Teacher
unions are all upset about the changing
of teacher certification requirements. They
argue that teachers should meet the certification
requirements that are now in place. Since
there is a teacher shortage, they argue
the way to eliminate this shortage is through
paying all teachers higher salaries. Many
editorial boards have chimed in about not
allowing unqualified teachers into the classroom.
The
Austin American Statesman on February
26, 2004 was typical when it editorialized “Either this state values teachers and will
take appropriate steps to ensure they are
up to the challenge of educating Texas students,
or it doesn't, and will permit unqualified
instructors into its classrooms.” They,
along with many editorial boards in Texas,
have a complete lack of understanding of
what is causing teacher shortages and no
ideas for the solution.
The
key point never discussed is that most areas
of teaching do not have shortages. A few
areas generate most of the shortages. According
to the Teacher Demand Study, in 2000-2001
the area with the highest teacher shortage
was Elementary Bilingual/ESL where 48% of
newly hired teachers were not certified.
The second highest area was Secondary Bilingual/ESL
where 40% were not properly credentialed.
Secondary Foreign Language was at 36%, Technology
at 33%, Special Ed at 33% and Science at
30%.
The
two categories with the greatest shortfall
relate to bilingual education and teaching
classes to students where English is a second
language. This obviously caused by the fact
that the percentage of Hispanic students
is increasing rapidly. In the 1996-97 school
year, only six years ago, 46% of all students
were Anglo and 37% were Hispanic. In the
2002-2003 school year 40% of all students
were Anglo and 43% were Hispanic.
The
number of Anglo students has dropped while
the number of Hispanic students has increased
342,000 in the last five years. Many if
not most of those Hispanic students speak
English as a second language, if at all.
Far more important to their future ability
to learn, than traditional certification,
is whether they have teachers with the ability
to either speak Spanish or at least teach
in a manner they can understand.
Three
of the remaining four categories are all
in Secondary School and are the result of
competition from the marketplace: Foreign
Language, Technology (usually computers)
and Science. The only way to get credentialed
teachers in these subjects is to increase
their salaries.
The
solution to meeting teacher shortages is
two fold. First, we can only find enough
Bilingual/ESL teachers by broadening our
net for attracting applicants. There are
simply not enough bilingual/ESL teachers
in the traditional teacher college credentialing
process pipeline to remotely meet the demands
of Hispanic students for decades to come.
Some form of alternate certification is
essential. The idea that this somehow debases
the value of all teacher certification is
ludicrous.
Second,
to get teachers in skilled technical fields
such as science, computers, math and language
we have to pay premium salaries. I know
of no other profession outside of public
school teaching where everyone gets paid
the same salary. Price controls always create
shortages. Remove the price control and
you remove the shortage.
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