Who Cares?
Who cares if teachers are leaving California's program improvement (PI) schools at a significantly higher rate than teachers leave "non"program improvement schools?
Who cares if teachers are creating instability in schools where a majority of the students are from low income families, have a primary language other than English, and/or are from an ethnic minority group?
Who cares if research shows that one ineffective unengaging teacher can cause a ripple effect of academic chaos in a child's life for years to come?
I CARE!
We should all care!
There is an annual migration in California which has nothing to do with the darling swallows of Capistrano. It has to do with teachers. Teachers who migrate away from PI schools, where NCLB accountability can put a stranglehold on educators and place relentless demands on them in rather exceptional circumstances.
At the end of each year, when as many as a quarter of teachers leave PI schools sites and a fresh batch of teachers are hired for the following year, needing to be retrained, rewired, and reestablished, who suffers? Teachers can, after all, find new jobs.
The students suffer. This must stop.
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2 comments:
Clearly the students suffer. It seems to me that a huge problem has been created when we make a system wherein teachers want to leave the schools that need them most? When a school enters PI status it seems like the creativity and joy is taken out of teaching and replaced with programs. How can a teacher maintain inspiration in such a situation? I applaud those who stick it out but am not sure that I would be one of them. I'm sorry if that sounds grim...
Honestly, I used to call myself Jane Goodall ( this in no way indicates I believe the students I was teaching were like chimps...though somedays...). Seriously, I knew the situation was tough, but I truly believed if anyone could do it, it was me. I thought I would end my career there.
But,in the end, my ideals of what a quality education looked like, and what a principal should inspire in their staff, triumphed over my sense of duty and even compassion...and I left my PI school.
Though I do not regret it
(trust me, my anxiety level has decreased tremendously), I often think about the children( and the parents) I left behind, and hope someone better than me will come along...and get it right, despite the horrific working conditions.
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