New York Times discussion about the status of teachers in the U.S.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Talkin' shop
On Saturday, I spoke to English teachers at a seminar organized by the Association of Teachers of English in Finland and the U.S. Embassy. I presented an overview of policies and programs for English language learners, along with demographics, legal precedents, and some basics of No Child Left Behind. It's not hard to baffle Finnish teachers when explaining some of the more confounding aspects of NCLB, which American teachers take for granted after ten years working under the law. I clearly remember sitting in some of my first staff meetings as a new teacher in 2001 as NCLB terms like "sanctions" and "safe harbor" were being used to explain our mission as educators. I thought, am I fighting in some kind of war?
In the ensuing ten years my schools have avoided sanctions, but we haven't avoided spending precious time and energy on scheduling, preparing for, and of course administering standardized tests to be in compliance with NCLB. I'm not sure how much we got out of it, to be honest. But I digress.
Acquiring my ESOL endorsement and preparing for three Title III audits have taught me a lot about policies and practices for English language learners. In many regards, we are clearly better positioned than FSL programs are here in Finland: we have systematic ways of identifying and monitoring ELLs in Oregon. More and more attention is being placed on appropriate instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Finnish schools fumble somewhat with their non-native Finnish speakers, but they are aware that their schools and classroom are seeing more and more students who need language support.
When I talk about American education in Finland, I remind myself and my colleagues that we are really talking about 50 different education systems. You might compare Maryland, for example, with Finland, as they have about the same size populations. How can you have 50 different education systems in one country? the Finns wonder...How can 50 systems look so different and still fall under the same federal guidelines? How can bilingual education be illegal in some states and curriculum look so different from Oregon to Connecticut to Texas? We had some good discussions about their observations, and I am reminded that there is more than one way to think about our work, and we can only grow from engaging with each other and our different perspectives and experiences.
Here are some of the data that I presented to the English teachers which prompted our discussion:
Some interesting, semi-recent data about who, where, and when
Oregon's math scores from grade 3+, English language learners compared to all students
The same, for reading
Oregon drop out rates
In the ensuing ten years my schools have avoided sanctions, but we haven't avoided spending precious time and energy on scheduling, preparing for, and of course administering standardized tests to be in compliance with NCLB. I'm not sure how much we got out of it, to be honest. But I digress.
Acquiring my ESOL endorsement and preparing for three Title III audits have taught me a lot about policies and practices for English language learners. In many regards, we are clearly better positioned than FSL programs are here in Finland: we have systematic ways of identifying and monitoring ELLs in Oregon. More and more attention is being placed on appropriate instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Finnish schools fumble somewhat with their non-native Finnish speakers, but they are aware that their schools and classroom are seeing more and more students who need language support.
When I talk about American education in Finland, I remind myself and my colleagues that we are really talking about 50 different education systems. You might compare Maryland, for example, with Finland, as they have about the same size populations. How can you have 50 different education systems in one country? the Finns wonder...How can 50 systems look so different and still fall under the same federal guidelines? How can bilingual education be illegal in some states and curriculum look so different from Oregon to Connecticut to Texas? We had some good discussions about their observations, and I am reminded that there is more than one way to think about our work, and we can only grow from engaging with each other and our different perspectives and experiences.
Here are some of the data that I presented to the English teachers which prompted our discussion:
Some interesting, semi-recent data about who, where, and when
Oregon's math scores from grade 3+, English language learners compared to all students
The same, for reading
Oregon drop out rates
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Vocational Education
Vocational education is a very well-developed component of the Finnish education system. There are hundreds of courses of study, from catering, to metal work, to dance, and textiles. I visited vocational education institutions in Mikkeli and Espoo and saw the most amazing facilities and learning opportunities. There was a hairdressing “classroom,” actually a complex of classrooms with students learning and working on every aspect of salon services. The students learn not just how to cut and dye hair, but how to keep books and run a business. Not sure how one keeps a salon open however; since it seems that there are four or five salons on every block in Helsinki. And I am going to wait until I am in Estonia to get my haircut – I don’t have 90€ to spend on a trim.
I also observed a program that is the equivalent, I think, of a CNA training program. Students were practicing how to brush the teeth of patients who are bedridden. The metal workshop was a huge complex with dozens of machines and plenty of projects in progress. And my favorite was the dressmaking studio. Students here design and sew fabulous garments, as my photos show. They also do internships in places like Hamburg and Lyon, which are organized and supported by the faculty.
These are 2-3 year programs that students can choose after they finish basic school (after grade 9). They are also open to adults. They are all, of course, free. Teachers are experienced in the field and have training in teaching as well.
Besides the focus on academics which yields such strong results on academic assessments like PISA, the Finns take quite seriously the preparation of students for the variety of vocations that needed in their society. Vocational institutions are well-funded and well-respected as serious places for learning. I’d like to learn more about how well graduates from these programs do in the work force, and if these occupations pay a living wage. My suspicion is that students trained in the variety of vocations enjoy a more satisfying work life than their counterparts in the U.S.
How do students know what vocation they might be interested? The extensive arts and hands-on education, of course, that is provided during the nine years of compulsory basic education.
I also observed a program that is the equivalent, I think, of a CNA training program. Students were practicing how to brush the teeth of patients who are bedridden. The metal workshop was a huge complex with dozens of machines and plenty of projects in progress. And my favorite was the dressmaking studio. Students here design and sew fabulous garments, as my photos show. They also do internships in places like Hamburg and Lyon, which are organized and supported by the faculty.
These are 2-3 year programs that students can choose after they finish basic school (after grade 9). They are also open to adults. They are all, of course, free. Teachers are experienced in the field and have training in teaching as well.
Besides the focus on academics which yields such strong results on academic assessments like PISA, the Finns take quite seriously the preparation of students for the variety of vocations that needed in their society. Vocational institutions are well-funded and well-respected as serious places for learning. I’d like to learn more about how well graduates from these programs do in the work force, and if these occupations pay a living wage. My suspicion is that students trained in the variety of vocations enjoy a more satisfying work life than their counterparts in the U.S.
How do students know what vocation they might be interested? The extensive arts and hands-on education, of course, that is provided during the nine years of compulsory basic education.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Photos from Espoo
Many thanks to the coordinators and teachers in Espoo for hosting me and showing me around this week. I was able to see some schools in a city with quite a lot of immigrants. I was by far most impressed with the mother tongue instruction that happens - by law if there are 5 students with a common native language, they are entitled to native language instruction. The teachers I met were quite impressive, and I was impressed as well with the fact that the municipality is able to find teachers for the many languages that are taught.
Espoo is a cement and asphalt kind of place, but like everywhere in Finland, well organized and well run. Nokia headquarters are located here, and the city runs more than eighty schools. One things I enjoy a great deal about Finnish schools is that they are small - basic schools are usually around 300. And, by the way, principals always teach, even if it is just one class/week.
The first school I have seen with graffiti. Beautiful on the inside, though:
The library - Adrienne, I have a lot to tell you about libraries in Finland!
Student in Persian language class.
A lot of Espoo looks like this.
I visited mother tongue instruction in Espoo. On this Tuesday afternoon, students were learning language and literacy in about 15 languages, including Persian, Kurdish, Spanish, English, French, Somali, and Arabic. Participation in these classes is voluntry, but fully funded by the education department, with the belief that if a student is proficient in his/her native tongue, he or she will have more success with Finnish acquisition and academics overall.
From S2 (Finnish as a Second Language) class. This is the teacher's edition of the grade 3 Finnish language text. It was written for and used by native Finnish speakers. This S2 teacher uses it because she thinks it is superior to the materials available fo S2.
An S2 classroom. Group sizes are 10 and under.
Some grammar points that I don't understand. They were presented to a group of 5th grade S2 students.
A second grade classroom.
Espoo is a cement and asphalt kind of place, but like everywhere in Finland, well organized and well run. Nokia headquarters are located here, and the city runs more than eighty schools. One things I enjoy a great deal about Finnish schools is that they are small - basic schools are usually around 300. And, by the way, principals always teach, even if it is just one class/week.
The first school I have seen with graffiti. Beautiful on the inside, though:
The library - Adrienne, I have a lot to tell you about libraries in Finland!
Student in Persian language class.
A lot of Espoo looks like this.
I visited mother tongue instruction in Espoo. On this Tuesday afternoon, students were learning language and literacy in about 15 languages, including Persian, Kurdish, Spanish, English, French, Somali, and Arabic. Participation in these classes is voluntry, but fully funded by the education department, with the belief that if a student is proficient in his/her native tongue, he or she will have more success with Finnish acquisition and academics overall.
From S2 (Finnish as a Second Language) class. This is the teacher's edition of the grade 3 Finnish language text. It was written for and used by native Finnish speakers. This S2 teacher uses it because she thinks it is superior to the materials available fo S2.
An S2 classroom. Group sizes are 10 and under.
Some grammar points that I don't understand. They were presented to a group of 5th grade S2 students.
A second grade classroom.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Immigrants account for half of Finland’s population growth
From a recent news article in the Helsingin Sanomat -
The Finnish population is now growing largely thanks to an influx of immigrants. From 2007 onwards, more than half of the country’s population growth has been from immigration. Before that, most of the growth in the Finnish population was attributed to children born to Finnish citizens, as well as a relatively low death rate. “Immigration is no longer a marginal phenomenon. We are now at the European average”, says Arno Tanner of the Finnish Immigration Service.
The number of foreign citizens living in Finland has increased more than six-fold in the past 20 years. The total number of immigrants living in Finland is about 170,000. In 1999 fewer than 15,000 immigrants settled in Finland. Last year the number was nearly 25,000. Some of the immigration was by returning migrants – Finnish expatriates who are now coming back.
A surge in immigration took place in 2004. “The EU expanded and impediments to movement of labour were lifted. Immigration has nevertheless increased considerably from all continents”, says Matti Saari of Statistics Finland.
In 2010 there were 24,000 applicants for residence permits, 16,000 of whom were accepted. The biggest group, nearly 4,500, came to Finland to study, while 3,000 were granted residence permits for work. Of the more than 4,000 applicants for asylum, 1,800 were accepted. “Asylum seekers get more attention, even though there is ten times more work-based immigration”, Tanner points out.
Tanner predicts that applications for asylum will increase considerably, especially from the restless areas of North Africa. Saari and Tanner point out that immigration is an important source of labour, especially for urban areas of Finland. “It is unlikely that the unemployed in Finland could be re-educated in such a way that they could meet the need for labour especially in the caring professions”, Tanner says.
Statistics Finland reports that a fifth of foreigners of working age living in Finland were unemployed in 2008. Saari explains this relatively small figure with the fact that to be officially listed as unemployed, a person has to register with an employment office and to be available for job offers. Being approved as a legal immigrant also often requires that the person should have a job. “Many take the assumption that their language skills are insufficient, and consequently do not bother to register”, Saari says.
“Employment is a key element of integration. It is not possible to get a job if you don’t know the language”, Arno Tanner says. He sees much room for improvement in language training for immigrants. About one in four immigrants are outside the work force.
The Finnish population is now growing largely thanks to an influx of immigrants. From 2007 onwards, more than half of the country’s population growth has been from immigration. Before that, most of the growth in the Finnish population was attributed to children born to Finnish citizens, as well as a relatively low death rate. “Immigration is no longer a marginal phenomenon. We are now at the European average”, says Arno Tanner of the Finnish Immigration Service.
The number of foreign citizens living in Finland has increased more than six-fold in the past 20 years. The total number of immigrants living in Finland is about 170,000. In 1999 fewer than 15,000 immigrants settled in Finland. Last year the number was nearly 25,000. Some of the immigration was by returning migrants – Finnish expatriates who are now coming back.
A surge in immigration took place in 2004. “The EU expanded and impediments to movement of labour were lifted. Immigration has nevertheless increased considerably from all continents”, says Matti Saari of Statistics Finland.
In 2010 there were 24,000 applicants for residence permits, 16,000 of whom were accepted. The biggest group, nearly 4,500, came to Finland to study, while 3,000 were granted residence permits for work. Of the more than 4,000 applicants for asylum, 1,800 were accepted. “Asylum seekers get more attention, even though there is ten times more work-based immigration”, Tanner points out.
Tanner predicts that applications for asylum will increase considerably, especially from the restless areas of North Africa. Saari and Tanner point out that immigration is an important source of labour, especially for urban areas of Finland. “It is unlikely that the unemployed in Finland could be re-educated in such a way that they could meet the need for labour especially in the caring professions”, Tanner says.
Statistics Finland reports that a fifth of foreigners of working age living in Finland were unemployed in 2008. Saari explains this relatively small figure with the fact that to be officially listed as unemployed, a person has to register with an employment office and to be available for job offers. Being approved as a legal immigrant also often requires that the person should have a job. “Many take the assumption that their language skills are insufficient, and consequently do not bother to register”, Saari says.
“Employment is a key element of integration. It is not possible to get a job if you don’t know the language”, Arno Tanner says. He sees much room for improvement in language training for immigrants. About one in four immigrants are outside the work force.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Photos from Finland
Winter walk on Pyhäjärvi, Tampere's southern lake.
Tampere keskus.
Keeping warm in Nilsia, shelter, fire, and makkara.
The view from Kuopio tower.
Dinner with in Mikkeli hosted by municipality officials.
Maybe I do have a need for speed.
Sarah, Eija, and Binh in Mikkeli.
Marieka is on a 3-year-old Fulbright grant.
On one of Finland's 188,000 lakes.
A beautiful birch.
Fulbrighters in Finland share their work
Fulbrighters from across Finland convened in Tampere this week to share their research. The topics were virtually without limit - construction site safety, classical Finnish composers, Finnish wood architecture, sustainable foundries, Kalevala environmental performance art, sleep research, social technology, and more. The three of us in the teachers program, Sarah, Binh, and I, also presented. Sarah studies school libraries in Finland, or the lack thereof. Finns have close ties to libraries, however, and public libraries in Finland are superb and accessed by Finns of all ages. Binh studies curriculum, standards, and critical thinking pedagogy. He's a huge fan of the Finnish national core curriculum. I shared what I have learned so far about the achievement of immigrants in Finland and what I have found regarding policies and the actual experiences of students and teachers.
Nicholas Kristof weighs in
Pay Teachers More
Nicholas Kristof
NY Times March 12, 2011
From the debates in Wisconsin and elsewhere about public sector unions, you might get the impression that we’re going bust because teachers are overpaid. That’s a pernicious fallacy. A basic educational challenge is not that teachers are raking it in, but that they are underpaid. If we want to compete with other countries, and chip away at poverty across America, then we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession.
Until a few decades ago, employment discrimination perversely strengthened our teaching force. Brilliant women became elementary school teachers, because better jobs weren’t open to them. It was profoundly unfair, but the discrimination did benefit America’s children.
These days, brilliant women become surgeons and investment bankers — and 47 percent of America’s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a study by McKinsey & Company, “Closing the Talent Gap.”
Changes in relative pay have reinforced the problem. In 1970, in New York City, a newly minted teacher at a public school earned about $2,000 less in salary than a starting lawyer at a prominent law firm. These days the lawyer takes home, including bonus, $115,000 more than the teacher, the McKinsey study found.
We all understand intuitively the difference a great teacher makes. I think of Juanita Trantina, who left my fifth-grade class intoxicated with excitement for learning and fascinated by the current events she spoke about. You probably have a Miss Trantina in your own past.
One Los Angeles study found that having a teacher from the 25 percent most effective group of teachers for four years in a row would be enough to eliminate the black-white achievement gap.
Recent scholarship suggests that good teachers, even kindergarten teachers, increase their students’ earnings many years later. Eric A. Hanushek of Stanford University found that an excellent teacher (one a standard deviation better than average, or better than 84 percent of teachers) raises each student’s lifetime earnings by $20,000. If there are 20 students in the class, that is an extra $400,000 generated, compared with a teacher who is merely average.
A teacher better than 93 percent of other teachers would add $640,000 to lifetime pay of a class of 20, the study found.
Look, I’m not a fan of teachers’ unions. They used their clout to gain job security more than pay, thus making the field safe for low achievers. Teaching work rules are often inflexible, benefits are generous relative to salaries, and it is difficult or impossible to dismiss teachers who are ineffective.
But none of this means that teachers are overpaid. And if governments nibble away at pensions and reduce job security, then they must pay more in wages to stay even.
Moreover, part of compensation is public esteem. When governors mock teachers as lazy, avaricious incompetents, they demean the profession and make it harder to attract the best and brightest. We should be elevating teachers, not throwing darts at them.
Consider three other countries renowned for their educational performance: Singapore, South Korea and Finland. In each country, teachers are drawn from the top third of their cohort, are hugely respected and are paid well (although that’s less true in Finland). In South Korea and Singapore, teachers on average earn more than lawyers and engineers, the McKinsey study found.
“We’re not going to get better teachers unless we pay them more,” notes Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, an education reform organization. Likewise, Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform says, “We’re the first people to say, throw them $100,000, throw them whatever it takes.”
Both Ms. Wilkins and Ms. Allen add in the next breath that pay should be for performance, with more rigorous evaluation. That makes sense to me.
Starting teacher pay, which now averages $39,000, would have to rise to $65,000 to fill most new teaching positions in high-needs schools with graduates from the top third of their classes, the McKinsey study found. That would be a bargain.
Indeed, it makes sense to cut corners elsewhere to boost teacher salaries. Research suggests that students would benefit from a tradeoff of better teachers but worse teacher-student ratios. Thus there are growing calls for a Japanese model of larger classes, but with outstanding, respected, well-paid teachers.
Teaching is unusual among the professions in that it pays poorly but has strong union protections and lockstep wage increases. It’s a factory model of compensation, and critics are right to fault it. But the bottom line is that we should pay teachers more, not less — and that politicians who falsely lambaste teachers as greedy are simply making it more difficult to attract the kind of above-average teachers our above-average children deserve.
Nicholas Kristof
NY Times March 12, 2011
From the debates in Wisconsin and elsewhere about public sector unions, you might get the impression that we’re going bust because teachers are overpaid. That’s a pernicious fallacy. A basic educational challenge is not that teachers are raking it in, but that they are underpaid. If we want to compete with other countries, and chip away at poverty across America, then we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession.
Until a few decades ago, employment discrimination perversely strengthened our teaching force. Brilliant women became elementary school teachers, because better jobs weren’t open to them. It was profoundly unfair, but the discrimination did benefit America’s children.
These days, brilliant women become surgeons and investment bankers — and 47 percent of America’s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a study by McKinsey & Company, “Closing the Talent Gap.”
Changes in relative pay have reinforced the problem. In 1970, in New York City, a newly minted teacher at a public school earned about $2,000 less in salary than a starting lawyer at a prominent law firm. These days the lawyer takes home, including bonus, $115,000 more than the teacher, the McKinsey study found.
We all understand intuitively the difference a great teacher makes. I think of Juanita Trantina, who left my fifth-grade class intoxicated with excitement for learning and fascinated by the current events she spoke about. You probably have a Miss Trantina in your own past.
One Los Angeles study found that having a teacher from the 25 percent most effective group of teachers for four years in a row would be enough to eliminate the black-white achievement gap.
Recent scholarship suggests that good teachers, even kindergarten teachers, increase their students’ earnings many years later. Eric A. Hanushek of Stanford University found that an excellent teacher (one a standard deviation better than average, or better than 84 percent of teachers) raises each student’s lifetime earnings by $20,000. If there are 20 students in the class, that is an extra $400,000 generated, compared with a teacher who is merely average.
A teacher better than 93 percent of other teachers would add $640,000 to lifetime pay of a class of 20, the study found.
Look, I’m not a fan of teachers’ unions. They used their clout to gain job security more than pay, thus making the field safe for low achievers. Teaching work rules are often inflexible, benefits are generous relative to salaries, and it is difficult or impossible to dismiss teachers who are ineffective.
But none of this means that teachers are overpaid. And if governments nibble away at pensions and reduce job security, then they must pay more in wages to stay even.
Moreover, part of compensation is public esteem. When governors mock teachers as lazy, avaricious incompetents, they demean the profession and make it harder to attract the best and brightest. We should be elevating teachers, not throwing darts at them.
Consider three other countries renowned for their educational performance: Singapore, South Korea and Finland. In each country, teachers are drawn from the top third of their cohort, are hugely respected and are paid well (although that’s less true in Finland). In South Korea and Singapore, teachers on average earn more than lawyers and engineers, the McKinsey study found.
“We’re not going to get better teachers unless we pay them more,” notes Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, an education reform organization. Likewise, Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform says, “We’re the first people to say, throw them $100,000, throw them whatever it takes.”
Both Ms. Wilkins and Ms. Allen add in the next breath that pay should be for performance, with more rigorous evaluation. That makes sense to me.
Starting teacher pay, which now averages $39,000, would have to rise to $65,000 to fill most new teaching positions in high-needs schools with graduates from the top third of their classes, the McKinsey study found. That would be a bargain.
Indeed, it makes sense to cut corners elsewhere to boost teacher salaries. Research suggests that students would benefit from a tradeoff of better teachers but worse teacher-student ratios. Thus there are growing calls for a Japanese model of larger classes, but with outstanding, respected, well-paid teachers.
Teaching is unusual among the professions in that it pays poorly but has strong union protections and lockstep wage increases. It’s a factory model of compensation, and critics are right to fault it. But the bottom line is that we should pay teachers more, not less — and that politicians who falsely lambaste teachers as greedy are simply making it more difficult to attract the kind of above-average teachers our above-average children deserve.
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