Rep. Bartle, defender of merit pay

Tony Messenger at the Springfield News-Leader, not a blogger I typically agree with, has a really nice post about merit pay, specifically some comments made by Sen. Matt Bartle on the issue.

“Sen. Matt Bartle is in the middle of one of those a bit-too-rare moments in the state legislature when a representative or senator speaks from the heart for a long period about an issue of extreme importance. The issue being debated is merit pay for teachers. It's an issue that isn't likely going anywhere in this legislative session.

But Bartle makes a strong point that if Missouri schools are going to be competitive, eventually some form of merit pay will have to be discussed. The issue is gaining support nationwide, and includes support of Springfield Superintendent Norm Ridder. Bartle's amendment would have allowed school districts to pay more for math and science teachers if they wanted to. It had been killed on the floor the day before, but today, he simply made a plea for the NEA and MSTA to reconsider their longheld opposition to merit pay.

It was a good speech.”

I am so impressed with the momentum building on the issue of Merit Pay for teachers in Missouri. Senator Jeff Smith has been talking about a merit pay idea that I like a lot, which would allow teachers to opt-in to a merit pay schedule as an alternative to the straight tenure track. Janese Heavin, education reporter over at the Columbia Daily Tribune has done a phenomenal job addressing teacher pay, from merit-pay to salaries to the potential budget cuts Columbia Public Schools is facing—even as far as administrative salaries. On a side-note, I think she’s doing the best job of any education reporter in the state of really delving into the complexities of local school district decisions and making information and assessment accessible to readers in the district. The Missouri School Boards’ Association supports merit pay. Even the MSTA said they would be open to the idea in small, very restricted, barely-there doses. Ladue has operated with a merit-pay schedule for 50 years.

And now Sen. Bartle has raised his hand, and hopefully raised some eyebrows at the teachers unions. The question at hand now should not be “if” but “how”. Let’s get this party started!

A teacher by any other name...

This week the Senate has passed Senator Lu Ann Ridgeway’s bill to allow a path for professionals with non-education degrees to gain certification as High School teachers.

This is in an effort to respond to the epidemic of teacher shortages across the state, thouh the Senator says it will only make a small dent.

Another Senator and former teacher Joan Bray says this initiative thumbs its nose at teachers who get education degrees and go through the required teacher training programs, asking what would happen if one could become a lawyer with just a few weeks’ training. The bill will now go to the House for approval.

Se. Bray’s criticisms seem unfounded, and, as Ridgeway pointed out, lawyers are not tenured but part o a free market with competition that demands results and in which passing of a bar exam and law education is in effect required to compete.

This story last week gives a prime example of the kind of teachers this legislation will bring in—the kind of teachers who can become a teacher of the year! Teaching does not offer a very competitive salary for professionals who have experience with math, English, science and journalism, so it makes sense to offer them a way to break into the field without the constraints of obtaining another degree, especially when we are so much in need of teachers.

I once had a job where students got an admissions discount, and when asked, many replied “I’m a student of life, does that count?” I heard it so many times, in fact, that it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. But for the teacher of the year, Jason Dinwiddie, his journalism experience was something he could share with students and he had put in “the time” in school and in the field. The other component of a great teacher is, of course, their desire to connect with students and help them learn. I wonder how many other teachers of the year are out there, who will take the opportunity this legislation offers and how many students’ lives will be touched.

Teacher of the Year: unlikely beginnings

This story about Teacher of the Year at Hazelwood makes plain why we need to be able to support a transition from other professional fields into teaching. Jason Dinwiddie was a journalist before trying his hand at teaching, and he found that not only was he good at it—he was GREAT at it and brought a real passion to the classroom.

Upon his return to the St. Louis area, Dinwiddie became a substitute teacher - a choice that had more to do with the job market than a change of heart, he said.

But something happened when he went into a classroom.

"It was the most natural job I think I've ever had," Dinwiddie said. "I discovered I had a knack for it, where every other job I had, I had to work really hard to try to do it."

The reason had to do with who was in the classroom.

"I really enjoyed working with kids," said Dinwiddie, 34, who has taught at Hazelwood East for the last five years. "There is a unique satisfaction you get from being able to help a student enjoy Shakespeare."

He started working as a permanent substitute teacher and was offered a teaching position the following year. He had to go back to school to obtain his certification.

Dinwiddie now teaches an English class and also works as an instructor in the school's Options program that offers more individualized instruction.

He also led the class that assembles the school's yearbook, the Pegasus.

His work with the Florissant Kiwanis Club has helped get the school involved in community service projects. He also works with the school's recycling club.

Dinwiddie said the recognition spotlights some of the school's quality educational efforts, he said.

It's also the third time in the last four years that the district's Teacher of the Year has come from Hazelwood East. Vocal teacher Robert Swingler and math teacher Robin Gray are recent recipients.

The award was a surprise. Dinwiddie heard about it during a cell phone call from the school while he was grocery shopping.

"They gave me the news right when I was checking out," he said. "The only person I had to share it was the guy who was ringing me out. I said 'I just got some great news,' and he said, 'I could tell.'"

Dinwiddie's colleagues also are excited.

"He is so very, very deserving of this award," said Jill Farrar, communications skills department chairperson at Hazelwood East. "The award is a testament to his hard work, late hours, dedication to students and outstanding teaching skills."

Dinwiddie said teaching skills tend to evolve over the first few years of a career.

He said he tries to engage students - to listen to what they have to say.

"You have to be real," Dinwiddie said.

That means trying to not to be all things to all people in a classroom situation, he said.

The photojournalism bug hasn't completely gone away. Dinwiddie remains an avid wildlife photographer, particularly of birds such as blue herons and bald eagles. He and his wife also like to cook so much that they've thought about opening a restaurant.

But Dinwiddie said he still sees himself as a Hazelwood East teacher five years from now. Perhaps it's inevitable. Along with his father's teaching career, his mother Linda teaches in the Ritenour School District. His brother Ben is a social studies teacher at McCluer North High School, and another brother is studying to become a mathematics teacher.

"(Around) my third year (of teaching), a student took her schedule home to her mom," he said. "(Her mom) said, 'Oh, I had Mr. Dinwiddie,' then she said, 'How old is he? He's got to be, like, in his 70s.'"

The mother later wrote Dinwiddie a letter of support.

"She said she hoped her future grandchildren will be taught by future Mr. or Mrs. Dinwiddies," he said.

Let’s make sure that all future Mr. or Mrs. Dinwiddies, all future Teachers of the Year, have an clear road into teaching.

Merit Pay CAN work~but let's not leave it up to Government

Though highly controversial because we simply don't have enough history to learn from, Merit Pay for Teachers Shows Results. When executed in the right context, teachers can be given the proper incentive and yield strong academic advancement for our children. As well, though it would probably be ill-advised for Congress to write merit-pay legislation into a renewed 'No Child Left Behind' because we don't have a long enough track record, that doesn't mean Congress won't do it.

"Teachers didn’t report any of the problems that opponents have predicted would result from performance pay: a divisive school atmosphere, neglect of low-performing students, and favoritism.

Some Members of Congress are considering including performance pay in legislation to renew the No Child Left Behind Act. But it would be a mistake for Washington to begin setting pay policies for the country’s 15,000 school districts. The ACPP was a state-conceived initiative. The best way to encourage innovative policies is by reducing the federal role in education. States and local communities would then have more flexibility to experiment with new approaches.

After all, arguments against performance pay have some merit. Conceivably, a principal could show favoritism toward a teacher who happens to be his golfing buddy. Any reform has to be designed and implemented in a way that avoids those problems, and there is no reason to believe that Washington is best suited for the task.

Almost every business in the private sector has found a way to evaluate, pay, and promote employees based on their individual performance. Their motivation in doing so is direct accountability to investors and shareholders. Likewise, state officials and local school boards are better positioned to design effective, innovative education policies because they are more directly accountable to parents and taxpayers."

I would like to highlight one line: "The best way to encourage innovative policies is by reducing the federal role in education."

My supporting statement comes from the above paragraph too: "Almost every business in the private sector has found a way to evaluate, pay, and promote employees based on their individual performance. Their motivation in doing so is direct accountability to investors and shareholders."

And finally: "The best way to encourage innovative policies is by reducing the federal role in education."

I believe my 84 year old Father had it right when he said that our government hasn't done anything better than the private sector since the GI Bill in the 1950's!

A reasonable investment now, or pay more later

Missouri's public education system is not prepared to deal with all the children being diagnosed with autism and that is going to become more and more mainstream and extremely costly down the road. In fact, we are hearing more each day, locally and nationally about the rising incidence of autism diagnosis. Once diagnosed 1 in 10,000, but now 1 in 144.

We need to seek out, train and put in place properly trained teachers prepared to lead these children forward. Failing to identify the children early and provide qualified personel to help them learn will cause a tremendous waste of human potential and funnel these special needs children into a lifetime of public dependence. The difference quality teachers can effect will be the difference between a child getting a few years of specialized early ed and then returning to the public system~yes, mainstream~ or not getting the early qualified help and that child growing up to become institutionalized and living off our tax dollars. Over their lifetime, the costs of not intervening and helping these children with autism to learn and develop very important social skills can cost up to $3 million!

Remember that Einstein was thought to be autistic~as well numerous others. The cure for cancer could conceivably be locked in one of those incredible, bright little minds, never to be unleashed. Regardless, we all have a duty to empower these children and we won't be able to do without properly rewarding those who are skilled at teaching these special children. Teachers are THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR in teaching children, especially children with autism.

Watching HB 2040

Teachers deserve to be paid for their worthy contribution~not just simply because they've occupied space for a certain amount of time. As pointed out here, Hunter: Teachers deserve pay increase, our legislators best beware of just awarding dollars in order to say we rank higher than the mere 44th in the country that we currently rank. House Bill 2040 would increase our minimum teacher salary from $23,000 annually to $31,000~but based on what?

If we are to learn from our history and that of others, rewarding people to occupy space simply perpetuates them occupying space. Awarding teachers based their merit, based on their students' measurable academic advancement (not just test scores), based on the teacher's actual impact on learning and elevation of students~now THAT'S worth money in my book.

Margarte Spellings and the Wu-Tang Clan

The AP story today about Margaret Spellings’ (National Education Secretary) touched on some very important themes, primarily getting and retaining teachers.

Just after her speech to the state Board of Education, the Senate approved SB 1066 (for our history buffs out there, 1066 was the battle of Hastings, which signaled the end of the Dark Ages). This bill authorizes a new teacher certification program designed for people who want to change jobs to become a teacher.

Luanne Ridgeway, the bill’s sponsor notes that her doctorate allows her to teach college, but not high school. Teach for America does a great service in grabbing new college graduates and getting them into the teaching field, but in order to keep up with a growing demand for highly qualified teachers, Missouri needs to be able to cull from a larger pool of experienced professionals.

I think this is really important, and not just because of that pesky statistic that over half of all new teachers quit within 2 years. It seems that students would benefit greatly from being taught by someone who can bring a practical knowledge to what they are learning in the classroom.

As the Wu-Tang Clan says, “Cash Rules Everything Around Me, dolla dolla bills, ya’ll.” As a professional in any field with a competitive salary, anyone wanting to become a teacher has to think, “Wait a minute. I have to get more schooling that costs time and money, to a get a job where I will almost surely make less.” Many potential teachers have families already to think of and provide for as well, many cannot spend days in a classroom—but I would posit that many wanting to make that transition are qualified through experience.

I don’t think the folks taking advantage of this alternative will be held to less of a standard than a teacher who decided at 18 that they wanted to major in education. And to make sure that is the case, merit pay seems to be the perfect instrument to ensure that no matter how long you’ve been teaching or what your background is, if you’re good at teaching kids, you’ll be rewarded.

Foster Kids need choice

Children thrive when there is consistency in their lives. Dramatic or stressful changes in a child's life can impact all aspects and turn their world upside down. A foster child has already been handed a rough deal; not only are they trying to understand why they were separated from their birth parents, they are placed into foster homes with strangers. As they adapt to their new 'families' they begin to gain stability and security. So often, foster children are moved from home to home, having their entire existence thrown into upheaval again. Even though they may just be moving across town or even down the street, they may need to transfer schools...again. Those poor children who have already been through too much, deserve some stability somewhere. They should be allowed choice to stay in their school. At least they will be surrounded by the same teachers and same friends while their 'families' are consistently different. According to this article in the Heartland Institute, written for the School Reform News, there was a bill announced to help alleviate at least some of the problems these children face:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has introduced in Congress the School Choice for Foster Kids Act, a measure that would amend an existing federal program to allow states to offer K-12 tuition scholarships to children in foster care.

Bachmann, who has served as a foster parent to 23 children, discussed how her personal experience motivated her to offer the legislation this past December.

"In my own family, several of our foster children were forced to change schools simply because we lived in a different school district than their previous foster parents," Bachmann explained. "My bill helps foster children avoid this displacement and gives foster parents the opportunity to choose a school that best suits their child's needs."

It just breaks my heart knowing what these children go through. Let's do something that can help them out just a little more, give them that extra chance in this world. As I also support choice for all children, I think starting with foster children is a necessary step in the right direction.

The Money Trail

Conversations are taking place across the country. Many Americans, despite heavy fire from teachers unions, school boards and their ilk, are looking at alternatives means to improve education. Throwing money at the problem as we've been doing over the course of the last 3 decades clearly has not improved our educational advancement one iota. All the while, in fact, it seems we're falling behind other countries and importing technology wizards and skilled professionals from the very countries we are competing with and expanding the gap between our haves and have nots.

Among the many alternatives being discussed is the benefit of paying our teachers competive salaries and providing proper incentive for the task demanded. More money is not the answer. However, redistributing the money we have is. Applying it to those who have thrown their backs into it and properly compensating them for their contribution to our young minds who will then go out multiply that benefit of knowledge in our economy is working in other states. Missouri could learn and benefit from such a strategy.

This is just a random snapshot of one conversation taking place somewhere in our county (From a blogger in Ohio with an education background~found in a random search): Top 10 Education Stories of '07

2. Merit pay. Buoyed by the qualified support of Barack Obama and pilot programs in Houston, New York City, and Denver, merit pay has received renewed discussion around the country. Merit pay, or pay for performance, can take many forms, including school wide bonuses (like the recently adopted plan in NYC, or bonuses based on test scores for individual teachers. The fact that these plans have received attention in a presidential campaign means that the idea is growing and becoming part of the national discussion on education reform.

In fact, merit pay has been one of the stumbling blocks in the reauthorization of NCLB. Chairman George Miller became incensed in 2007 when the NEA appeared to reneg on a plan to support merit pay proposal to be included in the draft reauthorization. The NEA is opposed to merit pay.

Meanwhile, merit pay is going on the ballot in Oregon.

What a surprise~the NEA opposes Merit Pay. Many individual teachers support it. Administrators are making LOTS of money and they answer to the NEA and to the teachers unions. These are the people making anywhere from $100K to over $200K. Do the math and follow the money trail~you will find it does NOT lead to the classroom, but to the bank accounts of the educrats, while the rest of us are left out there in no-man's land.

There are plenty of successful models to choose from~Missouri should stray off the money trail and choose one.

Support the best education policies

As a mother (from St. Louis County), I implore our community, our legislators, our school district leaders and the media~ANYONE who will hear me~to please come together and collectively rise to the level necessary to give our Missouri children the education they deserve. As a single, working Mother, I cannot support the idea of paying more taxes~I'm already struggling to pay my own bills. I see many resources in my community. I don't see the logic behind the Adequacy Trial appeal when if the original decision is overturned, Missourians will get an additional $BILLION tax hike!

Kathleen Navin, of the Show-Me Institute (A Missouri think-tank NPO), in "Adequacy Lawsuits Reinforce Poor Educational Policy" leads with:

As part of a growing trend seen across the United States, several school districts in Missouri continue to perform poorly, failing to prepare students for higher education. Following the Saint Louis Public Schools’ recent loss of accreditation, Missourians want to see change and improvement more than ever. Concern for Missouri’s public school system, however, is not a new development. The past 50 years have seen the rise of several theories on how to promote educational quality — among them, a competitive parental choice environment, which fosters incentives for educators to improve school quality. Unfortunately, the recent adequacy lawsuit trend mistakenly focuses on money, rather than encouraging changes that are needed to improve Missouri schools. To help the public schools succeed, Missouri should focus on incentive-based reforms like parental choice, rather than adequacy litigation.

My children thrived in Kirkwood public schools. When they hit obstacles, I helped them through~sometimes with 'tough love', sometimes with extra support from incredible individuals in the school. I agree that parental choice is key. I agree that adequacy litigation is not the answer~it's just a band-aid on a gushing wound. What the litigation actually accomplishes is division among us and distracts us from finding real solutions. Already 14 school districts have dropped out of the appeal. I want Kirkwood and all the others to get out. Then let's put our heads together on this.

And YES to parental choice! When parents choose, the emphasis returns to the children and the teachers are back in the equation~just like it ought to be!!

You get what you pay for

The 'EduDiva', another concerned Missourian, did a little research and found that only 69 teachers in the state of Missouri have PhD's. We speak of quality education and that our children should have it...well how will they get it if we do not provide them with quality teachers who truly care and want to be there~in the classroom~for our childrne? We are not paying enough for the kind of people we actually WANT in the classroom developing young minds.

Teachers go to school hoping to be able to someday be that one person who inspires and makes a difference in young minds. When you listen to the teahers who left after a few years, you hear a sad story of disillusionment. Once they walk into the public education system, they are told to 'teach to the middle' or 'you can't save them all'. I personally have heard heartbreaking stories about teachers who finally walked away because they entered public education to teach and all they could accomplish was filling out forms!

Ultimately, by the time many teachers are truly ready and capable of teahing, they are burned out, disillusioned and they walk away. They enter the business world~where supply serves demand. A world that provides appropriate, or at least enough, incentive for the task demanded. They finally get paid their worth. Wouldn't it make sense to hold on to these people and PAY them what they're worth, instead of spending the next five years training another young teacher to be ready...? We already have many needed resources in our system~it's a shame we don't see fit to pay them a worthy income...AND KEEP THEM.

Time to rethink salaries

While Columbia is getting ready to vote on a tax levy increase,(more info in the Columbia Tribune) I am wondering about several issues. First off, does anyone realize how much Phyllis Chase, the superintendent makes? Over $200,000!!! Now she wants people to find areas that could take cuts and present that to the board, media, and voters to show what would be cut were the tax levy not to pass. Hopefully, every person comes in with a list of over-paid people such as herself and the other dozen or so people that make over $100,000 and show how we can cut their salaries to off set any needs. This brings me to another point, teachers getting paid.

There is constant disagreement on whether teachers get paid enough for what they do. I have my opinions on this but I am not exactly discussing that. What I would like to discuss is paying teachers for how well they teach or how bad they teach. The higher administrators seem to get increases if the children perform better, why shouldn't the teachers get paid better if their students do well? With the possible tax increases or budget cuts looming, we need to be sure we are not paying teachers who are not doing the job well. Teachers can get raises based on the number of years worked or the educational background they have, and I can see why some would think that was the best option...maybe even the only option. We need to adapt, to change the way we think... we need to actually think in terms of results. Why should we keep paying teachers more if they are not even teaching the children well? Wouldn't we be better off paying the ones who are excellent teachers instead? The end goal is to teach the children well and get them ready for the rest of their lives. Let's start paying teachers based on their performance, not their resume!

Getting the message out

The School Adequacy trial continues and the more people that know about it, the better. Many people are not being told the complete truth about it. People may not realize it is their money that is being used to sue the state, money they thought was going to paying for the schools. It is unfortunate the taxpayers have been lead astray. Americans for Prosperity is letting the people know the truth through automated calls.

While reading my morning paper, I found people are getting the message and many people are calling the schools asking why they are suing.

If this case were won in the Supreme Court somehow, it would only drain money from other much needed services across Missouri, ones that cannot get along without the funding. The schools should be able to use their current funding better. Furthermore, there is no correlation between increase funding and achievement rates or even graduation rates.

This is part of the article I read in the Ozarks Newsstand:

Carl Bearden, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Missouri chapter and former Missouri House Speaker Pro Tem defends the recent phone campaign.
"We just want to inform the taxpayers of Missouri and let them know what is going on," he said. "The school boards are telling the communities they are suing the state, but the taxpayers make up that state-they are suing them."
Bearden said residents are misinformed and "not happy when they realize the truth of the matter."
"Districts such as Nixa and Republic have received double digit funding increases over the past year while the state average has remained at 4 percent," he said. "We want to make sure people are aware of this. The districts are using their money in the courtroom to ask for more not in the classroom where it should be going."

Maybe this calling scheme will give the taxpayers a glimpse of the truth and they can encourage their schools to stop wasting money before more is lost!

Merit Pay works in other stte--why not Missouri?

I am told the definition of insanity is to repeat a process and expect different outcomes...or something like that. We in Missouri have a flawed public education system~SLPS is unaccredited and Kansas City is on the verge of collapse itself. We have already doubled the amount of money we spend on education and we see no real improvement. So to increase funding again and expect a different outcome truly is insane, yet that's what some would ask of us.

Instead, let's look at successful alternatives across the coutry that have worked in advancing children's academic performance. Merit Pay for Teachers Improves Student Achievement in Arkansas. Here's their message to our legislators and to others who wish to tweak the public education system:

"We hope policymakers will take a look at our findings and be open to the possibility of merit pay as one strategy by which teachers' salaries could be used as a policy lever to recruit, retain, and reward effective teachers," Ritter said.

Recruiting and retaining quality teachers is one good solid step to supporting our children's futures by delivering the quality education they are promised and have a right to.

Can We Start Thinking About the Kids Now?

President Bush announced his plan for the Pell Grants for Kids and I applaud this goal. I think it will give many children access to schools they would not have other wise. People were excited about the Pell grants for college students, to achieve their dreams, work to their potential, etc, but for some reason, they are reacting differently about it for the K-12 population. This confuses me. Why would someone support giving an 18 year old a choice but not giving a choice to a mother or father of a child? It seems people are attacking the plan, saying it is only another plan for vouchers. Well, who cares who calls it what? Why can't people start to think of the poor children that are stuck in failing schools, ones that will only give them a minuscule chance of being prepared for college, or even making them think they are good enough for college? When can people stop caring about what party supports what or if one school will be affected by one program? When do people want to simply start caring about the children! I have meet so many parents who are so distraught because their child is not getting a good education and they cannot afford to attend a private school and cannot afford to move districts. Those poor children will be affected the rest of their lives because their parents lived on one side of the street. People are always complaining the lower income children rarely make it into another economic class, well, we need to give them that chance to succeed. We need to give them all a shot at it, not just a few.
I hope, as a country, as a state, and as a community, we can help all the children succeed!

Money does not fix schools

As a parent in Kansas City, I am always reading about education, its downfalls and ways we can create change. We are facing hard times these days with our child's education. We cannot afford to send to private school, but our public schools are not giving our child a good education. I came across this blog and thought it was great! Click here to read the entire piece. Here are a few sections I found strongly compelling:

For decades critics of the public schools have been saying, "You can't solve educational problems by throwing money at them." The education establishment and its supporters have replied, "No one's ever tried." In Kansas City they did try - and failed.

The Kansas City Missouri school district is a disaster by any measure. Like all government school systems in this nation, it's a monopoly funded by taxpayer dollars with little or no recourse for parents or students if the system fails - unless the family can afford the additional funds for private schooling. Out of the question for the majority of families.

Fix the government schools, but, with the over bearing misdirection of a power hungry groups like the local idiots in this school board, or the national socialists like the NEA, more interested in maintaining its flow of cash from the tax payers than what is most beneficial to the students, that is nearly impossible. As a result, the students suffer, the parents are fleeced and frustrated, and the community at large deteriorates from the petty pond scum antics of tin horn bureaucrats.

The only way to kill this beast is to starve it! Cut off the money! Funnel it back to the people with the highest interest in the outcome of successful schools - parents and their children! Vote school vouchers / vote school choice! - Public funding of private education because, as we've seen, government schools are a monopoly money pit that can destroy communities and children's futures, and offer little or no recourse when the system fails so miserably as it has in Kansas City, Missouri. Put the power (read: money) directly into the hands of the consumer (read: parents) and let the consumer select the best educational choices for their children.

While it may be written with some harsh words I would not use, I agree with the overall message. We need to allow the parents some choices. If we let the people of Missouri decide, it will help all the schools by showing them which ones will not be attended, then those schools will have to improve to keep the doors open.

Math teachers failing lower income students

There is no doubt that some schools are better than others. Most people are also aware that lower income children may not be receiving the same education as those wealthy students. However, I was not aware at just how bad the numbers really were.

I recently read a study by the University of Missouri. The study is showing that low-income households tend to have less qualified teachers instructing the math classes for their children. The study, analyzing 8th grade math classes from around the world, found that students from wealthier backgrounds were more likely to be taught by better teachers. It found the teachers instructing wealthier children were more likely to be fully certified with a degree in math and have at least three years' teaching experience.

The study also found that the U.S. fares worse than almost all other countries included in the study when it comes to having quality teachers for lower-income children. The study showed that only 60 percent of U.S. students are taught by qualified teachers. When this is broken down into income brackets, the lower income families fared much worse. Sixty eight percent of wealthier students are taught by qualified teachers, while only 53 percent of lower income children were taught by qualified students. Only a little over than half of the lower income students are being taught by qualified students. These means about half of the lower income students are being taught by teachers who are not qualified to teach this subject. These children are immediately placed in an extreme disadvantage! Not only are they affected for the time taught by those unqualified teachers, they are affected long after that. It highly increases their chances for being behind in all subsequent math classes to come. Their opportunity to learn is dramatically affected. This can affect their ability to succeed in school and their ability to move onto college.

I do not think it is fair to keep these children from learning. In some situations, the child is stuck in a failing school. This problem, while not solved, at least is quite visible to most people. The math teacher problem, is however, one that can hide quite easily. We need to give children from all economic backgrounds a chance at a good education.

Columbia District Paying Well for Certain Positions

Columbia is one of the wealthier schools districts in Missouri. We have pretty good schools here, and overall, I like the teachers we have. Sunday's Columbia Tribune published an article on the front page, Payroll Shows District Focus on Higher-Ups. The article tries to disclose the details on salaries paid in the Columbia Public School district. CPS has 30 teachers who have reached their highest salary on the 189 day pay plan. It rewards teachers for their experience and education level, which is capped at $66,478. However, there are 125 administrators, media specialists, counselors and career center instructors who make much more than that.

The district is facing a $10.35 million deficit this coming year and there will be budget cuts. They have yet to decide on where these budget cuts will take place. They will need to cut $5 million from the operating budget.

Maybe they should be looking at the salaries of people! According to what they reported to the Tribune, there are 18 public school employees that make over $100,000 a year, including the $200,340 Phylis Chase makes as superintendent. She is currently making $77,000 more now than she was when she began her tenure in 2003. Chase previously worked for the Springfield Public Schools where there are only 10 employees making $100,00 or more, and they have 7,000 more students than Columbia does.

It would be one thing to pay these people this much if they had done dramatic improvements in our schools, but they have not! According to DESE, the differences between student achievement for white and African Americans is huge. Why does Chase's salary keep going up when the students are not doing any better? What are we rewarding these people for? We need to make sure our school district is accountable to the people and we need assurance they are financially efficient. What I am seeing here does not show this to me.