Term Paper on "Why Is There a Teacher Shortages in Florida?"

Term Paper 6 pages (1732 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Education - Administration

Plan for the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers in Florida

What's the Problem?

The ongoing shortage of public school teachers (across the nation) has become an enormous, multi-dimensional dilemma crying out for solutions. And while the problem is often associated exclusively with increased student enrollment - and that dynamic is certainly an issue - recent research indicates that teacher shortages "stem largely from high rates of pro-retirement teacher turnover" (Education Daily, 2004).

And surprisingly, the teachers who are leaving the profession, according to the research - conducted by University of Pennsylvania sociologist Richard M. Ingersoll - are not, in the main, those retiring after many years in the profession. Indeed, of the 278,000 teachers who retired in America between the end of the 1999-2000 school year and the start of the 2000-2001 school year, only 24% (67,000) were retiring after a long careers in teaching. Rather, the bulk of those leaving were younger, newer teachers, who quit because of "poor salaries...too many intrusions on classroom teaching time, student discipline problems," and lack of administrative support, among other reasons.

According to another report, a survey by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF), "half of new teachers - 46% - quit within five years, and 24% leave by the end of their second year" (What Works in Teaching and Learning, 2003). In the 1999-2000 school year, U.S. public schools hired 535,000 teachers, according to the article; but just one year later, "about 252,000 teachers had moved to other schools, and 287,000 left teaching altogether." That "revolving door" syndrome is a very serious teacher problem in Florida and elsewhere, when compared with new enrollment growth issues; this paper will provide a positive program for *recruitment, retention, and maintenance of a solid, sustainable core of teachers in Florida, based on the unhelpful dynamics occurring presently, which are pointed out in this paper.

What are the specific problems in Florida? How serious are teacher shortages in Florida? Like many states, Florida is experiencing a teacher shortage that is so crucial it requires aggressive and creative ideas and methods in order to reach a satisfactory solution. According to a 17-page report issued by the Florida State Board of Education - "Office of Evaluation and Reporting" - they currently are facing "critical teacher shortages" for the years 2004-2005, and there are expected to be critical shortages for the school years 2005-2006, in: middle and secondary mathematics and science, reading, technical education, industrial arts, physical sciences, English for speakers of other languages, and exceptional education programs. There will also be critical shortages of school psychologists in 2004-2005, according to the report.

Over the past five years, the report continues, "middle and high schools have seen sizable increases in enrollments," but the teachers graduating from Florida colleges and universities in math and science education "have not kept pace." And because the rate of growth of Florida's population will place an additional 50,000 or students each year into already crowded classrooms, some 2,000 to 3,000 new teachers will be needed annually just to cover that expansion.

Add to those numbers the ongoing implementation of the "class size amendment" (pre-kindergarten through grade THREE, 18 students per class; grades FOUR through EIGHT, 22 students per class; and grades NINE through TWELVE, 25 students per class), which puts a tremendous amount of pressure on school districts to recruit even more teachers.

Meanwhile, the situation is so serious that school districts have been hiring teachers that are not technically qualified to be in the classrooms they were assigned to (i.e., were not certified in the field they are teaching in). For example, of the new teachers hired in the fall of 2003, 11.5% "were not properly certified," the report asserted.

Breaking it down further, some 17% of teachers hired to teach reading lacked proper certification; 14% of science and math teachers hired were not certified in those fields; 49.7% of teachers assigned to teach "exceptional" students were not qualified to be instructors in that category. Soon school districts will feel even further pressure from growing teacher shortages, as they will have to adhere to the "No Child Left Behind" guidelines being enforced next school year, 2005-2006; the new federal law requires "there be a highly qualified teacher in every core-subject classroom," which means those 11.5% of "not properly certified" teachers from 2003-2004 will either have to get credentialed or be asked to leave.

Exacerbating even further the problem of teacher shortages is the teacher turnover rate in Florida: in the school year 2002-2003, some 13,751 teachers left the field - 62% through resignations, the rest retirements or "other reasons." Presently, according to the report by the Florida State Board of Education, one-fifth of teachers in public schools are 55 years of age or older; how long can those teachers be expected to continue working?

Better Plans for Recruitment of and Retention of Florida Teachers

Bush's Proposal: Florida Governor Jeb Bush put forth a number of ideas for the implementation of Amendment 9 - to help schools meet the academic requirements in the amendment - and he offered myriad recommendations for action at the local school district level. Among Bush's recommendations (Governor Bush's Amendment 9 Implementation Plan, 2003): "Streamline teacher certification process to expedite certification of qualified individuals"; "Require all new schools to meet established cost guidelines"; "Use innovative methods to reduce the cost of school construction..."; "Use joint-use facilities through partnerships" with colleges; "Redraw school attendance zones" to maximize use and minimize transportation costs; and, "Operate schools beyond normal operating hours."

Additionally, Bush's program calls for the spending of $2.2 billion ("Classrooms for Kids" bond program, e.g., taxpayer money), distributed throughout the state, on new construction, school renovation, or for teacher salaries. His proposal also calls for spending up to $630 million of taxpayer's funds for infrastructure and other support for rural and urban schools. His ideas are positive, but they don't go far enough, and they rely too much on public funds.

New Recruitment Plans - Corporate Cooperation & Co-Sponsorships

What Bush - and other Florida leaders - should be doing is not just recruiting teachers, but recruiting giant corporations to pitch in millions of dollars to help in the recruitment, hiring, and retention of teachers. Lucrative corporate co-sponsorships would bring in a wealth of hitherto-un-tapped revenue sources. For starters, Florida leaders (political leaders, community leaders, leaders in education, leaders in business - and leaders in the sports (university and professional sports in Florida) and entertainment fields should be pursuing co-sponsorships between education and corporations along the lines (only much larger) of what the BellSouth Foundation is doing for education in the nine states it serves. According to an article in PR Newswire (Chandler, 2003), BellSouth has launched a 5-year, $10 million initiative, designed to recruit / retain teachers, and to assist "teachers...with professional development" in order for them to meet "No Child Left Behind" standards.

How to recruit billions of teacher recruitment and teacher retention dollars for Florida schools: 1) Enlist prominent corporations to co-sponsor, with Florida, a very slick, high-powered nationwide marketing campaign (using Florida's top marketing group) to recruit teachers for Florida schools. Jeb Bush could coax high-visibility entertainment and sports personalities to form a superstar committee to go after $5 billion from corporations.

2) Arrange conference calls to the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, #1 through #9 for starters (Wal-Mart; Exxon; GM; Ford; GE; Chevron/Texaco; Conoco/Phillips; Citigroup and IBM); making those key solicitation calls - and making personal one-on-one appeals during "power lunches" - would be a task force of heavy-hitting Florida personalities like Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Evert, Don Shula, Dan Marino, Gloria Estefan, Serena and Venus Williams, among others; the money initially funds a no-holds-barred marketing campaign to bring teachers to Florida from across the nation; secondarily, it funds a teacher retention program, to keep teachers from retiring early.

3) In addition to the above-mentioned corporations, the task force should approach Nike, Reebok, Microsoft, AOL, Starbuck's, McDonald's, and others who derive substantial portions of their profits from young consumers. The advantage for company who signs on and kick in millions towards a $5 billion targeted goal is they will be allowed to display corporate logos in prominent places in schools and communities surrounding schools. In effect, schools may now allow corporate advertising (low-key but visible) in and around schools and their communities, in exchange for corporate money. 4) The marketing campaign lures new teachers to Florida by offering: moving expenses, bonuses, housing benefits in Florida, grocery and gasoline coupons, and more - providing the teacher being recruited signs an agreement to stay a minimum of 8 years in that Florida school.

How to retain teachers, both new and veteran Florida teachers: 1) Florida teacher pay scales should be beefed up to match salaries in other states. Half the money from the corporate co-sponsors ($2.5 billion) goes into a "teacher retention fund" to keep teachers in Florida, to provide extra pay for longevity, and incentives to retire later.

2) Districts will create a… READ MORE

How to Reference "Why Is There a Teacher Shortages in Florida?" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Teaching Today: An Introduction to Education Term Paper

Teaching Today: An Introduction to Education

On the question of teaching there are various factors that enable the teachers to perform in a manner that will perform the best education… read more

Term Paper 15 pages (5989 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Benefits of Year-Round School vs. A Regular Calendar Research Proposal

Round School vs. A Regular Calendar School Year

The Benefits of Year-Round vs. Traditional Calendar Year School

Continued interest in improving educational achievement has prompted school districts across the nation… read more

Research Proposal 40 pages (10557 words) Sources: 20 Style: APA Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Teachers Performance Measured by Merit-Based Pay in Schools Term Paper

Merit Pay

Teacher Performance Measured by Merit Pay

Merit pay is defined as recompense based on performance and is most often referred to as an educational reform measure. It provides… read more

Term Paper 8 pages (2483 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Attracting and Retaining Quality Staff Business Proposal

Attracting and retaining quality staff is an important aspect of human resource management. It involves the ability of the organization to attract new employees to fill vacancies in the organization… read more

Business Proposal 10 pages (2890 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

H 1b Shortage Research Proposal

H-1B Shortage

In today's society, knowledge and expertise are raw materials that are essential for companies and countries so that they can be more competitive. The economy is dependent on… read more

Research Proposal 35 pages (10207 words) Sources: 30 Style: Chicago Topic: Family / Dating / Marriage

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>