NRMPS EDUCATORS:
Last summer the NC
General Assembly enacted several new pieces of legislation affecting education
and the manner in which schools operate across the state.
Regardless of your political persuasion, these changes have sparked strong feelings from teachers, parents, and both supporters and detractors of traditional public education. It is clear that a new conversation is necessary regarding how we educate students and how we recruit, reward, support and retain good teachers in our classrooms. In fact, I would go so far as to say that these changes have served as the catalyst for much needed debate on several key issues that will ultimately shape the direction of the profession, and educational reform.
Since the legislature adjourned in August, I have listened as members on both sides of the issues have tried to convince their respective constituencies with their key talking points. Both believe that their positions are the answer to the nagging question of how we build an educational system to prepare all students for the competitive global workforce that awaits them.
As we have all come to realize, many of the educational bills passed during the last session have far-reaching and long-term effects on the way schools do business. As some have made clear... that was the intent. As professional educators and supporters of public education, it is essential that you stay engaged and informed.
Recently, I attended staff meetings at 26 of our 29 schools to discuss new legislative changes and specifically the phase out of career status. At each of these meetings I asked each of you to stay informed and to do your homework; to become advocates for the profession, your students and the community. Many of the bills passed will impact you and our community, whether you have a child in the public school system or not. I further shared that those of us in the Nash-Rocky Mount School System must understand that the bulk of our financial resources come from state and federal funding sources, therefore what happens in Raleigh and Washington DC matters to our school system.
As the general assembly prepares for the short session, it is critical that we stay connected to and engaged in the debates affecting education. I have listed a few areas that you should keep your eyes on and be prepared to share your thoughts with your representatives. If you support their current positions, I encourage you to thank them for their service. If you have questions relative to their positions, I also encourage you to seek answers to those questions as well. I can tell you that I will be asking only 2 questions: How will this help students? How will this help us keep good teachers in our classrooms?
Teacher Salary
NC Teachers have not received a salary increase in the past 5 years. According to Eric Guckian, NC has slipped to 51st nationally relative to teacher salaries and investment in education. I am encouraged by recent reports that teacher compensation will be addressed in the short session. I would strongly encourage teachers to keep a watchful eye on the debate and evaluate the long-term strategy for competitiveness. As with any profession, it is essential that we have the tools and resources to attract, recruit, reward and retain our best teachers. A competitive salary is a key part of that package.
Teacher Assistants
In the Nash-Rocky Mount School System, we laid off 40 teacher assistants this year. This was very difficult and has truly impacted the flexibility of our elementary schools as they attempt to meet the mandates of Reading 3D, Read to Achieve and other instructional and assessment requirements. As we look at ways to improve the educational experience of students, it is essential that teachers have the tools necessary to personalize and individualize instruction. Teacher assistants are a key part of that formula.
Class-size
The General Assembly removed class-size caps on grades 4-12. This means that when those classes exceed acceptable levels, we cannot go back to the state to request additional resources as we have been able to do in the past. Additionally, we no longer have the flexibility to cash in positions in other areas to create positions to reduce class-size.
Teacher Tenure (Career Status)
Career status is a social contract. Those who did everything we asked of you to earn this designation are now faced with making the decision to give it up for a $500 bonus over the next 4 years. If you choose not to give it up, you accept that you will automatically lose it in 2018. We have developed a plan and the board has approved it. We will be executing the plan to offer the bonus to 25% of those eligible at each school. The NCAE has filed a lawsuit contesting the law.
Pay for Advanced Degrees
Effective July 1, compensation for advanced degrees will cease. Those who are in graduate programs who will not finish and have your degree posted to your license by May of this year will not be eligible for this additional compensation. Many of you are working on degrees in hard to staff areas (EC, AIG, Media, Math, Science, etc). We need your expertise and continued training. I am hopeful that the legislature will address this in the short session. I am confident that if left as is, this single piece of legislation has the potential to do the most harm at the classroom level. We need well-trained teachers in every classroom. Continuing education keeps our teacher connected with new and innovative strategies as well as best practice.
Read to Achieve (Excellent Public Schools Act)
Read to Achieve requires every 3rd grade student to score proficient on the EOG to be promoted to 4th grade. The plan while noble in its intent, has added a new layer of assessments on 3rd grade students (Assessment of 36 reading passages for their portfolio to demonstrate progress). These assessments are on top of the Reading 3D, Benchmarks and EOG tests already administered. If a student fails, they are required to attend a summer camp and retest. If they miss the mark again, they are placed in a combination class and reassessed mid-year. We have also learned that Read to Achieve will be funded at a rate of $825 per student. This funding is expected to cover the cost of the teacher, transportation, materials etc. This is unrealistic. Based on our analysis, this will not cover the cost of transportation. Where will the additional funding come from?
I want to thank our teachers for working extremely hard to meet these expectations. You are doing the right thing for students. Please know however we will need to continue advocating for a common sense approach to ensuring that students leave 3rd grade as proficient independent readers.
A-F Grading for Schools
The A-F Grading system will be fully implemented after the next round of state assessments this summer. Based upon the baseline data we saw this fall, we can anticipate the first round of grades as we work to improve our students performance on these assessments. I believe that the growth of our students is more important than the aggregate proficiency percentage. With that said, we must work diligently to ensure that our students are prepared to perform on assessments this spring. We have developed and provided many resources to you, and we are providing the necessary benchmarks to help you evaluate where students are throughout the year. I want to encourage you to take advantage of these tools. Again, I am hopeful that common sense will prevail during the short session and those charged with making these decisions will realize the impact that placing an arbitrary grade on schools will have, not only on the community, but on economic development across the state.
For a counterpoint on my perceptions, please click on the links to the NCSBA Legislative summary and a summary of the educational legislation posted on the blog of Representative Jeff Collins.
Regardless of your political persuasion, these changes have sparked strong feelings from teachers, parents, and both supporters and detractors of traditional public education. It is clear that a new conversation is necessary regarding how we educate students and how we recruit, reward, support and retain good teachers in our classrooms. In fact, I would go so far as to say that these changes have served as the catalyst for much needed debate on several key issues that will ultimately shape the direction of the profession, and educational reform.
Since the legislature adjourned in August, I have listened as members on both sides of the issues have tried to convince their respective constituencies with their key talking points. Both believe that their positions are the answer to the nagging question of how we build an educational system to prepare all students for the competitive global workforce that awaits them.
As we have all come to realize, many of the educational bills passed during the last session have far-reaching and long-term effects on the way schools do business. As some have made clear... that was the intent. As professional educators and supporters of public education, it is essential that you stay engaged and informed.
Recently, I attended staff meetings at 26 of our 29 schools to discuss new legislative changes and specifically the phase out of career status. At each of these meetings I asked each of you to stay informed and to do your homework; to become advocates for the profession, your students and the community. Many of the bills passed will impact you and our community, whether you have a child in the public school system or not. I further shared that those of us in the Nash-Rocky Mount School System must understand that the bulk of our financial resources come from state and federal funding sources, therefore what happens in Raleigh and Washington DC matters to our school system.
As the general assembly prepares for the short session, it is critical that we stay connected to and engaged in the debates affecting education. I have listed a few areas that you should keep your eyes on and be prepared to share your thoughts with your representatives. If you support their current positions, I encourage you to thank them for their service. If you have questions relative to their positions, I also encourage you to seek answers to those questions as well. I can tell you that I will be asking only 2 questions: How will this help students? How will this help us keep good teachers in our classrooms?
Teacher Salary
NC Teachers have not received a salary increase in the past 5 years. According to Eric Guckian, NC has slipped to 51st nationally relative to teacher salaries and investment in education. I am encouraged by recent reports that teacher compensation will be addressed in the short session. I would strongly encourage teachers to keep a watchful eye on the debate and evaluate the long-term strategy for competitiveness. As with any profession, it is essential that we have the tools and resources to attract, recruit, reward and retain our best teachers. A competitive salary is a key part of that package.
Teacher Assistants
In the Nash-Rocky Mount School System, we laid off 40 teacher assistants this year. This was very difficult and has truly impacted the flexibility of our elementary schools as they attempt to meet the mandates of Reading 3D, Read to Achieve and other instructional and assessment requirements. As we look at ways to improve the educational experience of students, it is essential that teachers have the tools necessary to personalize and individualize instruction. Teacher assistants are a key part of that formula.
Class-size
The General Assembly removed class-size caps on grades 4-12. This means that when those classes exceed acceptable levels, we cannot go back to the state to request additional resources as we have been able to do in the past. Additionally, we no longer have the flexibility to cash in positions in other areas to create positions to reduce class-size.
Teacher Tenure (Career Status)
Career status is a social contract. Those who did everything we asked of you to earn this designation are now faced with making the decision to give it up for a $500 bonus over the next 4 years. If you choose not to give it up, you accept that you will automatically lose it in 2018. We have developed a plan and the board has approved it. We will be executing the plan to offer the bonus to 25% of those eligible at each school. The NCAE has filed a lawsuit contesting the law.
Pay for Advanced Degrees
Effective July 1, compensation for advanced degrees will cease. Those who are in graduate programs who will not finish and have your degree posted to your license by May of this year will not be eligible for this additional compensation. Many of you are working on degrees in hard to staff areas (EC, AIG, Media, Math, Science, etc). We need your expertise and continued training. I am hopeful that the legislature will address this in the short session. I am confident that if left as is, this single piece of legislation has the potential to do the most harm at the classroom level. We need well-trained teachers in every classroom. Continuing education keeps our teacher connected with new and innovative strategies as well as best practice.
Read to Achieve (Excellent Public Schools Act)
Read to Achieve requires every 3rd grade student to score proficient on the EOG to be promoted to 4th grade. The plan while noble in its intent, has added a new layer of assessments on 3rd grade students (Assessment of 36 reading passages for their portfolio to demonstrate progress). These assessments are on top of the Reading 3D, Benchmarks and EOG tests already administered. If a student fails, they are required to attend a summer camp and retest. If they miss the mark again, they are placed in a combination class and reassessed mid-year. We have also learned that Read to Achieve will be funded at a rate of $825 per student. This funding is expected to cover the cost of the teacher, transportation, materials etc. This is unrealistic. Based on our analysis, this will not cover the cost of transportation. Where will the additional funding come from?
I want to thank our teachers for working extremely hard to meet these expectations. You are doing the right thing for students. Please know however we will need to continue advocating for a common sense approach to ensuring that students leave 3rd grade as proficient independent readers.
A-F Grading for Schools
The A-F Grading system will be fully implemented after the next round of state assessments this summer. Based upon the baseline data we saw this fall, we can anticipate the first round of grades as we work to improve our students performance on these assessments. I believe that the growth of our students is more important than the aggregate proficiency percentage. With that said, we must work diligently to ensure that our students are prepared to perform on assessments this spring. We have developed and provided many resources to you, and we are providing the necessary benchmarks to help you evaluate where students are throughout the year. I want to encourage you to take advantage of these tools. Again, I am hopeful that common sense will prevail during the short session and those charged with making these decisions will realize the impact that placing an arbitrary grade on schools will have, not only on the community, but on economic development across the state.
For a counterpoint on my perceptions, please click on the links to the NCSBA Legislative summary and a summary of the educational legislation posted on the blog of Representative Jeff Collins.
I want to thank each of you
for what you do for students every day. You are making a difference.
Stay focused, stay informed and most of all, stay dedicated.
Dr. Anthony Jackson
Dr. Anthony Jackson
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