Top-Notch Teachers Found to Affect Peers
This article struck a chord with me. It made me think about my first year of teaching. I came to a small town for my first teaching job. It was a small school with maybe 20 faculty members including ancillary staff. I was the only rookie among a staff of veteran teachers 20 years my senior with that much more experience than me. None of them were music teachers with me, but that didn’t matter. I knew subject matter. They taught me how to be a “teacher”. The quality of our school was impeccable because of the staff and their investment in the school. They had the respect of the kids. They had the respect of the community. They had the respect of their peers. Their level of professionalism was unparalleled. I easily adopted their ways. It was clear they had an affect on me personally and professionally. This all took place almost 2 decades ago, in the days when signing bonuses or merit pay were not even really heard of. Monetary incentives were not necessary then. The incentive I got was to be as good a teacher as my co-workers. That was the ultimate payment. If a monetary incentive for achievement had presented for the group, it would have been easy to accomplish with a faculty like the one I was part of.
Fast forward 10 years later when the dream team retires. That is when things changed drastically. We had 8 faculty members retire, including a superintendent that had been at this school for 38 years. All the retirees had to be replaced. They were replaced with young teachers, right out of college, with the same issues I had when I started. The difference was they didn’t have an abundance of veteran teachers surrounding them. They were also being hired during a time when teachers in certain fields were hard to come by and signing bonuses were now being considered and used. Two things about this scenario really bothered me. The caliber of our school plummeted as a result of a majority of rookies on staff, possibly through no fault of their own. They just didn’t have the influence of experience. The other thing was that I had now been at this school for over 10 years. Clearly I was a tenured teacher who was working hard to climb the salary ladder. In comes rookie in a critical area and can get paid more than me just because of the field they happen to be in. It really gave me ill feelings.
I have to agree with the article where it says individual merit pay or signing bonuses only create friction and competition to work independently. I agree with merit pay and signing bonuses, but for the right reasons, something like Katie Denison suggested in at the end of her article.
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It sounds like you were brought up professionally in the ultimate environment and that it made you the teacher that you are today. I think it is wonderful that you had a staff as a young teacher that was willing to mentor you and help you out whenever you needed it. I am in the same situation you were in twenty years ago, being a newer teacher and I am fortunate enough to have a mentor in my building who has been teaching for forty years (she has taught every level including college and has been a principal). She has taught me more than I ever learned or will learn in college and I, like you, are extremely grateful for the leadership. Not all are so lucky as me and if you just look across the river in my town and you will find a school whose most senior teacher has four years of experience. That school is failing their AYP goals miserably and it is known throughout the district that no one there is happy. My mentor and I had a conversation recently about the situation at this school and the solution was plain as day to her: they did not have high-quality, seasoned teachers to help bring along and lead the younger teachers. Coming out of college we do not have the necessary skills to perform our jobs, and I don't care what profession you are going into; we learn on the job in every field and teaching is no different. Having veteran teachers to bounce ideas off of and get help from is a necessity! The teachers and staff in a building are a team and if anyone can point out the last sports team that won a championship whose rosters was full of rookies and new players I would be incredibly surprised. Great teachers are necessary for the survival of the school, period.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
ct
Money can be a strong motivator in these days when first year teach turnover rates are in the 30 to 50% range, which is staggering. Many people are simply not motivated anymore by the idea of inspiring young adults or being a difference maker in the community and the nation. However, it makes a huge difference in the ability of a new teacher to develop when there are veteran faculty, who are not only there to help, but go out of their way to help new teachers. As you sounded near the end of the post, veteran teachers can feel threatened in their positions by new teachers or feel like they were duped when a new teacher is offered more money that they make now. I look at it like viewing people in other professions. Why do we pay a baseball or football player $100 million to play a game for a fraction of the year and teachers start out at $36,000/year to teach the next generation to be stars. It doesn't always make sense, but there may well be a purpose.
ReplyDeleteIt truly is a good situation when a new teacher can enter a school that has a mixture of quality veteran teachers and newer teachers. I stepped into that situation at Mandan High School. Even though the pay here may not be as good as other school districts, the overall compensation package is good. More important, we have good support from the community, administrators, and good working relationships among the teachers. Therefore, teachers tend to stay here for a long time. So, when I started, there was a good mixture of experience and youthful exuberance. Our staff tends to turn over about 2-3 retirements each year out of a teaching staff of 70-75. Most importantly, the veterans are very helpful of the "rookies", so our staff generally develops very well. I agree that it is very important for the top-notch teachers to help the new teachers develop into good teachers themselves. That is the way a quality education is maintained over time within a school district. I am now one of the veterans, and I strongly believe that it is the responsibility of all professionals to assist all of their colleagues in any way they can.
ReplyDeleteAs far as signing bonuses and merit pay are concerned, I agree that either one of these can be divisive within a school district. Anytime extra compensation is provided to some that is not available to all, it is unfair. I am the first to admit that I could support merit pay if a system can be created to reward the best teachers. However, I am afraid that core teachers may get preference over teachers of electives, and basing merit pay on standardized tests do not fairly measure the quality of the teacher. Until a system can be devised that would reward every teacher fairly and uniformly based on the ability of each teacher to teach their subject, any attempt at merit pay just pits one teacher against another. This creates an individuality among teachers that is destructive to a school district.
All schools should put up a very big sign and aim it at the private sector saying “KEEP OUT.” Providing merit pay and signing bonuses is inviting corporate culture into a school district.
ReplyDeleteIf teachers start getting paid more or less depending on what subject they teach than equality in the work place will go flying out the window. (Although I don’t feel gym teacher’s work very hard)