Raven
Sunday, January 13th, 2008, 08:17 PM
A looming shortage of teachers and administrators is threatening American education, from pre-kindergarten in city schools to college classes on suburban campuses.
More than 100,000 college administrator jobs nationwide will need to be filled by 2016, and the demand for faculty will continue to grow as enrollments increase.
About 17 percent of public school teachers in New York state are at least 55. The picture is even bleaker here, where 19 percent of the teachers and administrators in the Rochester School District are 55 or older, as are about 18 percent in the Pittsford, Brighton and East Rochester districts.
If attracting and retaining educators requires higher salaries, property taxes could rise because payroll is a major component of the school budgets. At colleges and universities, higher salaries could drive up tuition, which is already outpacing inflation.
In New York, the shortages already are so severe that classes in some subjects are being taught by teachers without proper certification, according to the state Education Department. In the Genesee-Finger Lakes area, which includes Monroe County, for example, one in four bilingual special-education teachers lacks certification.
Pam VanGraafeiland, 58, a first-grade teacher at Pittsford's Park Road Elementary School, said there are more career options today than when she entered the field 36 years ago.
Other careers "seem to be more prestigious, either salary-wise or in the eyes of the community," said VanGraafeiland, who expects to retire in three or four years.
Experts also blame the shortages on:
Baby boomers approaching retirement age in droves.
Certification requirements that limit flexibility for special-education teachers.
Increased global competition for college faculty and the lure of increased research funding overseas.
Lack of support
Some school districts and regions of the state are more affected by the shortages than others, said Carl Korn, spokesman for New York State United Teachers. For example, the teacher shortages are worse in urban districts than in suburban districts, where salaries tend to be higher and working conditions are often more attractive.
In addition, while the state has an adequate supply of trained and qualified teachers, not all are working in the field, he said.
"You have individuals who really have a strong commitment to doing what's best for children, but feel they're not getting the support they would like," said Julius Adams, acting dean of St. John Fisher's School of Education.
In addition, teacher salaries have not kept pace with private sector jobs requiring similar educational credentials.
In New York, the median teacher's salary is about $55,000 after 20 years on the job, said Korn. "A starting chemistry teacher does not earn as much as a starting chemist in a perfume factory, for example. So certainly competitive salaries are going to be helpful in attracting more people into the profession and keeping them."
Special-education certification requirements, designed to improve teacher qualifications, have actually depleted the pool of candidates, some experts say.
Special-education teachers must choose among three grade levels rather than simply obtaining a certification for kindergarten through 12th grade. "They're forcing people to choose one or the other," said Barbara Gregory, assistant superintendent for human resources in the Fairport school district.
And teachers are growing frustrated by a lack of community and parental support and for being held accountable for student outcomes that are often influenced by factors out of their control.
Joyce Prockton, 51, said parental support is excellent at the Victor Central School District in Ontario County, where she has been a special-education teacher since 1993. But that's not the case in many places.
Many teachers hired at Victor after working elsewhere are amazed at the support of parents, said Prockton, who has been a teacher for 27 years and plans to retire within five years.
"People from other districts say, 'Holy smoke. They have a parent meeting and they get 98 to 100 percent of participation,' whereas some of the teachers haven't had to deal with parents before," Prockton said.
Teaching teachers
School districts have implemented a variety of strategies to address the problem.
The Rochester school district has operated a mentoring program for new teachers for two decades. District officials credit the program for its teacher retention rate of 88 percent.
And since 2001, the district has been working with Roberts Wesleyan College to train teachers for shortage areas. Lakisha Rowe, 26, a first-year English teacher is earning her master's degree at Roberts Wesleyan through the Urban Teachers for Tomorrow program while teaching seventh- and ninth-grade English at Jefferson High School.
Rowe calls herself "a product of the (school) district."
"I just wanted to give back to the community where I came from," she said. "Kids don't care what you know until they know you care. If they know I came from the same neighborhood and experienced the same things, they would want to learn from me."
The Fairport Central School District dips into its pool of retirees if necessary. Fairport officials had so much trouble replacing German teacher Marsha Nitzsche after she retired that she was hired back part time.
Nitzsche, 63, of Lyndonville, Orleans County, who retired at the end of the 2005-06 school year, now teaches two classes five days each week.
Gregory said Fairport has no trouble recruiting teachers for most subjects, but it's more difficult to find teachers for math, science, technology, high school special education and foreign languages.
"We've been brainstorming ideas about how to find people that love sciences or love the math areas and get them interested in careers in teaching, and we don't have an answer to that yet," Gregory said.
College complications
Colleges are now competing in a global market in which faculty are increasingly wooed by schools in other English-speaking countries, college officials say. Indeed, the European Union has made a concerted effort to boost research funding and attract eminent faculty.
In addition, foreign students who earned degrees at American campuses and may have, in the past, stayed on to pursue careers in teaching are more often taking advantage of new opportunities in their home countries.
As a result, college officials are studying how to entice faculty — with better benefits, for example, and higher pay.
"That's a big topic of conversation right now. How can we make the jobs more flexible? How can we make the economic incentives more attractive? How can we allow them to do more consulting and stay within their practice while they're teaching at the same time to keep their skills up as well?" said Keuka College President Joseph Burke.
The shortage of administrators is hitting both community colleges and four-year schools, although community colleges may be in the worst bind.
Many community colleges were created in the 1960s and 1970s so the administrators and faculty who have been with those schools since their early years are now retiring, said George R. Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. And some of the best administrators are drawn to four-year schools.
Monroe Community College President R. Thomas Flynn said his staff has been tracking the age of faculty and administrators for several years and they haven't had trouble replacing faculty. But hiring new administrators has been a chore.
"There is a shortage without question ... right now and we see that when we go out to hire administrators. We get nowhere near the number we used to get of applications," Flynn said.
MCC has had a leadership development program since 2001.
Finger Lakes Community College assistant English professor Alton Jowers, said his school has had a problem retaining faculty.
Jowers, 35, of Newark, Wayne County, is chairman of his department's faculty search committee. He often receives applications from well-qualified candidates who have earned doctorates and have even been published, but they have very little teaching experience. After they gain a few years of experience at FLCC, they leave for a more lucrative position at a four-year school, he said. "It's a dialogue we've all been having because we're wondering if we're not going to have the financial means to attract people," he said. "What can we offer?"
Source (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/NEWS01/801130324/1002/NEWS)
More than 100,000 college administrator jobs nationwide will need to be filled by 2016, and the demand for faculty will continue to grow as enrollments increase.
About 17 percent of public school teachers in New York state are at least 55. The picture is even bleaker here, where 19 percent of the teachers and administrators in the Rochester School District are 55 or older, as are about 18 percent in the Pittsford, Brighton and East Rochester districts.
If attracting and retaining educators requires higher salaries, property taxes could rise because payroll is a major component of the school budgets. At colleges and universities, higher salaries could drive up tuition, which is already outpacing inflation.
In New York, the shortages already are so severe that classes in some subjects are being taught by teachers without proper certification, according to the state Education Department. In the Genesee-Finger Lakes area, which includes Monroe County, for example, one in four bilingual special-education teachers lacks certification.
Pam VanGraafeiland, 58, a first-grade teacher at Pittsford's Park Road Elementary School, said there are more career options today than when she entered the field 36 years ago.
Other careers "seem to be more prestigious, either salary-wise or in the eyes of the community," said VanGraafeiland, who expects to retire in three or four years.
Experts also blame the shortages on:
Baby boomers approaching retirement age in droves.
Certification requirements that limit flexibility for special-education teachers.
Increased global competition for college faculty and the lure of increased research funding overseas.
Lack of support
Some school districts and regions of the state are more affected by the shortages than others, said Carl Korn, spokesman for New York State United Teachers. For example, the teacher shortages are worse in urban districts than in suburban districts, where salaries tend to be higher and working conditions are often more attractive.
In addition, while the state has an adequate supply of trained and qualified teachers, not all are working in the field, he said.
"You have individuals who really have a strong commitment to doing what's best for children, but feel they're not getting the support they would like," said Julius Adams, acting dean of St. John Fisher's School of Education.
In addition, teacher salaries have not kept pace with private sector jobs requiring similar educational credentials.
In New York, the median teacher's salary is about $55,000 after 20 years on the job, said Korn. "A starting chemistry teacher does not earn as much as a starting chemist in a perfume factory, for example. So certainly competitive salaries are going to be helpful in attracting more people into the profession and keeping them."
Special-education certification requirements, designed to improve teacher qualifications, have actually depleted the pool of candidates, some experts say.
Special-education teachers must choose among three grade levels rather than simply obtaining a certification for kindergarten through 12th grade. "They're forcing people to choose one or the other," said Barbara Gregory, assistant superintendent for human resources in the Fairport school district.
And teachers are growing frustrated by a lack of community and parental support and for being held accountable for student outcomes that are often influenced by factors out of their control.
Joyce Prockton, 51, said parental support is excellent at the Victor Central School District in Ontario County, where she has been a special-education teacher since 1993. But that's not the case in many places.
Many teachers hired at Victor after working elsewhere are amazed at the support of parents, said Prockton, who has been a teacher for 27 years and plans to retire within five years.
"People from other districts say, 'Holy smoke. They have a parent meeting and they get 98 to 100 percent of participation,' whereas some of the teachers haven't had to deal with parents before," Prockton said.
Teaching teachers
School districts have implemented a variety of strategies to address the problem.
The Rochester school district has operated a mentoring program for new teachers for two decades. District officials credit the program for its teacher retention rate of 88 percent.
And since 2001, the district has been working with Roberts Wesleyan College to train teachers for shortage areas. Lakisha Rowe, 26, a first-year English teacher is earning her master's degree at Roberts Wesleyan through the Urban Teachers for Tomorrow program while teaching seventh- and ninth-grade English at Jefferson High School.
Rowe calls herself "a product of the (school) district."
"I just wanted to give back to the community where I came from," she said. "Kids don't care what you know until they know you care. If they know I came from the same neighborhood and experienced the same things, they would want to learn from me."
The Fairport Central School District dips into its pool of retirees if necessary. Fairport officials had so much trouble replacing German teacher Marsha Nitzsche after she retired that she was hired back part time.
Nitzsche, 63, of Lyndonville, Orleans County, who retired at the end of the 2005-06 school year, now teaches two classes five days each week.
Gregory said Fairport has no trouble recruiting teachers for most subjects, but it's more difficult to find teachers for math, science, technology, high school special education and foreign languages.
"We've been brainstorming ideas about how to find people that love sciences or love the math areas and get them interested in careers in teaching, and we don't have an answer to that yet," Gregory said.
College complications
Colleges are now competing in a global market in which faculty are increasingly wooed by schools in other English-speaking countries, college officials say. Indeed, the European Union has made a concerted effort to boost research funding and attract eminent faculty.
In addition, foreign students who earned degrees at American campuses and may have, in the past, stayed on to pursue careers in teaching are more often taking advantage of new opportunities in their home countries.
As a result, college officials are studying how to entice faculty — with better benefits, for example, and higher pay.
"That's a big topic of conversation right now. How can we make the jobs more flexible? How can we make the economic incentives more attractive? How can we allow them to do more consulting and stay within their practice while they're teaching at the same time to keep their skills up as well?" said Keuka College President Joseph Burke.
The shortage of administrators is hitting both community colleges and four-year schools, although community colleges may be in the worst bind.
Many community colleges were created in the 1960s and 1970s so the administrators and faculty who have been with those schools since their early years are now retiring, said George R. Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. And some of the best administrators are drawn to four-year schools.
Monroe Community College President R. Thomas Flynn said his staff has been tracking the age of faculty and administrators for several years and they haven't had trouble replacing faculty. But hiring new administrators has been a chore.
"There is a shortage without question ... right now and we see that when we go out to hire administrators. We get nowhere near the number we used to get of applications," Flynn said.
MCC has had a leadership development program since 2001.
Finger Lakes Community College assistant English professor Alton Jowers, said his school has had a problem retaining faculty.
Jowers, 35, of Newark, Wayne County, is chairman of his department's faculty search committee. He often receives applications from well-qualified candidates who have earned doctorates and have even been published, but they have very little teaching experience. After they gain a few years of experience at FLCC, they leave for a more lucrative position at a four-year school, he said. "It's a dialogue we've all been having because we're wondering if we're not going to have the financial means to attract people," he said. "What can we offer?"
Source (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/NEWS01/801130324/1002/NEWS)