Critique : System in Texas has not done enough to support teachers

Behind every successful student there is a teacher and parent. Students spend half of their day in school. So doing enough to support and help teachers stay in school is one of the major tasks in education system. In Austin American Statesman’s commentary section Bill Ratliff and John Fitzpatrick have put together a commentary, System in Texas has not done enough to support teachers. The commentators’ believe the education system has not done enough to support our current and future teacher corps.

The direct intended audience for this commentary is general public. But I think it also wants people in government and education system to listen. Ratliff, a former Texas lieutenant governor, is chairman of the Raise Your Hand Texas advisory board. Fitzpatrick is the executive director of the Texas High School Project. It is clear that both of the authors are associated with organizations directly associated with students’ success. I think since the authors are working to increase student achievement they are credible in this topic.

The authors state that, According to the State Board for Educator Certification, 30 percent of our new teachers leave the profession within their first five years. They also state that, School districts spend thousands of dollars recruiting, hiring and training teachers, many of whom leave within a few years because of lack of preparation and support.

When I researched on teacher retention rate I found that the authors are right. And I agree with authors that it takes several thousands of dollars to train teachers, and if the teachers leave it will be a huge loss of budget as well as resources. Some of the facts that I found are: Texas teachers have lower increases in pay over time compared to other occupations. Around two-dozen school districts in Texas use stipends to pay teachers. One prominent study projects a shortfall of 5,200 secondary math teachers by 2012.

Based on the facts mentioned above I agree with the commentators that we must do more to support teachers so they stay in school for several years. I believe that retaining high quality teacher increases student achievement.

Reference:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/research/pdfs/prr6.pdf
http://www.tsbvi.edu/course/chapter1/section3.1.html

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/persprep/qualityteachers/retention.htm
http://amarillo.com/stories/1999/11/13/tex_teachers.shtml