News Bits!

I actually do have a sick sense of humor. However, I'm not expressing it now. This is kind of already taking place in the form of ESL stipends. But it still isn't enough to sway most teachers away from the better jobs. Here's what can be done to make experienced teachers want to go to schools that are struggling.

-The state needs to relax expectations on testing students at such a young age.

-Parents of children in struggling schools need to refine their parenting skills.

-Strong efforts need to made in the area of behavior management skills.

If those three things were taken care of then you wouldn't have to pay more experienced teachers more to do their job at underachieving schools.

By the way, you're preaching to the choir. I'm a new teacher teaching at a school that is 15% white. If you'd lay off your crack pipe for a minute and re-read my post you'll notice that I didn't say the "problem" was a joke...I said the "story" was a joke. I'm tired of media putting a racial spin on everything.

Hey Shilli! Guess what? We agree on something!

The Statesman lead was a little misleading. Teachers get paid based on seniority, more senior teachers have more choice about where they teach, and they tend to choose to teach at rich, white schools. Bottom line is that teachers at rich, white schools get paid more, but they aren't getting paid more because they are teaching at those schools.

That said, if Job A is more desirable than Job B (independent of salary), it seems like a reasonable idea to make Job B pay more. I see some benefits from increasing the salaries at schoools where it is more difficult to attract teachers until the average salaries of teachers at various schools is about the same (mainly, more teachers would want to teach at poorer schools because they could get paid more there).

When did Austinist become an advertiser for Origins?

That shit is gimmicky.

if you think it's a 'complete joke' that already-underfunded, already-understaffed, already-underachieving schools are unlikely to get the resources (i.e., experienced teachers) necessary to truly help their students, you have a sick sense of humor.

of course the solution isn't to throw more money at less experienced teachers, and nobody's claiming that. but it's undeniable that better teachers want (and deserve) to get paid more, and it's worth exploring ways to get better, more experienced teachers into underachieving schools. dismissing the problem as a joke will not make it go away.

Sorry, but I must disagree.

The worst idea ever goes to invading Iraq for no good reason.

The AISD pay gap story is a complete joke. It just goes to show you that you don't even need racist people doing racist things to conjure up a racist story. The teachers aren't getting paid less because they are teaching minorities. They are getting paid less because the overall makeup of the school is less experienced. I can't blame the more experienced teachers for not teaching in East Austin. They call it seniority for a reason. So basically, if the bonus goes through to the less experienced schools they are taking money right out of the pockets of the more experienced teachers (who are already underpaid). Worst idea ever.

In other news, workers at McDonald's are paid less and less experienced than waiters at Jeffrey's, making it harder for them to deliver a quality fast food experience. Vicious cycle.

I love the mega-mushroom face serum!!!