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"In Wisconsin we have a “teacher shortage” in some areas (rural, special education, tech ed). However the crisis in Wisconsin is not this “shortage.” The crisis is the number of teachers leaving the classroom, the number of licensed teachers who won’t go back to classrooms and the plummeting enrollment in teacher preparation programs—Exodus!
As a dean of a school of education I have watched our undergraduate enrollments take a nose dive (55%) in the last 3 years. I meet with prospective students and parents who actively encourage their sons and daughters to avoid becoming a teacher. I know teachers that actively advise their students to avoid teaching. And I have talked to high school students who tell me they’ll never go into teaching. When I ask why, I get this response, “I’ve seen what my teachers go through. They’re not allowed to teach. So many of them are miserable. No thank you.”
Shortage areas are one thing but mass demoralization that kills the desire to seek out teaching and/or quit teaching altogether is something totally different. Here, listen to Doris Santoro (leading researcher and expert on teacher demoralization). And this is where there is a distinction. The fix—teacher license deregulation and privatization—will do nothing to stop the exodus, plummeting enrollments and mass demoralization brought on by years of “teacher accountability policy.” In fact, Wisconsin’s new rules for teacher licensure will create a bigger exodus, exacerbate enrollment plunges in teacher education, and further demoralize the teachers that are barely hanging on."
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"Then a 25-year-old social studies teacher, inspired by what happened in West Virginia, began a Facebook group titled “Oklahoma Teacher Walkout — The Time is Now!” It has ballooned to 70,000 members, including educators from Oklahoma and West Virginia and supportive parents.
Educators — backed by the state’s teachers unions — demanded a $10,000 raise for themselves and a $5,000 raise for support personnel. They are also asking the state to restore budget cuts and boost spending on schools by $200 million over three years. If they do not get what they want by Monday, teachers in about 140 school districts — including some of the state’s largest — plan to walk off the job.
In 2016, Oklahoma ranked 49th in teacher pay — lower even than West Virginia, which was 48th. The average compensation package of an Oklahoma teacher was $45,276 a year, according to the National Education Association, a figure that includes a high-priced health plan and other benefits. That’s far less than educators in neighboring states, making it difficult — for many districts, impossible — to find and keep qualified teachers.
Oklahoma’s 2016 teacher of the year, Shawn Sheehan, decamped for Texas last year, joining many other teachers who sought higher-paying jobs.
Robert Bohn, an agriculture teacher in the small town of Cement, said he could make $20,000 more annually teaching in Texas. He pointed down the two-lane highway. “Texas is just an hour that way,” Bohn said."
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[W]e know of no evidence for broad-based improvement in cognition, academic achievement, professional performance, and/or social competencies that derives from decontextualised practice of cognitive skills devoid of domain-specific content.