Funding or Teacher Prep?

How sweet it would be to have a simple answer to the woes of the American educational system. Unfortunately, the problems the American education system faces are not simple. Last week’s lesson suggested two possible solutions to creating a more effective educational system: funding and teacher preparation. Jon Snyder, from our video “Empowering New Teachers: Bank Street College of Education” stated that when “a really talented teacher has a really expertly supported teacher, then kids do better.” I would have to agree wholeheartedly with him. When new teachers are given non-threatening, positive feedback and opportunities to learn from an expert or seasoned teacher while in their first year of teaching, the new teacher will finish the year with a sense of accomplishment and an eagerness to return the next year to provide an even better education for his or her students. According to the charts in the NCTAF Power Point, the American education system is losing many of its new teachers within the first 5 years of graduation. Why? People will not quit jobs if they are supported, are valued, and are seeing successes in their students. Some may say that we are not getting new teachers to stay or even recruiting new teachers, because the pay is low. Even though I am sure none of us would pass up a pay raise, most of us went into education knowing it would not make us rich. No, we are losing teachers because they are overwhelmed with the responsibilities in the classroom. Adelle gave us a list of current teacher responsibilities, and each year more is added to our list. Unless administration recognizes the need for a strong support system for its new teachers (and seasoned, I might add), the “drop out” rate for teachers will continue. I am approaching the end of my first year of teaching at a new building, in a new position. I have struggled and have been so overwhelmed with the new responsibilities, even though I have been teaching 13 years. If it was not for the support I have received from my co-workers and principal, I would be seriously looking to do something besides teaching in the special education field. However, with support and understanding, I am looking Ohio forward to next year and the chance to grow in my vocation even more.

Funding presents its own obstacles to the effectiveness of the American education system. Because of spending restraints many of the innovative or even basic programs are passed by or scratched from consideration. This adds more pressure onto our overwhelmed teachers. For example, if the school cannot pay for the extra teacher needed to make class sizes reasonable, then the larger class size drops the effectiveness of the teaching. Give the teaching staff a chance to list what they need to make the school an excellent learning environment and to raise the students’ level of learning, pass that list onto the superintendent or Board of education, and watch the suggestions get scratched due to funding. Administration wants those things, too, but they have a budget. The Funding of School Districts in Ohio chart certainly indicates a disparity of funding per student amongst our school districts. Maybe Governor Strickland’s plan to change Ohio’s funding formula will create not only more equitable funding across the state, but enough to move from adequate education forward toward excellent education for all of our school districts.