You know that not all bachelor’s degrees are the same. And activity does not equate to results.

We can agree on some things but will probably never agree on other stuff. But it is good to have the discussion.

I will visit your web site from time to time.

Just be happy, Lisa, you don’t work for a private school. Private school teachers get paid less than their public school counterparts, on average.

“In 2007-08, the average annual base salary of regular full-time public school teachers ($49,600) was higher than the average annual base salary of regular fulltime private school teachers ($36,300)…”

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009324/findings.asp

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. (from the website)

I think teaching is a vocation, not a job or career even. It requires much more than just an education and just a desire for a paycheck or tenure to do it effectively. There is extra effort, extra time, extra emotion, extra extensions of self that make it a unique and rewarding but wearing undertaking.

TFA is a very worthwhile program and I think it can benefit any place they come into, but not if they are simply used to supplant the teachers available but unwilling to work for the pay/benefits offered. No one should feel de-valued in their employment simply because they accept or refuse lower pay. A two-year commitment is barely touching the surface in a grade-level let alone in a school or community. I see TFA’s greatest potential in places that are under-served in teaching and I am not sure Virginia is that place.

Allow me to explain the $52,000. I called it “equivalent to a yearly rate”.

Lets say lisa2 and I each make $1,000 per week. Our qualifications are almost identical. We each work 40 weeks and make $40,000. Then lisa2 goes on summer break and does not work. But I continue to work 12 more weeks and make $12,000 more for a total of $52,000. If lisa2 kept working she too would have made $52,000. She was on track to make the same as I did but the situation changed. Now, is it reasonable to pay lisa2 $52,000 when I worked 12 extra weeks?

lisa2…I agree that teachers should not spend their own $$ for supplies and that your paperwork has gotten out of control.

gdad…Virginia has the Virginia Education Association and your locality probably has a branch. The VEA is affiliated with the National Education Association, a teachers union.

I agree with John R…big government and the Dept of Education are the problems.

lisa2…if you desire a big raise, you can go to where the money is. Recruiting and competition for teachers is nationwide. We hate to loose good teachers, but its your decision.

no name…The estimate for “bad” teachers comes from math, the normal distribution curve. For every outstanding, walk on water teacher, there is a “bad” teacher. Therefore if 5% are superior, 5% are “bad”. The remaining 90% fall in between.

After reading this stuff, I may give my child’s teachers some cash in a Thank you card to show my appreciation.

My point is there is more to being a professional than the pay.

Al, have you no idea what K-12 teachers actually do?? When do you think they prepare lesson plans and grade assignments? Over lunch??

“So is it about the kids or the money?” Al, can it be both, or is that too “nuanced” for you? Everyone gets to care about what they make. The $52,000 figure you quoted is completely bogus because it assumes that a teacher can make the same wage working a temp job over the summer, but in reality it’s hard to find a summer-only job that will even cover the cost of day care for one’s kids.

Maybe you could volunteer at your local elementary school to gain more perspective on what goes on there.

It’s interesting to hear people say that non-education-related requirements should be eliminated. Then they want teachers to carry guns.

Also great idea to get rid of the “bad teachers.” Perhaps you’d like to help us get started on that by providing an infallible method of identifying them. While you’re at it, maybe an estimate of the percentage of teachers that you think are “bad” would help us calculate the potential impact of those measures. Make sure you explain how you arrived at your estimate.

Don’t forget that the Supreme Court of Virginia has declared education to be a fundamental right of all its citizens. Information about that can be found at a web site created by the Education Law Center.[2]

[1] http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/Rankings.aspx?state=VA&ind=3239

[2] http://www.educationjustice.org/states/virginia.html

John, there is something you need to read that I think will help you think about these issues more clearly.

http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/christmas-carol/1951-xmas-ignorance-want.html