Scribbles to the Captain March 22, 2012 | The East Carolinian

By Assistant Director of Teacher Education
March 22, 2012.

Mr. Cochran,
In response to your recent Op-Ed column, ?Teachers Wanted: true or false?? I wanted to take this opportunity to assure you that the College of Education does not seek to ?hoodwink? anyone with ?flighty figures? or ?false advertising.? In fact, in the following paragraphs, I hope to assure you that, indeed, North Carolina needs teachers.

I applaud your efforts to do a little research. However, you failed to dig deeper within the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website to gain a true picture of the teacher shortage in our state. Granted, school systems have faced extreme cuts, which have resulted in cuts in staff. As a result, class sizes in many districts have been increased. Indeed, this is very troubling. However, when reporting your information about cuts, ?staff? can include teacher assistants and other school personnel beyond teachers. In addition, schools are funded with local, state, and federal funding streams. School systems may elect to reduce class size by using local or federal dollars. Often this is true in larger school districts that have larger local tax bases. These teachers or staff members are in addition to what is allotted by state average daily membership allotments of funding. In layman?s terms, this means that they constitute ?extra? staff. Cuts to these individuals who are locally and federally funded often are severed first when such sources dry up. Without a specific reference of which report from the NCDPI website that you quoted in your column, it is hard to verify the information you shared.

However, in your research, you failed to access other reports on the NCDPI website that provide an accurate picture of the need for teachers in the state. The most recent teacher vacancy report, also available on the NCDPI website, indicates that while there was a dip in vacancies in 2009 as from previously reported years, the most recent report for 2010 vacancies indicated an increase in vacancies with the highest-need areas for teachers being in special education, and middle and high school mathematics and science. So, while your assessment of the ?need? for teachers is interesting, it certainly isn?t supported by the report that is available at NCPublicSchool.org.

This state report is reflective of data also compiled by the U.S. Department of Education. In their March 2011 report of teacher shortages nationwide, North Carolina is reported to have shortages in mathematics and science in grades 6-12 and special education. While you may believe that North Carolina doesn?t ?need? teachers, the 36 school systems with whom the College of Education meets each month would disagree. These personnel directors regularly share their current needs in the profession. Further, in December, more senior interns were requested by schools for early release to be employed than previous years? data on early released interns. Schools may not request an early release of an intern without having a full-time position in which to place them.

I would agree that we have a ?pretty decent crop? of currently employed teachers. However, your argument assumes that all current teachers stay in the profession from year to year.

The most recent teacher turnover report, also available on the NCDPI website, indicates:
?The 115 school systems reported that 10,792.5 teachers of the 96,651 teachers employed during the 2010-2011 school year left their systems for a system level turnover rate of 11.17%.?

A table of the reasons for attrition within the report notes that 20.32% of those that left in 2010-2011 did so due to retirements. This comprises 2,193 individuals.? This figure is up from 17.23% (N=1897) in 2009-2010 and from 16.03% (2019) in 2008-2009. As the baby boomer generation continues to reach retirement age, these percentages are projected to grow. Teachers leave each year for various reasons. Teachers have to be hired to replace them. Perhaps a bit more investigation by you is warranted.

Further, your argument also assumes that North Carolina has no population growth at all. According to the 2010 Census data, North Carolina experienced an 18.5% growth in population since the year 2000. N.C. is ranked in the top 10 for population growth according to the 2010 Census.? With increased population, the need for additional teachers to fill classrooms is present and will be as population within the state continues to rise.

As of March 20, listed on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website under job listings for the current semester, 277 licensed positions are listed with 191 being teachers needed for classrooms. These numbers change daily as positions are added and filled within school systems. To note, not all school systems utilize the job posting service hosted by NCDPI. As such, many more positions are currently available within school systems across the state.? Such information may be obtained through a search of the positions within the 115 public school personnel listings on each system?s website. Again, a little better research on your part to reflect the facts would have been useful.

What is also interesting about your opinion is your calculation of what the starting salary of teachers is in North Carolina. The current teacher salary scale is also available on the NCDPI website.?? The beginning teacher salary for a teacher is $30,430. Teachers are employed for 10 months. The salary per hour for a 40 hour work week would be $19.02 based on 10 month employment. Certainly, given the valuable work teachers do each and every day, it is unfortunate that teachers may not make as much as per hour has your ?stripper? friends.

While it is your opinion that North Carolina doesn?t need teachers, the facts speak otherwise. The College of Education at ECU is mandated to meet production targets to fill classrooms by the UNC General Administration. Such mandates are based on careful analysis of the data at the system level and within our college. Without attention to the facts, it may seem that there isn?t a need for teachers in our state. However, I would ask that you consult with the exceptional child whose classroom doesn?t have a teacher who can attend to her/his special needs. I challenge you to talk to a high school student whose math class is taught by a permanent sub because the county can?t find a certified math teacher to teach his or her class. Talk to a personnel director in rural eastern North Carolina about how difficult it is to make sure every classroom in the district has a teacher each fall. I urge you to pick up the phone and contact the College of Education, the NC Department of Public Instruction, or UNC General Administration to check your facts lest you be accused of sharing false information.

So, Mr. Cochran, to answer your question, yes, North Carolina needs teachers.
Sincerely,

Assistant Director of Teacher Education
College of Education
East Carolina University

Source: http://theeastcarolinian.com/?p=3778

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