tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post6856807563795764943..comments2024-03-29T04:34:05.185-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Arizona's Teacher DesertPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-50835924975520542932017-01-13T23:02:46.651-05:002017-01-13T23:02:46.651-05:00Arizona is a far cry away from "waking up to ...Arizona is a far cry away from "waking up to the problem." I'm an Arizona Special Education Teacher, with a Masters Degree, and five years experience, who is done, done, done. Arizona education is deplorable. I quit teaching! I have many other talents. Arizona- It's YOUR loss!<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138496366959522955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-52997601051143031652016-02-15T11:21:17.083-05:002016-02-15T11:21:17.083-05:00I appreciate the depth and knowledge you reported ...I appreciate the depth and knowledge you reported about Arizona's education crisis. It is beyond frustrating to be a citizen of Arizona, with children in the schools and be a college education student with hopes of teaching in AZ. Hopefully AZ has finally woken up to the problem...Check out my blog out the situation: http://jessicalynnfuentes.weebly.com/blog<br />Fuentes Familyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10611063560608381317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-47988953608972018312015-06-18T08:33:48.575-04:002015-06-18T08:33:48.575-04:00I guess they're not recruiting in North Caroli...I guess they're not recruiting in North Carolina even though the unofficial slogan there seems to have gone, in a few short years, from "working to be the best in the Southeast" to "almost as good as Mississippi is good enough."Ed Baptisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578583007339044302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-41943622775849279772015-06-17T10:31:30.680-04:002015-06-17T10:31:30.680-04:00Arizona is home to Lisa Graham Keegan, famous (i.e...Arizona is home to Lisa Graham Keegan, famous (i.e. notorious) for her campaign to "put the money in the backpack". As state superintendent in the 90's, she forged the path for AZ to be a leader in the privatization efforts that are now a big feeding frenzy across the nation.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03598708986637325659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-69827683094249741322015-06-16T15:03:15.009-04:002015-06-16T15:03:15.009-04:00Recently there was a bill introduced in the RI Gen...Recently there was a bill introduced in the RI General Assembly--The Bright Today Scholarship and Open Enrollment Education Act--allowing families to choose any school: public (in or out of their district), private, parochial, online, or homeschool, and bring taxpayer "scholarship" money with them. The sponsoring group, the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity, spoke admiringly at the Hearing about the Arizona school choice bill and exclaimed over how great it was for kids, especially special needs kids. They enthused that this idea is taking off across the country and RI should get in on it. A few minutes of googling had revealed that much of the language of the bill was lifted from ALEC model legislation. At least there is not much chance in RI for that egregious bill to become law. The extent to which public education in many states has already been eroded is shocking and despicable.Sheila Ressegerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03825902968436088673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-25133332777110992512015-06-16T13:04:30.526-04:002015-06-16T13:04:30.526-04:00Dienne,
I think one reason Universities have &quo...Dienne,<br /><br />I think one reason Universities have "been silent" is that they operate in a system that resembles universal charter school networks more than resembling traditional public schools.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-47846908151021761552015-06-09T10:55:46.497-04:002015-06-09T10:55:46.497-04:00Here's more from the HuffPost about Nevada'...Here's more from the HuffPost about Nevada's teacher shortage, and the lame-brained "superhero" recruiting campaign:<br /><br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/las-vegas-teacher-hiring_n_6834874.html<br /><br />It's more of the same, including a different video of Superintendent Douchebag zip-lining through the air. The district says it will attempt to address route causes for the teacher shortage such as "job dissatisfaction" and "lack of respect", but once again, raising teacher salaries is, as the British say, "right out". The same goes for lowering class sizes.<br /><br />The COMMENTS are better than the article. Here's a sampling:<br /><br />----------------------------------------------------------------<br />"Theo Dolittle · Top Commenter<br /><br />"After busting their unions, driving their pay down, making them pay for school supplies out of their own salaries and blaming them for the state of education in our country, they are having trouble finding people who want the job? Go figure.<br /> <br />----------------------------------------------------------------<br />Tom Donohue · Top Commenter · San Francisco State University<br /><br />Teacher abuse is driving good teachers away, so they are retiring if possible. Can't tell you how many teachers I"ve come across in the last 10 yrs who have quit due to inhumane working conditions such as low pay, no classroom to teach in, no supplies for classroom, etc. I taught science for 20 yrs and had to quit as I had no classroom to teach biology in (which needs bunson burners etc.) and was bullied by the vice principal - much more but not enough space to write it all down here.I've met many other teachers who say the same thing.<br /><br />----------------------------------------------------------------<br />Paul Vankat · Top Commenter · Owner at Aztec Business Group<br /><br />America needs to wake up. When the likes of Scott Walker blame teachers for all the states' problems, who wants to teach? Teaching used to be a respected occupation. Fewer and fewer people now are going into education. Here in Nevada, they fast-track principals who have next-to-no classroom experience. The last 4 Nevada Governors have cut spending to the bone. There are no supplies and almost no specialists to handle special kids. You have special needs kids and behavioral problem kids mixed in with the rest of the population. You can't teach 30 kids when 2 or 3 get all the attention. I, for one, am glad I got my kids through Nevada schools. I would probably not let them attend public education right now. I do not blame the teachers for that.<br /><br />----------------------------------------------------------------<br />Nancy Navarro-Agustin · Top Commenter · Nova Southeastern University<br /><br />And now, they are taking away teachers' retirement benefits! Good luck attracting applicants with low wages and no retirement! Not to mention indifferent parents and could-care-less community!<br />Oi Vay!<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911854468188214107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-60330770993102156402015-06-07T15:18:13.322-04:002015-06-07T15:18:13.322-04:00I'm looking at the survey questions from this ...I'm looking at the survey questions from this study you hyper-linked at:<br /><br />http://www.azed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/err-initial-report-final.pdf<br /><br />Here's a shocker (on p. 29 of the Appendix):<br /><br />---------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />"Question 14: In general, educators who were recruited out of Arizona typically remain in a district / charter school...<br /><br />"ANSWER .......................................RESPONSES<br />CHOICES<br /><br />"A) 0 - 2 years .................................. 40.94 %<br /><br />"B) 3 - 5 years .................................. 48.32 %<br /><br />"C) more than 5 years ..................... 10.74 %<br />--------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Holy sh%& !<br /><br />That's an attrition rate of 41% leaving at 2 years or less. (i.e. more than 4-out-of-ten, more than 40-out-of-100)<br /><br />and<br /><br />an attrition rate of 89.26 % (call it 9-out-of-10, or 90-out-of-100... leaving at 5 years or less ... i.e. combined number of those leaving 0 - 2 years AND 3-5 years)<br /><br />That's just staggering.<br /><br />It must just flat out suck to work as a teacher in that state.<br /><br />Also, keep in mind that 31 schools surveyed refused to answer this question, with 149 answering. One can presume that many or all of those schools among the "31" did not have promising answers to that question that they wished to share.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911854468188214107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-54728089282196638652015-06-07T11:31:27.580-04:002015-06-07T11:31:27.580-04:00And not just pay, Common Core and testing, overcro...And not just pay, Common Core and testing, overcrowded classrooms have to be another reason for quitting. Even if you pay decently and get more teachers, class size has to be a priority too.Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-78132912142601797102015-06-07T11:17:08.517-04:002015-06-07T11:17:08.517-04:00The top comment from the Ed Week article of Vegas&...The top comment from the Ed Week article of Vegas' teacher shortage crisis---written by one "Sir Johnny", nails it:<br /><br />------------------------------------------------<br />9:19 PM on April 10, 2015<br /><br /> Sir Johnny: <br /><br />"$35,000 / year doesn't cut it anymore. Trying purchasing a house for that amount of money as a single person. You want me to fork out $85K for a bachelor's degree (what Pitt or Penn State now cost) and you can only pay $35K ... nope, not going to happen. Doesn't matter if you are paying both sides of Social Security or not. Pay needs to be around $60K/year to make it worthwhile."<br />------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Another comment from "eppie", a licensed veteran teacher in Nevada, says that it's not all about money:<br /><br />------------------------<br /><br />7:18 AM on April 11, 2015<br /><br />eppie: <br /><br />"As a licensed Nevada teacher for both elementary and middle school (including math and science), I will not go back in the class room until Common Core, the SBAC testing, and the student data tracking, storing and sharing, is removed from our state. The article failed to mention the reason many NV teachers retired early is because of Common Core."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911854468188214107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-47669983554102867952015-06-07T11:06:02.597-04:002015-06-07T11:06:02.597-04:00Things there are so godawful that to solve the pro...Things there are so godawful that to solve the problem, those in charge<br />even come up with this idiotic "superhero" teacher recruiting campaign where<br />Las Vegas' (i.e. Clark County's) anti-union school superintendent Pat Skorkowsky<br />went zip-lining through downtown Las Vegas like a superhero to drum<br />up publicity, and where all human resource dept. workers now wear superhero capes. <br /><br />I'm not kidding... watch this video of this blithering idiot soaring through the air:<br /><br />https://vimeo.com/118380094<br /><br />Hey, Pat Skorkowsky... why don't you just pay educators a decent, (union-negotiated?) salary, with decent benefits, job conditions, etc.? This is a profession, not a low-level service job like cocktail waitressing!!! No... the rich Red States' folks don't want their taxes raised.<br /><br />The Ed Week article BELOW has Staci Vesneske, the district's chief human resources officer, implicitly dismissing the notion of raising teachers' salaries will be part of the campaign. There's more details about the "superhero" campaign<br /><br />http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2015/04/are_you_a_certified_teacher_cl.html<br /><br />ED WEEK: "One challenge in attracting candidates is wages. The starting salary for teachers there is just under $35,000, less than the national average and lower than other similarly sized urban districts. (The 2012-13 national average teacher starting salary was $36,141.) But that number may appear deceptively low, Vesneske said, because district employees do not pay for Social Security withholdings—the district covers those costs—and there are other financial perks that may make the salary worthwhile, she said.<br /><br />"The need for teachers is more crucial in the elementary grades, but the district is looking for candidates in high-need areas such as math, science and special education, Vesneske said. Of the 2,600 teacher candidates the district is seeking, at least 1,000 will be elementary teachers, she said. <br /><br />" 'We are still looking for quality,' she said."<br /><br />----------------<br /><br />...but we don't want to have to pay anything for it....<br />she should have added.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911854468188214107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-76918406284885617252015-06-07T11:05:48.945-04:002015-06-07T11:05:48.945-04:00Again, let's take a trip to Sin City, U.S.A. a...Again, let's take a trip to Sin City, U.S.A. and find out<br />about the teacher shortage there:<br /> <br />http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/05/06/402887228/las-vegas-betting-on-new-teachers-but-coming-up-short<br /><br />"Las Vegas: Betting On New Teachers But Coming Up Short"<br /><br />The title of the NPR piece is wrong; those in charge in Clark County and Las Vegas are most certainly NOT "betting on" teachers. "Betting" implies you're putting money on the table on the square marked "teachers". They're doing nothing of the kind. They're only betting on... or hoping... that they can continue "cheaping out" on what they have to pay teachers. They believe that they do this, in part, by coming up with ridiculous gimmicks to get teachers to work in lousy conditions and for lousy pay. <br /><br />Back to NPR:<br /><br />--------------------<br /><br />Many veteran educators here say the shortage is undermining morale and student learning.<br /><br />"It shouldn't necessarily all be put on the veteran teachers to help the new teachers," says fifth-grade teacher Rob Rosenblatt. The shortage and overcrowding issues, he says, mean more work and more stress for teachers.<br /><br />The district increasingly relies on long-term substitutes and online classes to help plug the holes. And there is a critical shortage of qualified substitutes.<br /><br />Sarah Sunnasy teaches fifth grade at Bertha Ronzone Elementary School. She has back trouble but says she almost never calls in sick.<br /><br />SCARY GRAPH ILLUSTRATING SHORTAGE<br /><br />"I've come to school on days where I cried trying to get out of bed," Sunnasy says. "Because I know if I try to call in a sub, there is not going to be anybody there. And I'm not gonna put that pressure on the people that I work with to split my class or cover my class."<br /><br />Last school year in the district about 500 teachers quit without giving any reason. One of Rosenblatt's colleagues resigned a few weeks into the new school year. Rosenblatt says he and a colleague have had to pick up all the slack — lessons, report cards, grading and tests.<br /><br />"Basically it was the two of us teaching not just our two classes but a third class on top of it. I even told my kids, 'I'm neglecting you guys.' "<br /><br />He apologized to his regular class but told them he had to step in because the class next door "just wasn't getting the education they deserved."<br />-------------------------<br />--------<br /><br />CONTINUED on next post:Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911854468188214107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-80028686226156859072015-06-07T10:45:29.389-04:002015-06-07T10:45:29.389-04:00"Universities, which continue to take heavy h..."Universities, which continue to take heavy hits, get no such bone."<br /><br />While I recognize the harm to society when public higher education falls, I can't feel too sorry for universities themselves. They've been remarkably silent for the past decade and a half in the face of the assault on public K-12 education. Did they think they'd be spared? When they came for the K-12 teachers, I didn't speak up because I wasn't a K-12 teacher. When they came for the university professors, there was no one left to speak up.Diennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570040547158789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-34976260048410999852015-06-07T10:41:34.464-04:002015-06-07T10:41:34.464-04:00Peter,
The situation is even more catastrophic
i...Peter, <br /><br />The situation is even more catastrophic<br />if you head north to Nevada, and<br />this is what's coming to the rest of<br />the country.<br /><br />The situation for teacher in both states<br />are like two canaries in a coalmine...<br /><br />Or the tip of the sword... or the earliest<br />echo of the coming avalanche...<br /><br />whatever... it's early... and I can't<br />find the right metaphor.<br /><br />This is what ed reform has wrought...<br />the de-professionalization of teaching...<br />and the downgrading of the caliber of<br />the teaching force. Check out this quote<br />(from the link BELOW):<br /><br />http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/05/06/402887228/las-vegas-betting-on-new-teachers-but-coming-up-short<br /><br />----------------------------------------<br />"'I feel like I'm being challenged, which is a definite change," says first-year teacher Jessica Adams. She used to work as a cocktail server at the Planet Hollywood casino and resort on the Vegas strip. Unfulfilled with that career, she joined a fast-track teacher training program to get into the classroom.<br /><br />Server Jessica is now Ms. Adams, the fourth-grade teacher.<br /><br />"I really enjoy being with the kids and making a difference instead of serving tables," she says with a chuckle.<br /><br />The 26-year-old, who has a college degree in hospitality management, now works the floor in a temporary classroom trailer at Robert Forbuss Elementary, an overcrowded school in southwest Las Vegas.<br />-----------------------------------<br />------------------------------------<br /><br />Now, Jessica... if you're out there reading this, I don't mean to denigrate low-level service work such as cocktail waitressing, or degrees in "hospitality management", but as kids these days say, "WTF!" (What the f-word!)<br /><br />Are Bill Gates kids at Lakeside being taught by cocktail waitresses with a couple weeks "training"? Obama's kids? Rahm Emanuel's? Michelle Rhee's? Campbell Brown's?<br /><br />The enrollment at ed departments are dropping like an elevator ride at a Disney park... and current teachers are fleeing teaching like... like... like... I can't think of any more metaphors ... <br /><br />So what do they have to do in places where this crisis is being felt earliest---and there's no union, or an extremely weak union (i.e. right-to-work-FOR-LESS states)?<br /><br />CONTINUEDAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911854468188214107noreply@blogger.com