Chicago school teachers are either the first or second highest paid in the nation, with these results:
In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education administered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in reading and math to students around the country, including in the Chicago Public Schools. The tests were scored on a scale of 0 to 500, with 500 being the best possible score. Based on their scores, the U.S. Department of Education rated students’ skills in reading and math as either “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” or “advanced.”
Nationally, public school 8th graders scored an average of 264 on the NAEP reading test. Statewide in Illinois, the 8th graders did a little better, scoring an average of 266. But in the Chicago Public Schools, 8th graders scored an average of only 253 in reading. That was lower even than the nationwide average of 255 among 8th graders in “large city” public schools.
With these NAEP test results, only 19 percent of Chicago public school 8th graders rated proficient in reading while another 2 percent rated advanced—for a total of 21 percent who rated proficient or better.
79 percent of Chicago public school 8th graders were not grade-level proficient in reading. According to the U.S. Department of Education, this included 43 percent who rated “basic” and 36 percent who rated “below basic.”
Yet they are on strike. They were offered a 16% raise, but they don’t want to be evaluated and they don’t want charter schools luring away their victims.
Lewis: we’ve got brand new principals being trained online. #ctustrike
— WBEZeducation (@WBEZeducation) September 10, 2012
They say it’s not their fault, it’s those dumb, poor kids. We just keep sending the teachers substandard ingredients and they can’t fix that.
I’m willing to agree that teachers cannot fix bad parenting and poor home-lives. But if that’s your excuse for low graduation rates and high illiteracy rates, then you cannot also use it as justification for increased salaries and benefits.
8 Comments
Amen!
I’m surprised the districts haven’t tried to mitigate the effects of the strike by calling in their entire sub pool. Subs are not union employees, and they should at least be able to keep a fair chunk of the youngest students occupied during the school day–the ones most in need of a place to be.
I also have to wonder where the picket line was when Rahm E. cancelled the previous contract with the 4% raise or when 4% was negotiated to start with.
Given the notoriety of Chicago’s school system, my vote is to fire them all (yes, all 25,500), and put out a nation-wide bulletin for teachers. Sometimes, you just need a clean slate.
I taught first grade for 15 years. I was not of the age to retire but I retired last year. Why did I leave? I left because no one was for us. Not the president, not the country, not the parents, not the students. For the last 5 years as I worked very hard evenings, class time, going to meetings to improve, taking classes to improve and loving my students everyone seemed to be against teachers. While I was grading papers I was also caring for my mother who had a massive stroke. I was taking home $35,000 a year and every year my insurance paid for less and less. I had a master’s degree so I had worked very hard to be academically responsible. The children I taught were precious. Good children but many with lives that were oh so hard. I have no desire to teach now, I’ll go into a totally different field. I am a self starter so I will have my own business, work hard, and leave behind the attitudes of those who think teachers are worthless. I know better. I lived it. I know what we did each day. I know how much we loved the students, guided them each and every moment of the day. That is all I have to say.
Rita, just so you know, I come from a long line of teachers. My husband is a teacher’s aide in a special needs classroom, and he’s gone back to school to get his teaching credential. There’s a lot wrong with the system, and there’s a lot wrong with parents in this country. There’s nothing in this post claiming that teachers are worthless. But you must admit that *some* are, and it’s almost impossible to fire them.
While you were taking home 35,000 a year, Chicago teachers were taking home over 70K a year (before perks) and working fewer hours than almost any other teachers in the country, while 40% of their students were dropping out and of those still in school, about half are graduating without being able to read at an 8th grade level. This is how the Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis behaves- it’s not safe for children: http://t.co/L1t4YYVZ
You said, “I’m willing to agree that teachers cannot fix bad parenting and poor home-lives. ”
But… That is precisely the reason given for public schools in the first place! Several of my family are teachers, and two cousins in particular are very vocal pro-public school. One thing they say over and over (and I’ve read it in news articles as well) is that they are the one stabilizing factor in the lives of these poor children, that there must be public schools for the children whose parents are unfit to teach them. How can they claim to be the savior of disadvantaged children and at the same time say they can’t do anything with them because they are disadvantaged?
That is one of the big draws of homeschooling for me, that students do well regardless of parents’ education levels, race, or sociology-economic backgrounds, whereas in public schools any one of those factors can be detrimental to a child’s success.
Your ‘but…’ was my point. You can justify the need for public schools on the basis that they exist to fix bad parenting and then deny any responsibility for poor results by claiming that you can’t fix bad parenting.
I agree with you that it’s an institutional problem, not really the teachers. They are in a deeply flawed system but too many don’t realize that.
Just want to clarify, I am not against teachers or those employed by the public schools. I know many, and they are great people. What I am anti is the public school system as a whole. New teachers won’t fix the problem – the whole system needs to be scrapped.
Thank you for clarifying what Chicago teachers make I did not know that they made so much. If students scores drop they are letting teachers go here. They just make up another reason and oust them. I just wore out with all that was going on and desparately needed a change. I miss the wonderful children and pray for them all. I was always proud of teaching and how hard I worked. Over the years became discouraged I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I really would like to see the whole system change like some of the others mentioned.