Guess That Geographical Location—June 8, 2006  |   Home  |   Phat Tires

I Don’t Want To Work In The Hood

OK, I’m going to stick up for the teachers a bit on this one.

A report from the Education Trust, a widely known advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., released today a study that strongly decried practices that put weaker teachers in front of needier students nationwide and cited Milwaukee and Wisconsin as examples of the problem.

Using data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the study said 26% of teachers in the state who work in schools with high rates of student poverty had less than three years of experience, compared to 12% of teachers in low-poverty schools. Similarly, 28% of teachers in schools with large minority populations had less than three years experience, compared to 11% in schools with few minority students.

The report said the same pattern held true within Milwaukee Public Schools, where the percent of teachers with limited experience in low-income, high-minority schools was much higher than in other schools.

The reason for this is very simple.  The schools dominated by poverty are also generally the crappiest schools to work in.  They are generally in bad neighborhoods where crime is an every day issue.  Also, the kids generally have less support for education outside of school, so the kids are less enthusiastic about learning and are more likely to have behavioral issues.  Did I put that gently enough?  To sum it up, it sucks to work in most of these schools.

As such, the teachers who work in these schools are those who just got out of college and will take the best job available to them given their lack of experience.  After they have a bit of experience and are (presumably) better teachers, they have a bit of market power to leverage their employer into transferring them to a better work environment. 

Furthermore, these young teachers are generally more willing to work in the crappy schools because they are more likely to be single.  Once they have a family, they are more likely to want to move to a better area, which usually goes hand in hand with a better school. 

Since it is unlikely that this natural phenomenon will change, there are really only two options.  The first option is to force more experienced teachers to work in the crappy schools.  The down side to this is that those teachers will be much less satisfied with their jobs are are more likely to quit or move to another district.  The second option is to provide incentives for more experienced teachers to work in the crappy school - “hazard pay,” if you will.  I’m sure that this option would violate all sorts of union contracts, plus it’s probably cost prohibitive. 

I can’t blame the teachers for wanting to work in a better environment and using their job experience to leverage a better work situation.  Everyone else does the same thing.

Posted by Owen at 1806 hrs
Culture + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

1. The problem with this analysis is that it presumes that less experienced teachers are necessarily weaker teachers.  My brief experience tutoring in an MPS high school has shown some very good but less experienced teachers, and these new teachers appear to be the most committed to changing the reputation of a bad school. 

   The main problem is an inability to impose discipline upon disruptive students.  Too often, when I first started, students would try all the “substitute-teacher treatment” - lying to my face, trying to wear gang stuff, etc.  The teacher has to be given real methods of controlling discipline and removing the disruptive elements before any education can take place.  But that being said, the students don’t want to fail at life - they know little is expected of them and most do the bare minimum.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 08, 2006 at 1848 hrs
   
   
   

2. Good point.  I would argue that with teaching, as with most professions, more experience does generally correspond to stronger teachers, but not always.  Sometimes the vigor of youth can make up for lack of experience.

   Posted by Owen on June 08, 2006 at 1858 hrs
   
   
   

3. You are right. People should have the right to decide where they would like to work. Everybody has the right to work in a safe environment. It is the fault of these bad areas that they can’t attract good teachers not the other way around.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 08, 2006 at 1915 hrs
   
   
   

4. I’d be ok with giving up the resident requirement for some concessions from the union. (I.e. pay more for health benefits)

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 08, 2006 at 1938 hrs
   
   
   

5. I’d have to agree with your first commenter.  Knowing someone who was an “inexperierenced” teacher in MPS, and seeing some of the experienced people she worked with, years on the job doesn’t always mean much.  The older teachers tend to be pretty beaten down, and just barely do enough to get by.

   Also, because of how protective of older experenienced teachers the teacher’s union is, it’s basically impossible to fire an old teacher who is not doing well.  The young ones have a lot more energy and drive, and haven’t been beaten down to the point where they don’t care any more.

   Posted by Nick on June 09, 2006 at 0833 hrs
   
   
   

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