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I think the lack of quality is not being driven at the individual teacher level and isn’t related to covid at all. Covid made the issues that already existed v

by diddid 2y ago

I think the lack of quality is not being driven at the individual teacher level and isn’t related to covid at all. Covid made the issues that already existed visible. Removing AP classes and charter schools, graduating kids missing credits, downplaying test results, and failing to properly address poor student behavior are all usually made at the district level. I don’t think increased funding would change any of that and I think a lot of good teachers would still quit.

slt2021 2y ago
the highest per student spend is at the most failing and underperforming school systems: Chicago, DC, Baltimore - and they haven't showed a trend to improve at all and keep demanding more and more resources
- vundercind 2y ago
  Low-performing inner city schools do sometimes pay quite a bit more than easy suburban schools—but the work environment is so incredibly terrible and the job so difficult that they struggle to retain good teachers anyway. They have to pay extra just to keep anyone at all.
  - slt2021 2y ago
    It is not the money if kids have no capacity to learn.
vundercind 2y ago
There are two main things reducing quality of the schools as this goes on: 1) There’s a really bad staff shortage. The ways schools are trying to compensate without significantly raising pay are making school worse. Three examples are reducing the length of the school week, cutting “specials” (art, music, languages, non-“core” classes), and replacing instruction with crappy computerized solutions (believe me, they’re mostly crappy). 2) Because there’s a shortage of teachers, it’s harder to turn down an applicant or get rid of a bad or mediocre teacher. These also aren’t disproportionately leaving—plenty of good ones are among the ones moving to other sectors, in part because they tend to have the best prospects outside of school, and it’s not like schools can really offer them more to try to keep them. So, the pool of candidates is at least not improving as it shrinks, and it’s tougher to get rid of teachers that otherwise might be let go. Further, the teacher pipeline is drying up and it’s quickly becoming a less-attractive option for students entering school. Result: average teacher quality may be expected to trend down.

by diddid 2y ago

slt2021 2y ago

the highest per student spend is at the most failing and underperforming school systems: Chicago, DC, Baltimore - and they haven't showed a trend to improve at all and keep demanding more and more resources

vundercind 2y ago
Low-performing inner city schools do sometimes pay quite a bit more than easy suburban schools—but the work environment is so incredibly terrible and the job so difficult that they struggle to retain good teachers anyway. They have to pay extra just to keep anyone at all.
- slt2021 2y ago
  It is not the money if kids have no capacity to learn.

vundercind 2y ago

There are two main things reducing quality of the schools as this goes on: 1) There’s a really bad staff shortage. The ways schools are trying to compensate without significantly raising pay are making school worse. Three examples are reducing the length of the school week, cutting “specials” (art, music, languages, non-“core” classes), and replacing instruction with crappy computerized solutions (believe me, they’re mostly crappy). 2) Because there’s a shortage of teachers, it’s harder to turn down an applicant or get rid of a bad or mediocre teacher. These also aren’t disproportionately leaving—plenty of good ones are among the ones moving to other sectors, in part because they tend to have the best prospects outside of school, and it’s not like schools can really offer them more to try to keep them. So, the pool of candidates is at least not improving as it shrinks, and it’s tougher to get rid of teachers that otherwise might be let go. Further, the teacher pipeline is drying up and it’s quickly becoming a less-attractive option for students entering school. Result: average teacher quality may be expected to trend down.