Administrators and Salary

Howard Blume
High-Level Salaries Approved for new top Administrators at Cash=Strapped LA Unified School District (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/high-level-salaries-approved-for-new-top-administrators-at-cash-strapped-la-unified.html)
LA Times
May 5th, 2011

Summary: A new administrator position has been created in the district with a pay-scale that begins at well over $137,000. The positions pay would increase to approximately $170,000 over five steps. Other LA administrators are currently making close to $200,000.

Key Points: 1) Administrators are making a lot of money.

Relevance: It is absurd to me that a new admin. position can be created out of thin air with a starting salary four times as high as that of a teacher. Teachers are being let go and admin. is expanding?

High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries

“The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries” by Dave Eggers and Ninive Clements Calegari

New York Times, April 30, 2011

Topic: We should pay our teachers more

Summary: This article talks about how backwards our system is that when it is not working well (poor student performance) that teachers are blamed. The authors liken teachers to soldiers on the front lines of the education battle. It is pointed out to us that when we don’t get the results we had hoped for in military endeavors, the soldiers themselves are not blamed, the planners (rightly so) are blamed. So why is it that teachers are blamed when plans created by policy makers, administration, school boards, etc. culminate in poor results? The op-ed piece argues that we should be paying our teachers more. It touches on teacher retention rate, teacher salaries in high performing countries (Finland, Singapore, and Korea), and support for teachers.

Intended audience: General Public

Key Points:

• Don’t blame teachers when they are carrying out the “orders” of higher up planners. Don't shoot the messenger.
• Teachers make 14% than professionals in other occupations that require similar education
• Other countries pay their teachers more and support them by providing training and development
• Teacher retention rates in the United States are terrible – 46% quit before their fifth year – and this is expensive.
• If there’s a will there’s a way.

Relevance: We all think we should be paid more – it looks like someone else does too. It is interesting to see the difference in salaries (purchasing power wise) between us and some other countries. I think this goes along with the idea of ensuring that teachers are seen as professionals.

High-performing teachers get more money

Betsy Hammond
Feds insist on giving Oregon millions more to pay for high-performing teachers
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/04/feds_insist_on_giving_oregon_m.html
4/18/2011
Topic: Teacher salaries

A group called the Chalkboard Project was awarded $13 million to improve the quality of teacher for a few Oregon school districts. Federals have urged the group to apply for more money, and the group gained another $11 million to pay for high-performing educators.

Key point: each school district will design their own way of determining who qualifies as high-performing teacher,

Relevance: There is financial hope! (if you are deemed worthy of being a good teacher). What does high-performance mean? Teacher’s who get their student’s to score high on tests? Does that really mean they are worthy of the bonus? Sounds to me like this might cause more damage than good. But we shall see…

Why merit pay for teachers doesn’t work

Valerie Strauss
"why merit pay for teachers doesn’t work"
Washington Post
March 30, 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch_why_merit_pay_for_teachers_doesnt_work/2011/03/29/AFn5w9yB_blog.html?wprss=rss_educationTopic: Teacher Pay/Compensation

Another article about how merit pay for teachers is bad.

Key Points: She lists a few more references to back up her claims which are useful if you want to take up her side of the argument.
OK, it’s the same thing we have already talked about. I do agree that there is a lot to be gained by synergy or collaborative efforts but, aren’t there other awards and recognition that individuals receive and compete for? Grants, etc… Why are these things not under intellectual attack as well? If the idea is to enhance teams, why not restructure bonuses so that they are tied to a whole department at a school so say, if the test scores or whatever measure you want to use are good enough, everyone on the team gets a bonus. They keep saying “data shows” that this incentive stuff doesn’t work, but a nice bonus for a job well done sounds good to me personally, especially if it were awarded not only to me but my team. Is there anyone here who doesn’t want to be paid more and have a chance at a nice bonus? Why is that so bad and who loses? If you aren’t motivated by higher pay or bonuses…then why ask for it, expect it, or complain about low pay? Everyone should be happy right? Time to shift the paradigm of the crowd.
Relevance: Teacher compensation is an interesting topic in this community because so much of the mainstream philosophy is not profit or competition oriented. Yet, I have not sat in a teacher lounge yet where the teachers were satisfied with their pay and didn’t want more.

Educators work to identify ways to improve teaching

“Educators work to identify ways to improve teaching” by The Associated Press The Seattle Times Published 3/16/11 Retrieved 3/29/11 Complete URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014516721_usteachers17.html Intended Audience: general public, teachers  
Summary: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan met with leaders of major teacher unions and officials from countries with high-performing education systems to discuss strategies for improving the States’ own education practices.  
Key Point: Improving education in the U.S. revolves around raising the status of the teaching profession • Increase teacher salaries • Allow teachers to devise their own teaching strategies and lesson plans • Continue to educate teachers after they have become professionals • Hold teachers at least partially accountable for student performance • Provide outlets for research 
Key Point: Reasons the US is not performing well in education • Low and varying standards of teacher certification and licensure • Nonspecific education training 
Relevance: If he didn’t know before, The Secretary of Education now for sure understands what works and what needs to be done to make improvements in education, starting with showing teachers proper respect for the huge responsibility of educating our youth.

Public Schools Are Damned One Way or Another

Gardner, Walt
"Public Schools Are Damned One Way or Another"
Reality Check Column in Education Week
Posted Online on March 9, 2011
URL:  http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2011/03/public_schools_are_damned_one_way_or_another.html

This is the other Gardner who taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education.  He writes this short article for the education community, but he is also crying out to the public at large about the hypocrisy towards our society's view of teachers.  His basic point is society is wanting better teachers and says good teachers should be paid more.  Then when a school district in Long Island, New York does consistently well and the superintendent is rewarded with a nice salary package, people are screaming that the education community is overpaid.

Maybe if it was a teacher that was being paid more this would not be a problem.  However, watching the recent budget debates I do not think that would be the case.  As teachers and as people living in society as a whole, this article brings up a good point that if Wall Street people can receive nice salary increases for good performance, why can't teachers and administration be allowed the same treatment?  Why are free marketeers okay with the one and not the other?  Is it truly a case of the public schools being damned if you do and damned if you don't?

Slam Poetry on What Teachers Make

Taylor Mali, What Teachers Make (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU)
Social media viral video
October 24, 2006

Summary: A controversial bit of slam poetry denigrating those who judge teachers as a professional class. His basic argument is that teachers are much more than they are given credit for.

Intended Audience: Those who enjoy slam poetry, teachers, those who judge teachers

Key Points: 1) Teachers are awesome, 2) Those who disagree are, well, not awesome

Relevance: Regardless of the merits of the theoretical framework Mali is working within, it is clear that knows how to engage people. Something is to be said about an educator who knows how to engage, challenge, and care about his students. Judging from his bit, he would be a tough teacher (he taught in New York City for an extended period of time), but I would rather have a teacher who cares and is passionate than one who is not. This is not a particularly "deep" topic in any regard, but it is a useful example of a number of admirable qualities (and perhaps undesirable techniques)--certainly useful to think about and enjoy.