Teachers working for substandard wages. Students attending school in trailers because of overcrowding. A lack of school counselors, nurses, and support staff. A funding shortfall of around $1 billion. Yes, these conditions all describe Tennessee. But the story reporting on them is about schools in our neighboring state of Virginia. Here’s more of what’s happening […]
A new organization of Tennessee teachers has formed in response to persistent underfunding of schools and over-testing of students. Chris Brooks of Labor Notes has more: Tennessee teachers have taken a pummeling over the years. They’re grossly underpaid and their professional autonomy has been stripped away. Their students are over-tested and their schools underfunded. But […]
Economic Policy Institute is out with its annual look at the teacher pay penalty. Here’s more: As we have shown in our more than a decade and a half of work on the topic, there has been a long-trending erosion of teacher wages and compensation relative to other college graduates.1 Simply put, teachers are paid less […]
Belmont University’s College of Education has its first Dean, and he’s got a record of undermining public schools and attacking teachers. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that outgoing Kentucky Commissioner of Education Wayne Lewis will be the inaugural Dean of the College of Education at Nashville’s Belmont University. Here’s more: Wayne D. Lewis Jr., who just […]
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s a time to provide lunches and gift cards to teachers in lieu of the salaries and support they deserve. Sure, gratitude is nice, but it doesn’t pay the mortgage. Here’s what else happened in Tennessee this week: We learned that the Speaker of the House gave a $130,000 […]
This piece from Chalkbeat describes education policy challenges in Indiana, but it could just as easily have been written about what has been and is happening here in Tennessee. The story is based on a survey of school superintendents in Indiana. The school leaders are asked to talk about the challenges of finding and retaining […]
If Tennessee teachers really want to improve the state’s overall investment in schools, including in teacher compensation, they may need to walk off the job. A new study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicates that in states that have seen recent teacher protests, investment in public education has improved significantly. More from […]
Nashville teacher Amanda Kail offers thoughts on the current national climate with teacher strikes or other actions in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona. She takes a moment to explain (from a teacher’s perspective) why this is happening and if it might happen in Tennessee. Here are her posts: If you are not a teacher, […]
The results of the Survey of the American Teacher for 2012 are out and guess what? Teachers aren’t very happy. Teacher job satisfaction is at an all-time low and has dropped 23 points over the past five years, including a 5-point drop between 2011 and 2012. Guess what happens to people who aren’t very satisfied […]
As if any voter in Kentucky cares, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has endorsed fellow Republican Matt Bevin in Bevin’s bid to hold on to the Governor’s seat in Kentucky. Erik Schelzig of the Tennessee Journal reports: Lee appeared at a Bevin campaign stop at the Casey Jones Distillery in western Kentucky on Friday. The first […]