How to fix our urban schools

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/07/miller.htm

Basically the proposal is to improve teacher quality in bad schools by increasing teachers' pay by 50%. In exchange, unions would abandon the current pay scale and the dismissal of bad teachers would become much easier. New teachers would make $60,000 a year and the very best would make around $150,000 a year. The article goes into more details and addresses some of the objections. It sounds like a great proposal. Nobody objects to spending more on schools if it will help. The objection comes from the claim (too often valid) that we are just throwing money down a hole when we spend more on schools. This plan's combination of reform and incentives would be the best thing to happen to education in this country.

The guy who wrote this article, Matthew Miller, has a book coming out called The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love. It seems like a interesting read for anybody not blinded by their own ideology.

but you're up against the National Education Association which has an extremely powerful lobby.

Maybe a Dem president can give this idea legs.

on edit: wrong association

LOL.

Throwing MORE money is not the way to solve the school problem, though breaking the lock the NEA has on education would be a start.

Sure, let's just throw $30 billion at a system that is already failing.

Just kidding.

But you know Public Ed in America isn't all bad.

And the concept is more than sound. ie. The rest of the WORLD.

The real question is: Why are we not as capable at Public Schools as, let's say, France? Or better yet: Why do Central European students do even better than Western European students?

Unions? All countries have Unions.

Hmm. How do you feel about Police Unions? They end up defending the worst of all Public creatures, the "Bad Cop"...

Thanks.

No, public ed isn't all bad, it's just bad for the poor. The wealthy communities have it much better. Simply paying teachers more won't fix that.

I agree with other posters that we can't solve the educational problems on their own. The problems of poverty -- especially urban poverty -- go hand in hand with this issue.

As for unions, those like the NEA take on more of the role of an organization that is concerned with self preservation and not education.

No police union in the U.S. has one tenth the power of the NEA. If they did, I might oppose them as well.

Why not give that much to the very best teachers out there? As the last line in the article stated, it's insane that some trashmen make more than teachers.

Before you know it you'll start saying that all work is valuble and any vast differences are innappropriate.

the very best teachers out there

and where the money is going.

Last I heard starting salary in Los Angeles Unified was $22K, probably well short of what a good plumber makes. For that kind of money you get no talent and no commitment.

when it was properly funded. i am considering becoming a teacher, but i don't yet have a credential, but I do have a MA in business. with a BA (since i already passed the CBEST) i can get an emergency credential to substitute teach. substitute teachers make approximately $100.00 per day. that's $500.00 per week.
as an accountant, i can make double that easy. sooo...i have to really want to cut my salary in half in order to teach.

the requirements for teachers in california ARE JUST RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as is the starting salary. no wonder they can't get people to teach.

90k max would be fine with me. Also I'm starting to think the teachers union has become part of the problem.

$150 might be too high, I'm not sure. But in most districts a great teacher doesn't make any more than a crappy teacher. That is a huge problem.

repeatedly fought merit pay, as they have vouchers, teacher competentcy testing, objective standards, standardized testing, etc.

Most of the time, unions get pretty good support from Democrats. Why is there so much antagonism toward teachers' unions? Is it because they're paid with tax dollars, so all the sudden we're "management"?

Hmmmmmm.;)

what does a great teacher deserve? certainly as much as the cretin currently occupying the white house.

Do not the 'rural' schools need fixing also?

I went to a rural school that was horrible. The teachers were really not that good. In the 11th grade, I still had not written a paper. Most of the tests were done in multiple choice just to pass this students, I believe now. It was a farmer's town and sometimes I got the feeling that they were just passing the kids to stay around the area.

Which I will admit I did not express very well, is that I dont understand the fixation on 'urban' and the ignoring of the 'rural'.

There are many, many times more kids in urban schools than rural schools. The problems might be as bad, but the urban schools get our attention because that's where the majority of the people are.

I'm just kidding, the problem is usually the kids life. If the kid is going through problems usually family life is really bad. Most of the dysfunctional families are in the urban areas. If the kid is going through a personal crisis then learning new things is usually not the first thing on his/her mind. I know from personal experience, if I got into a bad fight with my mom, that is usually the first thing on my mind the entire day and my test scores were lower. If a kid can grow up with a healthy home and neighborhood environment, he/she should be able to do well in school. Also, you have your other problems, bad teachers but only 1 time in my life I had what I considered a bad teacher.

to address the needs of kids, and the reality of their lives is one answer.

without community development and improvement in the home lives of children I can't see the education system getting much better.

I think the guaranteed tuitions that Edwards is proposing, as well as many states like Alabama, would be better than increasing teacher's salaries. Social servants dependent on tax dollars just don't make alot of money.

If a little kid knows they are going to be able to go to college and truly become whatever they want, then they'll be more likely to put in the effort. And once they get ready to graduate high school, if they choose trade school instead, they'll still know it's real, not an illusionary pipedream. You can get a federal grant just isn't the same as you are guaranteed tuition to college.

Alabama really needs to pass their education bill.

raising pay improve the quality of teachers?

Teacher pay has been rising for 20 years, and teacher competentcy has been dropping.