“Is the grass really greener elsewhere?”. Many teachers consider this question at several times in their careers. Actually, the question is not worded correctly. “Is the grass where I stand green enough for me now and for my future” is a better question. The resounding answer for too many teachers is “There is little grass where I stand, and it is not green enough!”
Teachers have choices and they are making the decision to leave their first profession. “According to the WI DPI’s analysis, about 4 out of every 10 first-year teachers either leave the state or the profession altogether after just six years (39.4% of new teachers), and only 68 percent of aspiring educators who complete an education preparation program were ultimately employed in a Wisconsin public school”.
https://dpi.wi.gov/news/releases/2024/education-workforce-crisis-report-analysis
State the conclusion first and then develop its reasoning.
Educational leaders and politicians have bemoaned the realities of teacher shortages for decades; however, moaning has not changed its reality. In Wisconsin, legislators continue to modify the requirements for obtaining and keeping a teaching license believing that this will attract and keep teachers. Their heads are in the proverbial sand. It is the conditions of the profession not the entry requirements that are the problem.
Instead, make changes in two of the most critical elements of the profession: compensation and supervision. First, make and fund a $70,000 starting salary for teachers in every district in Wisconsin irrespective of their current state funding or property values. After a probationary period of five years, make the continuing salary point $85,000 and let CPI dictate annual increase thereafter.
Second, guarantee every teacher has adequate principal support and supervision. Adequacy means that a principal has a face-to-face conversation with the teacher every week and is in the teacher’s classroom at least once every two weeks. Overkill? Hardly. Instructionally proficient teachers will welcome the increased principal presence because the principal will see and know how good they are. Students will understand there is no distance between teachers and principals relative to student behaviors and discipline. Instructionally underperforming teachers will profit from the principal’s guidance for improvement.
Why these two remedies? Because they address two of a teacher’s most pressing concerns. Is my compensation enough for me and my family to satisfy our needs and some of our wants? And does my boss know and care about my teaching and the children I teach? When we answer these two concerns positively, all the rest of the minor career irritants can take care of themselves.
It is easy to dismiss these two steps will because they will cost more money than currently is spent on education. On the other hand, the constant loss of teacher talent and the constant expenditure of school time and expense in recruiting and on-boarding new teachers every year has equivalent costs. We should stop paying the cost of teachers leaving begin paying the costs for teachers staying.
As a school superintendent, our district practice was to begin each new teacher to our district with a salary amount large enough that salary was never an issue with the teacher’s ongoing job satisfaction. Money issues aside, we then could constructively work on teaching and learning. A second practice was for administrators to purposefully connect with every teacher and staff member weekly. We were a small school with a superintendent and a principal, but our priorities were clear. A purposeful connection was non-negotiable and not a discussion of the weather but a conversation about instruction, curriculum, assessment, and student performances.
Interestingly, some teachers still will leave their profession and they probably should. But it will not be for lack of compensation or administrative support and supervision. The truth is some teachers should not be teaching and they need to find that out for themselves.
The conclusion is reached because green differs among professions.
People are comparative shoppers by nature. As we compare cars in the parking lot, houses by neighborhoods, or vacations by the amount of beach time, people also compare professions by salaries. A first-year teacher in Wisconsin observes these two facts about her profession.
The average first-year salary for teachers in Wisconsin is $48,520 and in the nation is $46,590. These are averages with 50% of teachers, first year and veteran, earning less.
https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/First-Year-Teacher-Salary–in-Wisconsin
In comparison, the average starting salaries for other careers is
- Junior civil engineer is $67,795.
- Junior chemical engineer is $62,229.
- Junior systems engineer is $67,489
- Business development representative is $67,934.
- Junior accountant is $49,745.
- Junior supply chain analyst is $56,457.
- Entry-level software engineer is $73,584.
- Junior developer is $69,547.
- Junior network engineer is $66,138.
- Construction manager is $76,625.
- Project manager is $76,949.
- Site engineer is $85,454.
- Risk analyst is $76,869.
- Research associate is $54,806.
- Data analyst is $65,681.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/college-degrees-with-the-highest-starting-salaries
The grass really is greener somewhere else at the start of a professional teaching career. Teachers do not approach the starting salaries of other professions that require a baccalaureate degree and training. Further, the difference is magnified over time. By the time teachers and other professionals are in the 35 to 45 age brackets, the difference in salaries between these same professions will be $60,000 or more per year. This status has been fact for decades.
The shortage also is driven by a lack of collegians enrolling in colleges of education. Enrollments dwindle every year as more and more employed teachers bail out on teaching. Comparatively speaking, neither beginning nor continuing a career in teaching pays the bills as well as salaries in another profession.
The significant change to a $70,000 starting salary and an $85,000 post-probation salary point irrespective of district will cause collegians and veteran teachers to reconsider their professional decisions.
The conclusion is reached because there is more than dollars that causes teachers to leave the profession.
Money matters, but there are other factors we need to acknowledge and address in order to stem the tide of teachers leaving the profession. A study by the Learning Policy Institute cites these five factors for teachers leaving the profession.
- Inadequate Preparation – Beginning teachers with little or no preparation are 2 1⁄2 times more likely to leave the classroom after one year compared to their well-prepared peers.
- Lack of Support for New Teachers – New teachers who do not receive mentoring and other supports leave at more than two times the rate of those who do.
- Challenging Working Conditions – Teachers often cite working conditions, such as the support of their principals and the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues, as the top reason for leaving.
- Better Career Opportunities – More than 1 in 4 teachers who leave say they do so to pursue other career opportunities.
- Personal Reasons – More than 1 in 3 teachers who leave cite personal reasons, including pregnancy and childcare, as extremely or very important in their decision.
https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/Teacher_Exodus_Infographic.pdf
An improved and greener professional career derives when teachers are supported and recognized for their good teaching and their causing children to learn. The caveat to this step in supporting teachers is that principals need to time and resources to be educational leaders for teachers. A principal trained in curriculum and instruction is wasted sitting in an office writing out discipline reports. Most student discipline is routine and can be administered by a dean of students or admin-assistant. Most campus supervision can be successfully provided by paraprofessionals.
The Big Duh!
We have a teacher shortage for two reasons. Our educational system and cultural mindset do not place a high enough monetary and appreciative value on teaching. Because the system does not value teachers, teachers do not value the profession. Change the valuing by paying teachers a professionally comparative salary and ensuring adequate administrative support and supervision. What we value highly receives more of our continuing attention.
The second reason for teacher shortage is that we keep doing the same inane things in the hope that more people will want to teach and then remain classroom teachers. Stop mucking around with licensing. Instead hold high and higher standards for a teaching license. We don’t value what has been devalued. Make the profession one of higher standards and more people will value it more.
What the heck!
If we cannot do these two things to enhance the profession, then turn all schools into PK-12-day care centers. The average annual salary for full-time daycare workers in Wisconsin is $27,640. There is a new goal for politicians who do not value public education.
https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Childcare-Salary–in-Wisconsin