Thoughts Without Words: FEWER people going into teaching

***changed from less to fewer to be grammatically correct. Thanks to Anonymous.***

Another no duh.

I have said it before, anyone going into education right now has to be a little off. But let's look at the numbers.

In California, the number of teaching credentials issued annually fell 29% during the last five years, from 28,039 in 2004-05 to 20,032 in 2009-10, according to a new report by the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The biggest decline, nearly a 50% drop during that period, was in the multiple subject credential usually required to teach elementary school youngsters, while some demand for high school math and science teachers remains.

The 50% in elementary credentials isn't that surprising to me. Districts are dumping the 20:1 ratio, so that leaves a lot of those lower grade level teachers out of a job. And in our district, enrollment for elementary is dropping. New families can't afford to live in CA, so they are moving out.

What about those currently in the programs?

At the Cal State University system, among the nation's biggest providers of new teachers, the number of students in credential classes is less than half of the total eight years ago. An estimated 12,000 students seeking teaching credentials are enrolled at Cal State campuses, officials said.

Private schools?

National University, a nonprofit, multi-campus school that offers mainly online credential classes, reports that enrollment in its teacher training courses has dropped about 30% since 2006.

All no brainers. We are being attacked constantly. If a child doesn't succeed we are the first ones to blame. We are supposed to teach to a test, without teaching to a test. Who would want to go into education now?

Inside Four Walls: Elementary Bulletin Boards hurting education?

Via The Quick and the Ed (via Joanne Jacobs);
It seems as though competition to create the best room or "environment" hasn't helped test scores or anything else for that matter.

That's not what I wanted to talk about though. It's the "bulletin board" mentality. My wife is an elementary teacher (has done them all K through 5) and I have witnessed this first hand. Elementary teachers try to one up each others rooms all the time. My wife was staying late one night getting her room ready when she saw another teacher going room to room (open concept no walls/doors) taking pictures of other teachers' bulletin boards and learning areas.

This comes from the top down. And when I mean top, I mean parents. I asked my wife why she spends so much time and she said it's the parents. If a parent sees that your room isn't as "pretty" as another teachers they won't want you and complain until they are moved out. If you have a parent who never goes in your room, chances are they aren't "in touch" with their child's education and it might be harder to get that parental involvement.

After the parents, it's the principal. Human nature strives for recognition. And most principal/administrators will pit teachers against each other. A principal will praise one teacher just to piss off motivate the others to make them work harder.

Lastly, it's the other teachers. The ones that need the attention because they aren't getting enough praise from elsewhere. When you have a teacher that can spend literally 12 hours a days at work, you can't win.

Elementary teachers hurt themselves though. In our district, the elementary schools are being slaughtered due to class size reduction. Instead of banding together and saying "we aren't coming in 3 weeks early to get our rooms ready" or "we aren't spending any extra money in our rooms this year"; they go ahead and do it anyways.

I hope that the elementary teachers can have that proverbial light click on so they can have a voice because right now they look like a bunch of lost sheep.