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Saturday, December 10, 2016

Maryland Struggles To Retain Young, Qualified Teachers

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — In nine years of teaching elementary school, Robin Beers has always felt the profession never came easy.

Beers did not decide she wanted to teach until after undergrad when she received her master’s degree in special education. Ever since entering teaching, she said she has felt as if she has not had enough time or support to consistently succeed.

Now that she is settled at an Anne Arundel elementary school teaching third grade, Beers has overcome many of the struggles young teachers face when first entering the profession.

“It’s overwhelming,” Beers said. “I often struggle to keep things in perspective. I sometimes have to tell myself, ‘You’re not running the Pentagon; it’s going to be okay.'”

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Interesting that this article is posted the day after the JMB incident. No wonder why teachers don't stay.

Paladin said...

Dear Readers,

Retention rates for teachers new to the profession have consistently been abysmal for over 20 years.

The reason for this is NOT salary/compensation. The issue is frankly the absolute (global) lack of parenting and student issues.

Frankly, educational professionals see first hand the issues in PK/K and despite their best efforts, the issues grow to the point where we see issues occur like at JMB the last few days.

School administrators are quite honestly powerless to do anything given the overwhelming regulations imposed upon them.

It is no wonder that new teachers, stressed out and unable to curb behaviors that are far beyond anything they should be expected to address, leave the profession out of sheer frustration. Teachers have a number of skill sets that are attractive to private industry, and frankly, they can earn far more than what they are offered. From an HR/Employment perspective, it is very difficult for school systems to retain new teachers for these reasons.

Respectfully,

Paladin

Anonymous said...

Maybe we could try combat pay?

Anonymous said...

Would / do you work in a Profession which gives you no "Respect"?

Anonymous said...

Amen X 100 to Paladin's comment.