Because of the increasing difficulty that charter schools are having in hiring certified teachers and the high teacher turnover, SUNY has proposed to lower teacher standards for their charter schools. There rationale for lowering teacher hiring standards is the looming teacher shortage and the almost 50% reduction in college teacher training program applicants. While these reasons are true, its really that charter schools cannot retain teachers for more than two or three years due to the increased school time, lower salaries, and inferior benefits.
Presently, only a maximum of 15% of the teachers in a charter school can be uncertified. Some schools have had difficulty meeting that goal and some charter schools have a majority of teachers uncertified in the subject that they are teaching in. Moreover, its not uncommon for charter school classes to have two or more teachers during the school year. Finally, once teachers get fully certified, they usually leave to the higher paying and better benefits, such as a pension, of the public school system.
SUNY's proposal would mean that these uncertified charter school teachers will never need to pass State certification tests or obtain a master's degree. Therefore, limiting the charter school teachers to teach in charter schools. While both the Board of Regents and the NYED Commissioner has objected to SUNT's proposed teacher hiring regulations , Under the draft rules, some would-be teachers wouldn’t have to earn a master’s degree or pass the state certification exam. Instead, you’d need 30 hours of instruction and 100 hours working in-class under the supervision of an experienced teacher, as well to finish state workshops on bullying, violence prevention and child abuse.
If these draft rules are implemented, the charter schools will simply hire any Tom, Dick, or Harry with a college degree and dump them into a classroom, unprepared in the art of teaching and that's not good for the students in any setting.
http://www.newyorkcharters.org/wp-content/uploads/SUNY-Charter-School-Regulations_June2017.pdf
How long will it be before the DOE/UFT attempt to replicate the same rules? Veteran staff are now those with ten years in the system and they are pushed out. The cheaper the better - who cares if they're qualified and who cares about students? Certainly not the DOE or the UFT.
ReplyDeleteSo basically, this is TFA without the name. 130 total hours (about 5 weeks of class time). This is obviously going to result in more temporary teachers who can't teach again after they are let go from these charters because they don't have a real certification. No doubt they'll end up in positions on education boards dictating what real teachers can and cannot do. Gotta love the fake outrage from the Board of Regents and the commissioner, this will happen and that's the crime. I always encourage parents to look up the certification status of their child's teachers, you'll find many have expired or non existent certifications and yet nothing is done. This deal just blatantly shows that the powers at be don't care.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how Charter Schools can get away with uncertified staff and grading their own regents. Years ago a real union would have taken two or three staff members and gotten them jobs (OF COURSE WITHOUT CHARTERS KNOWING) into charter schools. Imagine having real union people recording Eva and the charter systems. Similar to what PETA does on animal farms. That is how the teacher's union would expose the nonsense of charters.
ReplyDeleteWA, WAAAA, WAAAAAAA again crying like babies with rashes. we are getting what we deserve for our inaction!! good luck September is right around the corner.
ReplyDeleteAnd the NY Post calls this a "win".
ReplyDelete