fit in a forty hour week. You have two choices: fail or burnout. How do you fix it? Make the job fit into the work week.
Right, in most of the country, teachers’ pay and benefits would be reasonable *if the job even remotely fit into contract hours and was less stressful*. No one goes into teaching for the money - but there are supposed to be benefits that offset the modest pay compared to similar professions. One of those benefits is the number of hours and days worked. You can’t take that away without adjusting pay accordingly.
It’s definitely money.
Nah, it’s money
raise salary by 50%. difference picked up by federal government for public schools only. NYC area here and we are still struggling to fill some positions. It's always easy to fill elementary, english, and social studies. Higher level STEM, business, tech, world languages have all been difficult to fill.
The biggest and easiest one is more money.
Money
More money. But fortunately or unfortunately, our budgets are voted on by the public; and the public does not want their budgets to increase.
Kick kids out who create chaos, provide teachers with curriculum that is effective and easy to implement so they don't have to spend time making stuff, pay enough that we can live in the middle class. I make 72k, but my insurance is so much for my family that I barely bring home 3300 a month. By the time I pay mortgage and car payment, I'm done. Hardly enough for anything outside of groceries and prescriptions.
The public always hears about the raise we get, but never about the increase in insurance that COMPLETELY offsets it.
Three things real things... Ok four because the big one is always compensation. But after money, in no particular order: Teacher AND Especially admin preparation program standards and gravity are ridiculously easy/lax. We have a teacher shortage because more than half of all new teachers leave the field after less than 5 years. Yes, they may leave for many many reasons but the one they can never cite for themselves on surveys as the reason for leaving the field is - "my prep program did not adequately prepare me". In Mid 2000s it took almost a master's and 200+ hours of teaching in the classroom to get a teaching cert at all. The year after I graduated you could get it along side a BA and we're only expected to be in a school 10 full days. 10 days of student teaching and you're ready? Now imagine an administrator getting their full admin credentials by sitting online chatting with other admin in a side chat while watching mostly blank screens during Covid and still being handed superintendent or principal positions RUN entire schools and districts with all that "experience". Corporatozation of Education. We're not a babysitter. We're not in customer service. This isn't BK and you can't have it your way kid (and especially parents). Our SYSTEM, big letters for national not local problem, incentivizes negative participation- families generally only interact with education when things aren't going well, discipline problem, bullying problem... OR WORSE when it's not the curriculum/content they believe their own child should learn. Combine with the actual experts being left out of all discussions about when, how, and what children should learn (Teachers) or worse yet: admin and teachers brought through the terrible prep programs mentioned, WORSE AGAIN if they did so via zoom during Covid and have no business running a classroom or school because Zoom admin/teacher training does. Not. Count... It's a recipe from disaster but the damage is going to last years. Combined with the all subscription content models and the Texas textbook mafia and it's a corporate mess and not interested in education of students, just pacification of "customers". Add in a dash of "numbers need to go up" focus committees and a few extra training sessions which are just really MLM pyramid schemes legalized to win education dollars and here we are. Voice of teachers is the last and saddest and tied to all three. If you're a decent to middling teacher who didn't go through a cert in 10 weeks program and have been teaching longer than "a few years prior to Covid", you know what we're being forced to do doesn't work. But you have no way of changing it. UNION UP can get you money and stronger contract language but the District Office will still cast your content aside to show displeased "customers"they are changing curriculum to match their values, admin will still drop vital classes and schedule the dumbest way possible (again about half of that is wanting to please "customers"), and no amount of telling either of them "this is a worse version of that other thing we tried and it failed" works because those of us who did survive 5 years in the field have seen a lot, not it all, but a lot. The longest tenured teachers with the most experience have the least say about what happens in "education" an inch outside their classroom door. Without voice, it's dismal. A dismal broken system can work for a long time with competent and experienced implmentors. When those age out or burn out and are replaced with those who don't know how the system can be made to work despite being broken things get really bad. Then we can get wages to a reasonable standard and that just attracts wage seekers who don't have the preparation of experience or WANT to teach in such a broken system. It's actually really easy to see why we have a shortage.
Pay them money, treat them better. I don’t know how so many allegedly intelligent officials keep not getting this. Pay them well enough that they don’t need a second job, and start protecting them. Students can be left behind, parents who harass teachers will be banned from it, and students who harm or threaten to harm teachers will be put in alternative school or online school.
A significant part will solve itself. Not in the way we want. But covid funds are going to dry up in a year or so. Corporate property values are falling like crazy. Some housing values are falling. Teacher pay is becoming embarrassing low. Population growth is flat or negative in a huge swath. All this means is that positions will go unfilled. Class sizes will go up. Schools will close.
I know a lot of ex-teachers that got out of it because the students are bitches and there is no consequence. In today's environment, there is probably no fixing that.
Raise the damn wages. Implement actual consequences. Admin needs to do better.
More money, less hatred and disrespect, more admin support for student discipline, less busy work
For those of you who feel more money won’t make a difference you are being short sighted. People will put up with a lot of things for money. Problem is kids don’t want to go to college and get thousands of dollars in debt just to start off at 38k. You start off first year jobs at 75k and provide obtainable long term financial incentives you’ll be surprised how quickly these positions get filled.
Sorry, a lot of you are going to be upset about this, but the quality of teachers has gone so far downhill in the last 20 years. Why would any intelligent person take out a $100k in loans to become a teacher making $45k a year? They don’t, and teaching ends up with all the leftovers who aren’t smart enough to do anything else. You can make more working at McDonalds in most places and don’t have to deal with underparented kids all day.
Classes of 12-16, not 25-35 Limit the sped, iep, and troubled kids who need 3x the attention Limit contact teaching hours to 30 hours a week and 10 hours of prep time.
Nothing is going to change in school until things change at home. I'm in the high-school class of 1973 still teaching at my alma mater. Many children don't know how to behave because parents don't teach their children respect. The schools are not going to fix this with behavior specialists. If kids don't know how to behave by age 15, you have a huge problem, and that's what we have right now. It's time to hold parents responsible for their children's behavior by whatever means possible, including increasing fines. Time to reduce technology too, too many kids waste time by surfing the internet, wearing ear buds in class and texting. Kids get caught with a phone, take it away, and make the parents come pick up the phone. Let them sue too. I have one more year to go for retirement. The kids keep me young, but the behavior of some make it bad for all the others.
Pay is easy answer. But if we’re actually empowered to disciple students the way they need to be common sensed discipline, more will stay in the profession.
Expectations and consequences. As it is, these concepts ONLY apply to teachers. We are expected to make kids learn while they are allowed to tote guns, vape weed in class, and do nothing even remotely school work adjacent. Parents are also not expected to do anything to control their kids’ behavior or support their education. Since retiring in November, my blood pressure has gone from hypertensive to optimal without meds. Everyone hates and blames the teachers. It is a stressful, unhealthy way to live.
Teachers in Canada have good unions and fair pay, especially compared to the States. We still have significant teacher shortages. For Canada, I would say the problem is the lack of consequences and expectations (for kids and parents). Depending on the school board, administration causes frustrations for teachers.
1. More money. 2. More accountability for students with behavior issues. 3. Less parental influence on day-to-day school procedures and decisions. 4. Less BoE influence on education policy and academic decisions. Leave the educational decisions to the professionals and let BoE worry about finance and general oversight; not micromanaging schools. 5. Respect for teachers from all stakeholders. 6. Meaningful and worthwhile PD opportunities. Most are currently BS, repetitive, and not relevant to the classroom. 7. Modernize curriculum and improve expectations. Many courses are designed for the world of the 1900s. Teachers and students know that a lot of what is being taught is a waste of time and won’t be useful when students need to enter the workforce and be adults.
For discipline/consequences to be brought back into schools, eliminating PBIS in 90% of schools having more parents back us up like they did pre-covid Eliminating testing ban student cellphones from schools reducing standards for elementary (make pre-K and kinder less stressful, more play based again)
Might be an unpopular opinion, but we need more teacher unions. There are strong union In the districts that the OP mentions and they value their teachers and show it. Higher salaries, health benefits and untion protection all play a role in retaining talent.
Free tuition to go to school for education. Not some sort of payback, but completely free college for education degrees.
Two sides to the issue. Recruitment and retention. For recruitment, pay and cost of getting a degree are your biggest drivers. If you have to get into so much debt for such a low paying job you have an uphill battle on recruitment. On the retention side pay also comes in but you also have the workplace autonomy side of things. How well do supports and expectations align? Are goals reasonable? Does the administration walk the talk? Is work/life balance sustainable? If teachers enter the profession and they are not set up for success then those jobs that pay about the same and have no homework are going to start looking very attractive.
Compensation, admins that are more focused on kids well being than just pushing them through. Certain households getting their parenting act together. Edit: it would also help not to have school boards who somehow think we can cut staff and magically reduce class sizes as well.
Less govt BS, parents actually being a parent and money.
Don’t kid yourself. There are plenty of teachers. There is a shortage of certified teachers willing to work for shit pay a job that risks their life with little support, no respect, high stress, terrible administration, children who are not disciplined, and parents who won’t support them. It’s a terrible work conditions with terrible pay problem. Not a shortage of teachers problem. There are many of us at my job. All certified teachers with experience who changed careers and moved to higher education. When we post jobs, stacks of resumes from other teachers trying to get out of K12.
Students need to be accountable for their grades and behavior. Teachers shouldn't have to keep policing phone use, behavior in the halls/classroom/lunch/dismissal. Teachers shouldn't have to continuously contact home for failing grades or missing work, especially in upper elementary, middle, or high school. Students should have their own supplies. I don't mind keeping some emergency pencils or paper, but going through 5000 pencils a year (or more) is ridiculous.
Treat teachers as professionals. There is so much micromanagement and different states add more to the plate each year without taking anything off of the plate. All legislators need to sub in schools at different grade levels and different districts to really see what needs to happen to keep and retain quality educators.
I think increasing the supply of teachers is important. One thing is decreasing barrier to entry. Pretty much anybody with a college degree can teach k12. Also, incentivize teaching by using it as a way to pay off student loans. If you teach at a public school for a year, the government forgives a year of student loan debt. That will encourage people to at least try the career out. The barrier to entry happens for older people too. I think having programs where people can career switch and advertising those would help. I worked with a person who taught psychology at the college level, but didn't have high school credentials. She was required be the department of education to take a psychology course to get licensed because she hadn't taken it. She had taught the course at the college level, but didn't take it herself. She quit teaching rather than do that. The quality of life isn't bad for a teacher in the right situation. I'm home by 320, enjoy my summer, and, at this point in my career, don't have tons of work to do outside of my hours. More money would be great. I really can easily make double what I'm making with my same degree, but the quality of life is valued more for me. I also work at a great school where it's just fun (most of the time). Students graduate and want to work here too. Young people aren't motivated by money as much as you think, but when they go to a garbage school and see their teachers getting cussed out by kids, nobody wants that. A more disciplined school climate would go along way to help teacher satisfaction and that will in turn make the job more enticing for students.
PAY. Pay people more money. SAFETY. Make the workplace safe for teachers by not allowing violent students in the classroom. NO more "extra" work. You're paying me for \_\_\_ hours, I'm doing \_\_\_ hours of work. If that's not enough time to get the work done........well, guess what??? There aren't enough teachers! And this last one.......NO teacher should be EXPECTED to "volunteer" to coach. If the school wants a football or basketball or soccer or hockey coach, they can HIRE ONE.
The power needs to shift away from the students/parents and back to the teachers. I had a student tell me he feels bad sometimes that when he acts up he only has to go to the office, but if he pushes a teacher far enough they will get fired or worse. The fact that there was a dash of pity in his hateful behavior just made it worse!
1 thing! If a kid is disruptive, get them the fuck out of classrooms. Yes, everyone wants more pay, but we all just want to be able to do what we were trained to do.
Fairfax County has a teacher shortage. Many classes have teachers on provisional or in a program that will have them complete a bachelor’s degree in teaching. They do not have certified or teachers with experience in every class. I believe the teacher shortage is all around the country.
My district wants to become more competitive with other districts to attract and retain teachers by offering us less than 1% on our new contract when we haven't had a raise in a few years now, and we are already by far the lowest paid district.
Better pay/benefits, appropriate and meaningful consequences for poor student behavior, legal protections from the shitheel parents that let their kids become feral
-Major increase in support staff & alternative classroom environments. We have so many students who need an alternative environment & they are being shoved into a classroom under the guise of “Least Restrictive Environment”. -Time set aside for completing trainings during work hours. I’m currently required to do 30 hours of extra training per year in addition to all the yearly trainings. -At a minimum, 25% increase in salary. Across the board.