Is it time for teachers to get a raise?

  In his 2023 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called for public school teachers to get a raise but offered no specifics on how that could be done. Here, Michael Addonizio, an education policy expert at Wayne State University, provides insight on the current state of teacher salaries, whether a collective raise is in order, and how one might be achieved.

‘There’s only so far I can take them’ – why teachers give up on struggling students who don’t do their homework

  Whenever “Gina,” a fifth grader at a suburban public school on the East Coast, did her math homework, she never had to worry about whether she could get help from her mom.

  “I help her a lot with homework,” Gina’s mother, a married, mid-level manager for a health care company, explained to us during an interview for a study we did about how teachers view students who complete their homework versus those who do not.

‘Every day feels unsettled’ – educators decry staffing shortage

  The COVID-19 pandemic, with its multiple waves of remote, hybrid, and in-person education, increased students’ needs for support, revealed political minefields in teaching, and heightened labor tensions for educators. And in the 2021-2022 school year, staffing shortages have made all of that worse, as our work details.

  Our long-term research with hundreds of teachers and school administrators reveals that persistent staffing shortages are leading professionals to feel burned out and to worry about students missing learning opportunities.

‘Teaching has always been hard, but it’s never been like this’ – elementary school teachers talk about managing their classrooms during a pandemic

  As the omicron wave spikes across the United States, K-12 education is one of many systems buckling under the weight of expanding needs. Recent headlines highlight staff and busing shortages, parental anxieties about both in-person and distance schooling, and disputes between unions and districts. Yet teachers’ experiences in their classrooms can be overlooked in these conversations.

Teachers must often face student attacks alone

  When “Ms. Kyles,” a social studies teacher in a suburban district, heard her colleague scream in a nearby classroom, she ran to her aid. It appeared that a female student had attacked a classmate.

  “I grabbed the student to restrain her, and I said to the teacher, ‘You go back to your students, I’ll take care of her,’” Ms. Kyles said.

  After locking herself in an empty classroom with the student, Ms. Kyles – that’s a pseudonym to protect her privacy – learned that the student had stabbed a female classmate four times in the chest and back, killing her. Then the student threatened Ms. Kyles.

How education reforms can support teachers around the world instead of undermining them

  World Teachers’ Day, held on October 5 each year since 1994, is an annual event to reflect on the progress teachers have made.

  But in many countries, including the United States, the professional status of teachers has declined in the last decade.

  For example, studies in Britain, Japan, and Hong Kong show an erosion of teacher autonomy and public confidence in teachers, which leads to teachers feeling disempowered and demoralized. Job satisfaction has also deteriorated among teachers in the U.S., where teacher education itself has become a target of policymakers who think it requires higher standards and greater state control.

Pandemic prompts more teachers to consider early retirement or new career

The big idea

  The COVID-19 pandemic reduced teachers’ commitment to remain in the classroom, our study on teacher turnover found.

  When schools resumed classes in the fall of 2020, teachers faced a host of new challenges. These included things such as adapting to combinations of in-person, hybrid, and remote learning models and managing health concerns during the pandemic. As a result, teachers experienced even higher levels of stress and burnout than before the pandemic. This in turn has raised concerns about a potential exodus of teachers as well as teacher shortages.

Skipping standardized tests in 2020 may offer a chance to find better alternatives

  The Education Department is letting states cancel standardized tests. The move is a practical one: School buildings across the nation are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic even though distance learning efforts are widespread.

  As a result, 2020 is the first year without federally mandated standardized testing in nearly two decades. Washington has required all states to use these tests to evaluate students, teachers, principals, schools, and entire school systems, first in accordance with accountability measures shaped by the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act and later under the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act.

Craig Ford: College professor gets it wrong on K-12 teachers

  Walter Williams, who is a professor of economics at George Mason University, has written an editorial where he insulted every school teacher and every university in the country (including the one that employs him) by claiming that, “With but a few exceptions, schools of education represent the academic slums of colleges,” and that “American education could benefit from eliminating schools of education.”

  The only thing more frustrating than the arrogance behind these statements is the ignorance in them, and I feel obligated to respond.

Michael Josephson: Parents are teachers first

  When John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, referred to the last game he “ever taught,” he was asked about this phrasing. He said simply that a coach is first and foremost a teacher who should not only improve his players’ athletic skills, but also help them become better people. And he was a superb teacher whose lasting influence is reflected in the values he instilled, not the championships he won.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1492: My experience with a healing teacher

  Teachers must be healers. My dear wife woke up one morning last week with this thought ringing in her head and shared it with me. It’s a powerful notion. I shared with her an experience that powerfully illustrates the point. I want to share the experience with you. Teachers must be healers.

  When I was in the fourth or fifth grade at Vaughan Jr. High School in North Baldwin County, Ala., I had serious problems with teachers and others. The situation was so bad that teachers would not call on me in class. No matter how often I raised my hand, they simply would not call on me. As best as I can remember, this practice started in the third grade and continued in the fourth and fifth grades. I believe it developed in response to my mean self-righteous and know-it-all attitude. I know the practice was utilized by more than one teacher during more than one year. Teachers must be healers.

Craig Ford: Alabama can’t have education without educators

  If our state leaders continue their war on education, we may not be able to find any qualified teachers willing to work in our schools.

  One of the biggest problems we have in education right now is the shortage of teachers. This is true nationally and in Alabama.

  Today, fewer college students are enrolling in education courses. Eric Mackey, the executive director of the state superintendents association, recently told the Times Daily that there are about 40 to 45 percent fewer college students studying to be teachers than there were just five years ago and that there are school systems in Alabama that do not have any certified math, science and special education teachers.

Craig Ford: Be thankful for our educators

  In our house at Thanksgiving, our family likes to sit around the table and name the things we are thankful for in our lives. Of course, everyone always names the big things like family, our freedom and so on. But the things that I’m most thankful for are the people in my life who have made a difference: the people I work with, those serving in the church and the military just to name a few. But this year, I am especially thankful for our educators.

  It’s not just how teachers have shaped my life, or how I’ve watched them shape the lives of my children. It’s that they do this job year after year, each year with more expectations, fewer resources and less in their pockets. But they don’t complain because for them, teaching isn’t just a job, it’s a calling.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The financial plague

  As the end of the year approaches the story of the year has to be the state of the economy. Therefore, the political story of the year has to be the sad financial state of the State.

  The legislature and governor spent 2012 wrestling with the state of the general fund of Alabama. It has been an uphill battle that will likely not dissipate or subside as we approach 2013.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The Future of Alabama pensions

  One of the most far reaching and significant accomplishments enacted by the legislature earlier this year is the revamping of the state’s retirement benefit system for state workers. The legislature’s changes to pension benefits for future teachers and public employees should save taxpayers billions and ensure the viability of the state retirement system for decades.

  The changes will only affect new employees. All current public employees are unaffected. The new measures will apply to future employees beginning January 1, 2013.