Achievement Gap : Arizona Teacher Retention

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act aimed to provide for the children’s long-term welfare by improving their schools and the resources available to them. In 1965, when this Act became law, there was a large “achievement gap” stratified by race and poverty. With this act they really wanted to close the gap by setting benchmarks and goals to measure the progress of students.

California is facing not only teacher shortage but teachers that are diverse. While the Hispanic and Asian population are increasing, there are hardly any teachers that are diverse. According to American Association of College for Teacher Education “that students of color made up more than 45% of the PK–12 population, whereas teachers of color made up only 17.5% of the educator workforce." (Deruy). While many may argue that the lack of diversity is happening because majority of the diverse population is going towards jobs that pay more such into technology and other occupations, one has to look also on how schools are encouraging those students into the teaching profession. Old schools like Mesa Verde High School that have been providing

The state of California should analyze the enormous complexity of this issue, including the impact of teacher quality on student achievement, the evidence that teachers regularly migrate out of low-performing schools, and the potential solution that lies in offering incentives to well-qualified teachers who commit to work in struggling schools (ca.gov).

Every year the state of California faces a crisis in the name of budget cuts. As a result, the state is producing less and less qualified teachers, by laying off great teachers, just before the tenor mark. So they can hire less qualified teachers and pay them less in the name of saving money. Grades K-12 relies heavily on state aids. Since the beginning of the school year California as made widespread cuts to the education system; which means that there is less money allocated per student. This means less money for books, and new computers, but more money for our district offices. The big picture, the educational system in California is failing our students. Given these points, among all of the chaos that the state of California has put on the educational system; all hope is not lost there are

Among the few nationally discussed topics today almost everyone can agree on is that our educational system needs serious repair. School buildings are in a physical state of neglect. Teachers are struggling. US school rankings are below average internationally, and graduation rates are at an all time low. The primary contributing factors for this are economic. Sadly, our society has allowed government administrations to place education at the low end of the federal budget with indisputable results. Our current policies on education do not support the needs of all students through inadequate prioritization, inequitable funding, and the devaluation of educators.

Teachers can’t bring change in the achievement gap by becoming better educators. The teachers are not the only people in the students’ lives that can help the students achieve better grades. The blame for the achievement gap should be shared with the adults in the students’ lives and the community (McKinstry). The youth that are falling behind academically are usually fighting one or more of this barriers: retention in grade level, poor attendance, behavioral problems, low socioeconomic status, low achievement, substance abuse, or teenage pregnancy

We would all like to think that schools are going to educate every child and expect them to bring every child to high standards of performance. Until fairly recently it was a permissible practice to reserve the most qualified teachers for those schools serving high-achieving, affluent, college-bound students who were believed to hold the greatest promise of success. Holding school districts accountable for improving the performance of all schools and all students might well require that resources, both human and financial, be allocated according to greatest need (ca.gov). This notion presents a challenge to public

Oklahoma as of today is ranked 49th nationally in per-pupil expenditures and ranked 48th in teacher pay (Klein 2). Putting Oklahoma as one of the worst states to be educated in the United States. “Oklahoma is consistently ranked near the bottom for education funding and teacher pay” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth And Job Creation” 3). When there are state cuts that need to be made, the departments of education are one of the first that usually tend to suffer. Since the 2008 economic crisis, Oklahoma has continued to cut the budget for education; even though the economy has since then gotten better (Perry). Budget cuts in education affect all parts of the education process for the students. “Some school districts have ordered teacher layoffs and shorter sessions” (“Oklahoma Makes the Poor Poorer” par 4).Schools are now struggling to keep their heads above water. Each year from the budget cutting, schools have had to lay off teachers, cut entire programs, and have limited resources used to educate the students. Even the teachers’ retirement system is suffering, being one of the top poorly funded pension programs nationally (Ash par 3). Seeing as that the schools have to cut down classes and programs, administration has had no other choice than to increase class size, overwhelming teachers tremendously. “Oklahoma has 1,500 fewer classroom teachers and 40,000 more students since 2008-2009” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth

Education in the United States has long been a concerned issue for teachers, parents, and communities. It is a major political topic, in which government has shown continuous efforts to compare and evaluate standards from state to state by creating and monitoring various programs for overall academic improvement across the country.

Thirty years ago, the United States was the leader in education. We lead in not only quality of an education but quantity of how many people obtain a high standard education. Since then we dissapointly stand 36th position in the world today .Clearly times have change our endcaution system is not standing up to the high standard that we use to hold. As this country strives to be the best in the we need to find a way to be back on top with education of America’s youth. Starting with the solving the problem of the achievement gap.

When there is a significant and constant imbalance in the academic performances or educational requirements the achievement gap is created. Schools are not working hard enough to minimize or close the achievement gap. The achievement gap can differ from school to school, district to district, and community to community and have numerous different influential factors that cause the achievement gap. The achievement gap can be created from standards and requirements students are needed to fulfill, a family's income or districts wealth, and students receiving poor education. Each of those issues that create the achievement gap have a solution.

Over the past decade American schools have been struggling to achieve the success rate of other countries. In the past 15 years the United States has stayed stagnant while other countries pass the U.S. in math, reading, and science. (SOURCE) Stagnant test scores and poor performance globally have educators, politicians and businessperson concerned about the future of education.

Assistant Superintendent Denise Bartlett reviewed a report, containing results of the district’s teacher retention survey that was administered to certified staff during 2014-2015. Also included for the board’s information was the Arizona Department of Education Teacher Retention and Recruitment Report. Dr. Bartlett informed the board that the survey had several goals, which included 1) ascertaining what attracted teachers to the district, 2) why teachers continued to work in the district, 3) what factors might influence teachers to seek employment outside of the district, and 4) what factors provides job satisfaction. Dr. Bartlett also reported that there was a 90% rate of return from the survey with 280 of 311 teachers responding. The district

Over ten-thousand students are being taught by unqualified teachers. Often, these teachers lack appropriate training in subjects such as discipline in the classroom and proper integration of technology into the learning environment. This does not mean teachers are not attending such trainings, in fact, most new and experienced teachers are required to be present at these events. The problems lie in the trainings themselves. “Seventy-one percent of elementary training in reading instruction is not based on practical research that produces positive results” (Noonan 1). Also, only nineteen percent of training in mathematics is parallel to standards of higher achieving countries such as Japan (Noonan 1). Also, lacking qualifications often stems from an early lack of guidance. New teachers are often prepared in an inconsistent and unsupported fashion. Often put into challenging classrooms with little guidance or supervision, nearly fifty percent of new teachers leave education in the first five years because of frustration with being left unsupported. With college entry standards and Common Core assessments demanding more from students, educators too, must be reevaluated and extensively prepared. License recommendations, teacher preparation programs, and program approval must be made stricter and more rigorous. If teachers are unprepared for the scrupulousness of standards, how can America expect promising results from its

In theory the more education and preparation a teacher has, the higher the quality and delivery of such content. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act does its best to recruit the most qualified teachers but falls short of covering other practices that “accommodate student diversity, develop the habits of reflective practitioners and gain a full understanding of the teacher’s changing roles” (Thompson & Smith, 2005, p.74). Without