Saturday, October 29, 2016

Why Teachers Quit The Profession.



























Its no secret that teacher morale has plummeted, that widespread teacher shortages are a fact of life nationwide,  Even in New York City, the Bronx has more vacancies than teachers certified in the subject.  This has prompted our State Commissioner to propose that school districts allow the hiring of uncertified teachers from out of state to fill the vacancies.  The question is why are so many teachers quitting?  The reasons are many and until the education reform organizations lose power as the Obama administration is replaced by a more sympathetic administration, the exodus of teachers from the profession will continue and the shortages will get worse.

A 2012 MetLife survey showed that teacher satisfaction has dropped from 62% in 2008 to 39% in 2012 and I'm sure this number is even lower in 2016.  In addition, 13% of the teachers leave the schools or the profession annually.  Worse, in the most needy poverty-striken urban schools, 80% of the teachers leave their original school within five years and these schools lose 25% of their staff yearly.  This high teacher turnover and attrition is hurting public education and most severely affects "high needs" students in deep poverty schools..  Its also not helpful that teacher pensions are unfairly blamed for State budget issues and the education reform organizations want to eliminate teacher tenure and make it a temporary job with no defined pension and retiree health benefits.

For example in New York City just take a look at our Renewal schools?  They are a dumping ground for struggling students and few veteran teachers would even apply to teach there. Teacher attrition is high as "newbies" are hired and overwhelmed by the additional responsibility and accountability heaped on them in these academically struggling schools.  How many of them will still be there in 5 years?  Probably not many.  These high teacher attrition rates are a norm for far too many high poverty schools in New York City and many of the reasons for the high turnover rate can be mitigated but the DOE closes its collective eyes to these remedies since it would have to remove poor administrators and provide adequate targeted academic support and resources to the schools.

Much of the reason for the rise in teacher dissatisfaction and attrition can be linked to President Barack Obama's education policy, implemented by his basketball playing buddy Arnie Duncan who ran the Education Department.  The two crafted a 4.3 billion dollar program that was called "Race to the top" that forced States to develop a  Bill Gates inspired teacher evaluation program, heavy on high-stakes testing, if they wanted funding and to receive a waiver from meeting the more onerous provisions of the  "No Child Left Behind" act. This included using the Common Core, even when there were no curriculum developed for it and teachers not trained to use it.   Moreover, the Obama administration encouraged states to approve charter schools as a condition to obtain the extra funding under his "Race to the top" program.  The result was a doubling of charter schools during the Obama administration, from 3% of the total student population to 6%.   Finally. the teacher evaluation system had to have a termination requirement that was linked to student growth despite studies that showed the unreliably of using student teat scores to determine student growth and linking it to teacher effectiveness, the Obama administration insisted on such linkage.

Hopefully, as the teacher preparation majors continue to shrink and the teacher shortage deepens, the pendulum will swing away from the education reform organizations and their media allies which blame the teachers on societies ills and give it the respect the profession deserves.  Just maybe, the students won't be asking what happen to their teacher?


42 comments:

Anonymous said...

I disagree with your optimistic conclusion. Urban districts are moving in the direction of computer based personalized learning and away from instruction conducted by human beings. Facilitators of all screen time learning will require neither teaching certification, nor college degrees.

Abigail Shure

Anonymous said...

You are correct, the vacancies in the Bronx is near crisis proportions. They send groups of 4 or 5 ATRs that are licensed in the vacancy areas. Even with the free first year salaries, the principals are not hiring them. Some of the ATRs are being pounced on and given bad ratings by their ATR supervisors. The UFT and DOE are trying to back track to prove that they have done everything they can to do to get ATRs placed. They're doing this because of pending lawsuits and the FOIL information that is starting to be released. There are currently over 2000 ATRs, almost all are middle aged and have over 18 years of teaching experience. These law suits could be very costly for the DOE because of the sheer numbers that could win; and very, very embarrassing for the UFT because it will show collusion and discrimination.

Anonymous said...

Salary hits 120K in June of 2018. Funny, the following October is the first of 3 installments of retro at 25% respective. That's 3 years in a row at mimimum 145K. Throw in some per session, summer school and I'm at 160K for 3 years straight. Could care less what anyone else is thinking, doing, etc. Could care less about a shortage, morale, or working conditions. 60% pension at 3 years straight of 160K for the rest of my life. Not bad. Not bad at all. Actually it would be 63% because I'd have 32 years. Find your niche.

Anonymous said...

I worked in the south Bronx for a couple of years in my first foray in the DOE. Every bad thing they say about teaching in the Bronx is true. I will never teach in a ghetto school again. Two years of absolute hell in a bizarre world with no logic, sanity or civility. Most of my fellow staff members were very nice people, but the "kids" were absolute animals and the administrators were petty, neurotic tyrants who acted like they were enthroned and could chop off heads or give largesse on a whim. It was truly sickening. The renewal school I am in now is also a hard place to work, but nothing compares to the Bronx and its pitfalls.

Anonymous said...

I get so tired of all the "I quit" letters that I see people posting on blogs. Never, ever quit. That is what the ed-deformers want. They want transient, non-tenured, fearful, teachers in schools. It is all about math: Young, new ,teachers are cheap. No need to fund their pension if they quit. I got over 20 years in and just like everyone else, my morale is in the gutter. However, I have a few years left to go and I'l be dammed if I am gonna quit.

Anonymous said...

Well said 4:45. I have the same mentality as you and I'm beginning to feel more like 1:54. I don't care as much anymore. It's now about the money. I'm not quoting.

DOEvet said...

Hey Chaz and Anon 1:54,

Is the retro pay that is coming after june 2018 pensionable as part of that year's salary, or is is spread out over the years of of the contract? Meaning, do we really get a pensionable bump for each of three years in a row? That would be amazing!

Also, is PSAL money for coaching pensionable? Just want to make sure, I think it is.

Please reply with your answers!

Anonymous said...

Money is the only thing the DOE/UFT has left to us, especially if you're an ATR. The DOE needs to consider a very good buyout package for us. Many of those ATRs that were 3020a- ed are back in the pool with no fines or suspensions and court documented evidence of harassment. No wonder the UFT let it's DOE colluded crap sunset.

Anonymous said...

I have been treated so badly by the DOE since Bloomberg that I find myself not caring any more about the system. I gave them 150% of my best for over 2 decades and it wasn't enough. First it was numerous letters to my file for incredible minutiae from a vindictive AP who hated that I was not passing everyone and everything that could fog up a mirror. I had integrity, something he couldn't even spell. Those with similar integrity were also targeted by him. Never mind that he said things to me like, "If you don't have a 65% pass rate, I'm going to throw you out that f___g window" and worse. Nothing happened to him, he was admin. And teachers who prospered at this school which was a house of fraud were the scoundrels and operators, not honest wholesome folk. Frankly, I wouldn't have wanted my own children in contact with the former.

Now, the DOE had to scramble to find that THREE YEARS AGO, I allegedly told some kids in a class I was covering that they were "stupid". Never happened, but the DOE doesn't care about lies, only about purging veteran teachers with max salary and tenure who know their rights. It is a shame, but my best recourse now is to retire. I would have stayed longer just to up my pension, but I probably won't have the opportunity to do so. I'm sure my health, which has taken a severe hit in recent years, will improve the moment I hand in my paperwork.

Chaz said...

Anon 7:16
Coaching is pensionable and the 2% retros are also pensionable. However, the lump sums are not to my knowledge.

Anonymous said...

Hey Anon 1:54 sounds like you care a lot since you are posting it.

Seems to me our "admins' (AKA failed teachers who remain in the teachers pension system) have no concept of the link between morale and productivity. At my school we eye the clock and head on home ASAP. Less time at school the better. Low morale means we do the minimum.

Bronx ATR said...

Man cannot live by bread alone and teachers cannot survive with money alone - there has to be some fulfillment and joy, or the whole thing becomes a type of containment. For many that containment is intolerable. That's the reason people quit or get gradually sick. It's a shame that the UFT isn't adequately working to ensure that teaching regains its once noble stature.

Anonymous said...

The "retro" is actually considered a longevity bonus, not pensionable. The maximum retro without per session is less than 14k in 2018, 2019, 2020. No ones getting a bigger check than 18k before taxes. the tax implications are also disasterous, horrible contract! One of my kids has been working for sanitation for 6 years, makes 170k now, my 33 years gets me a bit over 100k. I'm in it for the money too, another 23k in the TDA every year, 200 days worth 60k or so, 23k in the NYC Deferred compensation plan Roth version every year. I've saved a couple million, paid for my kids college educations, down pay,net on houses, and stay because the DOE don't want me to. I stay because no one can touch me and I like being difficult. I stay because I enjoy watching the chaos and craziness. I stay because if I was off I'd do nothing and have nothing to do. And lastly I stay to scare the young people off, I tell them to go to the suburbs if you must teach or college, get out of NYC! Or find a better job that's rewarding! Teaching has gone to crap here! The schools are worse than ever, you can get a good high just standing in the stairwells, and I do. The violence-unreported is worse than I've ever seen it. The pay for anyone living in this city is marginal at best and young people will never get ahead. The retirement is now a joke, no one in Tier 6 is going to collect. I see them drop like flies every year now. oh and I stay so all my grand kids can go to private schools too!

Anonymous said...

7:23
Hope you are not serious about waiting for a real buyout for ATRs.

1:54
You sound like that guy that posts from his mom's basement pretending to pay no taxes and saving money by paying no rent. Per session and summer school paid without working or some other fantasy. All equaling some sort of rich NYC lifestyle on a measly salary or something like that. As delusional as 7:23.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Bronx ATR. However, man can't live without bread so I stay and count the days because I have 2 years to go for a livable pension. The joy is gone. Caring about anyone other than myself is gone too. I can pretend to care about the kids and colleagues but in reality I'm just covering my ass and watching my back. It's about survival now. Surviving an abusive system that has robbed me of empathy for colleagues and children. It's also robbed me of my sincerity. I used to be a genuine person at work. Now I'm just another player in a dysfunctional game in which the children are just pawns and I've learned to play the game very well. I've accepted my "containment" and will have to live contained for 2 more years because walking away now would mean financial problems in my senior years. I hope to regain my humanity in retirement but it may just be too late. I made my choices so I have to live with them.

DOEvet said...

Thanks Chaz and Anon for the good info. I do wish those lump sums were pensionable too! Doubt that will happen.

Anonymous said...

170K at Sanitation. Sounds a little high.

DOEvet said...

Sticking with the same topic ... what else is pensionable outside of our regular salaries, per session, psal, summer school, 2% retro? Am I missing anything?

Anonymous said...

Exactly! If people only worked for money and benefits, then why do 60% of teachers resign within 5 years of starting?

Anonymous said...

Paycheck. Time off. Benefits. Pension. TDA. Doing as little work as possible. Where else can I make 100 k and do absolutely no work? Who cares if the kids don't learn? My life is good

Anonymous said...

I'm not waiting for a buyout and I'm not quitting either.

Anonymous said...

2:09 is my new hero. Well said. Just had to fill out another waiver for per session. Life is good in da Bronx. I mean it's crazy but there's so much money floating around. Love this renewal thing, it's amazing. Unlimited per session. I think we will show a 4% increase. DeBladio will spin it to 8% somehow and by the time Horowitz gets her hands on it, the percentage points will hit double digits. Whatever. Bought me at least 5 more years. DOE Survivor Series.

Anonymous said...

I am of the same mind as most comments here. I understand our low IQ students just cannot do anywhere near what we used to consider grade level work. We do endless group work now with tons of art thrown in (poster projects) just to pretend-pass them. This is from our Admins. Urban Arts is a joke. At this moment I only actually teach 12 periods a week now due to my classes taken over by this or that special program.

The admins largely do not know what they are doing. The new teachers are all afraid of the dreaded target. We tenured teachers mostly fly under the radar and pass literally EVERYBODY. The few 'true believers' who want to 'hold students accountable' are hypocrites because they pass undeservedly too.

I just got ten years in and have earned the right to a full pension. I want to hang on for ten more years and plan to retire at 55 with about $1700 a month. I can live on that in a simplified life with full health benefits. It's true, no one in Tier 6 will remain long enough to get a pension. We Tier 4 people are the last of a dying breed: career teachers. The mantra we all say at my school amongst ourselves is stay under the radar, pass everyone unless they never showed and always keep your class in order with all the paperwork the admins want at the ready.

This is a winning formula. Take the per session like an animal. Work summer school. Do extra regents grading. Have an after school club. Then invest that extra money in passive income enterprises like stocks or rental homes. This is the only strategy left for us now.

Anonymous said...

Students are trash criminals, don't want to do any work, just keep collecting freebies and causing trouble because we ask them to put a cell phone away. Entitlement society at its best.

Anonymous said...

Life is good in da Bronx?! Where? I've been to every high school in the Bronx - there's about 5 that are marginally fair. Oh forgot, you're in your moms basement.

Anonymous said...

Renewal schools in the Bronx are pure shit. Get your per session while you can. I think half these comments are coming from the troll in basement.

TeachmyclassMrMayor(andyoutooMrMulgrew) said...

So money we should have had years ago, is not pensionable as well as an interest free loan and not going into my pension. Another job well done, "Punchy Mike & Unity. When will the elementary & middle school teachers wake up and stop voting for these sellouts?

Anonymous said...

BRONX SCHOOLS
Stevenson campus - 9 schools in the building - one worse than the other take your pick of leadership acad principals who are clueless
Taft campus - 5 schools in the building - horror school with no parking anywhere and 5 schools filled with leadership academy principals like fidel castro at the medical school bogus name no medical
Columbus campus - a once glamorous neighborhood school is now filled with students who cannot speak english, ex rikers island kids and illegal immigrants galore
Gompers campus - a once great cte school now houses a charter school, a transfer school and some fake nursing hs filled with kids who come to school everyday to hang out.
Smith campus - a once great cte school now stuck in the basement while a transfer school and another small school with principal #4 count em
Roosevelt campus - this school houses 5 schools with the infamous principal blidge at fordham arts omg stay away
Harry Truman campus - a small school now occupies the top floor with a mad principal who walks around with a janitor outfit and you would swear its the janitor
These use to be great schools now retro fitted with no nothings who occupy and take up space and a pay check. Yes ATRs are not in the classroom but our atr pool is filled with class, professional people and nothing like the fake educators that now occupy our schools.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the crappy, once happy Walton, Dodge, Addams, South Bronx and Clinton. The troll needs to take the ATR tour - he'll never leave his mom's basement again.

Anonymous said...

Also the worst - Lehman, Kennedy and Evander Childs miserable on a visceral level.

Michael G said...

Am I the only one who is disturbed by many of the comments on here ? They sound like the ravings of a lunatic(s)

Chaz said...

Michael G

This is an open forum and people can say what they want as long as they stay within acceptable limits.

If you want only one type of comment then join the Unity blog where all the Unity drones say the same thing and take a "Unity oath". Oops, I forgot the Unity blog has been discontinued due to lack of interest.

Anonymous said...

It's all true Mike G. These schools are crazy and you can add all the big high schools in queens and Brooklyn. Spend a few days at Erasmus or campus magnet and you will clearly understand that these teachers aren't lunatics but giving us a clear observation of what's going on. Spend some time as an ATR in far rock or August Martin and you will see first hand the collapse of our once great western civilization. Been an atr for the last 4 yrs and have been to many of these horrible places

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention two other schools in the bronx that are situated in a greasy, dirty toxic neighborhood like
Bronx leadership academy - school is surrounded by tire shops, repair shops, more tire shops and more repair shops. YOu have to jump over tire and grease tools in order to get into a building that was once a factory. All the classes have no windows truly giving one the impression of a jail
Wings Academy - another school situated in a toxic environment filled with illegal immigrants, dirt infested surroundings, windowless classrooms, no where to park or eat for teachers and the school is filled with thugs up the wazoo.

Anonymous said...

95% of the high schools in the Bronx are complete hellholes. It's easier to name the 4 good ones - Bronx Science, Cinema HS, American Studies at Lehman College, Marble Hill. The other 118 (yes that's not a typo) run the spectrum of marginal mediocrity to cesspool.

Anonymous said...

And what do all these bad schools have in common? Don't say it they will call you the R word. Vote trump and it might change for the better. Vote Hillary and it will only get worse. We need a decade or so of very limited immigration. We need to clean out the system of the many who curse us out, sell drugs and go to school not to learn but to disrupt and chill. After that maybe things will get better. Yes yes I know trump is for charter schools but his border and immigration policies might just trump ( see what I did) being in favor of charters.

Michael G said...

Chaz - I get that.
It's with the anonymity, I can't tell if this is one person or multiple.

I have worked in a few HS in the Bronx(8 years total) and am very familiar with many others. They are not trashy cesspools filled with illegal immigrants where no teaching occurs.

It's just untrue to declare otherwise. Sure these schools struggle more than many others but that is the nature of a high-poverty population and teacher churn adds to that.

Anonymous said...

Michael G,
You're full of shit. Sorry, it had to be said. I'm an ATR in the Bronx for 5 years and have been rotated to over a hundred schools. The 4 listed and maybe a couple of others are the only ones any sane person would want to work in. You obviously are not an ATR.

Anonymous said...

Also don't forget the hellholes in Morris- Violence and Dance and the School of Excrement. Also several in Monroe. Stand alones include Bronx Studio, Bronxwood,Freddie Douglass 3,and tons of others I've blocked from my memory.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike G, I've been to over 80 schools in the Bronx, unfortunately most of them are horrible. I wouldn't say the immigrant kids are the problem- it's the American Ghetto Rats. I'll take an immigrant kid any day of the week over them. The Muslim kids are the best. Mexican kids come in second. If you want the truth name a high school in the Bronx and I'll tell you the truth about it.

Michael G said...

"American Ghetto Rats"
I think that about sums up your opinions about the Bronx.
Seeya Donald Trump Jr., I've got better things to do

Anonymous said...

No Mike, I'm voting for Hillary. You're wrong about everything. Volunteer for the ATR pool and learn.