There is a teacher shortage in Kansas...and nationwide.
To address this, the Kansas Department of Education has launched a “marketing” effort to recruit young students into the profession. Their premise is that college students simply do not know how to go about becoming a teacher. And yet, universities have been actively recruiting for years.
And unlike many professions that are hidden away from sight, students are the ones who have seen...up close and firsthand...the realities of teaching under the disaster of No Child Left Behind. We have forfeited the professional decision-making of teachers for standardized one-size-fits-all testing. The recent name change from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act -- along with a slight reduction in testing -- has done little to restore teacher professionalism.
Fancy marketing efforts and video pep sessions are not going to overcome these realities.
So what CAN we do to restore professionalism? What can be done to make teaching a profession of respect that can recruit the best of the next generation? Here are a few ideas:
Let's restore tenure or “due process.” Once young teachers have demonstrated their competence in the first 3 years of teaching, they should not have to fear losing their jobs each year... to forever have to rent. The loss of tenure in Kansas caused a major exodus from the ranks of teachers. And until due process is restored, nothing else will bring students back to teaching.
Let's return all curricular design and subject testing to the hands of teachers. Go ahead and use the ACT for college placement. But rural and urban students are different (and require different teaching techniques?). Teachers must be the sole professionals responsible for developing the best curriculum. Unique teaching for unique students.
Administrators are not “instructional leaders.” Administration is there to support the teachers. And if you do not have good teachers to begin with, no administrator can cure the problem.
Here are a few more ideas:
Use only the technology that teachers’ request. A huge amount of money is going down the ed-tech rat hole. It appears "modern" to administrators and parents, but student performance is dropping. Gaming is not learning. And walking around a classroom as students individually play on “personalized” programs is not teaching.
Pay teachers a professional living wage. Most teachers do not enter teaching for the money, but some good teachers leave because they cannot support their families.
Stop removing “barriers to teaching” by “lowering the bar.” Research shows that most alternative route teachers do worse in the classroom. You wouldn’t want nurses performing surgery or doctors trained in nighttime online courses. When we must fill positions with unqualified persons, call them permit or emergency teachers, but do not give them fake credentials.
And finally... let's revive respect for teachers. Educators are greatly respected in Asia and Europe. Not so in America, where teachers have become the target of blame for all of our social ills — the “Rodney Dangerfield” of professions, if you will. And this needs to change.
After all, teaching IS the greatest of all professional fields. A good teacher gives you more than skills...and more than an education. A good teacher gives you a better, more meaningful life. And certainly, that's worth something.