Making Teaching a Better Career

By Joe Graba, July guest blogger

Our country has been involved in a 30-year struggle to improve our public school system. This effort has included numerous initiatives with various aspects of the system. In the early years there was much attention given to the curriculum. We have also had major efforts to get better superintendents and principals into the system. Over the last three to five years there has been a major focus on our teachers.

Not surprisingly, there is good research-based evidence that the quality of the teachers has a huge impact on the learning that occurs. This has led to a variety of initiatives around the country aimed at addressing the teacher preparation programs. In Minnesota, the Bush Foundation has a major effort underway. Other efforts going on nationally are designed to recruit better college and university students into the teaching field. Numerous districts have developed induction and mentoring programs designed to help teachers become better in their first years of teaching.

All of these efforts should be supported and applauded. However, the other part of the task is to find ways to keep good teachers in our schools. While the percentage varies by state, nationally we lose between 40 and 50 percent of our teachers in the first five years of their career. Recent research suggests that many of those leaving are among the better teachers. So while recruiting and preparing better teachers is desirable, it probably is not enough. The other half of the task is to find ways to make teaching a better job and a better career. 

Dr. Richard Ingersoll from the University of Pennsylvania has done extensive research on teachers and the job of teaching. He compared several aspects of schools where teachers had significant involvement in the decisions about school governance to those where teachers had little or no involvement in those decisions. He found that where teacher involvement was high, teacher turnover tended to be low and where teacher involvement was low, turnover was high. Other aspects of the schools also improved (less tardiness-less vandalism) when teachers had significant involvement in school decision-making.

It is interesting to think about how other professions are organized in our society. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. have always had the option of developing their own professional practice, but teachers have been assumed to be employees of some entity — districts in most cases but some by the private/parochial sector. Does this really need to be the case? Might teachers be able to create their own professional practice and then contract with the district or chartered school to provide professional services? The answer turns out to be yes.

Minnesota now has several schools that are run by teacher professional practices (TPPs). These TPPs manage all aspects of the schools — budget, teacher selection, teacher evaluation and compensation as well as the school’s learning program and schedule. The first such TPP, at Minnesota New Country School in Henderson, started in 1994. There are now between 50 and 60 TPPs operating across the country, mostly in chartered schools but some in district schools. The Minneapolis School Board recently approved a new school for start up in 2011 that will have a TPP. Both Denver and Boston started schools with TPPs last fall.

There are many points along a continuum for teacher involvement that could help to make teaching a more attractive career. Some principals believe in shared decision-making and move on their own to create teacher involvement in their schools. In other cases the district leadership creates this expectation for all of its schools. However, the TPP is probably the ultimate in teacher empowerment. In our country’s struggle to improve public education we need to recognize that the teachers along with the students are the key players in our schools. Finding ways to attract the best people into teaching and retain them as career teachers should be among our top priorities in our efforts to improve public education.

Comments

[Lars Johnson]

Hi, I'm Lars Johnson the webmaster for Education|Evolving. For those interested in learning more about the "Teacher Professional Practices" model that Joe discusses here, you might check out this page on our website: http://bit.ly/brBxJn

Or, follow our EducationInnovating.org blog this week, where our main theme will be TPPs: http://bit.ly/bEaSc9

[Laura]

Both of my sons are teachers. One teaches first grade in an inner-city public school with mostly English language learners. The other is the middle school math teacher in a private school where values such as community, conflict resolution and peace are integrated into the curriculum. Each of them has found a program that allows him to bring his personal teaching philosophy and style to his students. As their mom I wondered if the current teaching profession would be enough for these go-getter young men. Fortunately they had amazing role models during their own school years. It is a joy to watch them embrace the teaching profession as their classmates embrace medicine, religion or law. And it is a special treat when I see them interact with students or parents of their students. I plan to forward this blog post to each of them to learn their take on the Teacher Professional Practices model. Thanks Joe (and Lars)!
Laura

[Joe Graba]

Hi Laura: Thanks for yur comment. We know the TPP is not for all tachers. Many are comfortable in their current situation. Many that do create a TPP use their expanded control to design their schools with innovative learning programs and personalized school cultures. I hope your sons will use the link in the blog to reach our website where they will find more informantion of the benefits of the Professional Practice approach.