How is the public education system in your area?

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Parents of school age kids, how are things at the schools in your area? My area is really suffering from a lack of teachers. Our county has hundreds of open unfilled teaching positions. I know kids that haven't had a Language Arts teacher so far this year. My kids' science teacher quit mid year last year, and another teacher quit this year. Our foreign language teacher quit over the summer, and the position was only just filled in the last couple of weeks. The kids would go to class and a random sub would just watch them do Duolingo. My older one hasn't had a teacher for an elective yet this year. We didn't get any communication about it until at least 6 weeks into school, where they gave us a date they said they would have a teacher. That date came and went, and still no teacher. In some cases, when a replacement teacher is hired, it seems to be a step down in quality - like teachers that actually give completely invalid information. From what I understand, qualification requirements are being reduced so that they can try to get more teachers/subs. It is so sad, and I really feel like kids are getting shortchanged on their education. Just wondering if other areas have it this bad too, or if it's just my state/county.

 

[mrodgers]

No idea for my actual current area. My kids are in a different district and the youngest is now in her first year of college.

I loved our school district the kids went to. When we were looking for a place, it was important to be away from town and the district we worked in. That's not saying anything about the district itself, but the reason is the size of my experience in a large school with only 2 grades per location vs. my then wife's experience coming from the country and smaller schools. Hers was the extreme other end, as I had to tell her once when she was always expecting me to know people in the wedding announcements because I graduated with her, we had more people fail and not graduate than she had in her class. She also had all the same teachers her parents did, so they were all at retirement age and I don't think that is good for education.

So we didn't want to be in my old town and we didn't want to get too far away and end up where she went to school. We got the middle and the school was fantastic.

How it is this year I don't know.

 

[mjkacmom]

We do have some shortages, plus sub shortages, but NJ is pretty strong in public education.

 

[xdan0920]

It’s almost like actions have consequences.

 

[easyas123]

It’s almost like actions have consequences.

Absolutely!

My son's girlfriend was a math teacher in Anne Arundel County, Maryland up until the end of last school year. She couldn't do it anymore. Administration wasn't supportive, the parents that were involved in their kids education, the majority were not supportive-some were even combative - many of the kids themselves were disrespectful and rude. There was no discipline and politics handed down from the admin & teachers union filtered down into the classrooms. Yes, of course there are schools systems where it is not this bad, but it was there and those are her words verbatim.

The days of school are long behind us, and I'm glad to say it. I do not recall there being a lot of teachers leaving or problems with retention when our boys were in school-we moved from public to private when they started High School, and don't recall much issues there either. With that being said, in our (rather rural) area, I think they've managed to hold on to enough teachers. We have two elementary, one middle & one high school in the county we used to live in, and in the neighboring one where we live now (physically bigger county, still rather rural for the most part) there is 4 middle schools & 2 high schools. I think they are hanging in there with teachers, too - but in both counties there is a shortage of bus drivers, which I think it common in many places.

 

[kdonnel]

Gwinnett county is in transition.

Last year brought a new superintendent after 25 years under the same individual.

Changes are being made and most are not being well received.

The primary focus of the changes is to promote equality, certainly a desirable goal. The most visible change is to the discipline procedures which appear to have resulted in a decrease in punishment and an increase in the disrespect teachers are facing.

Morale is plummeting as the teachers feel unsupported by administration.

Gwinnett County was/is a model for the rest of the country. One of only two school districts in the country to have won the Broad prize twice. Nearly 190,000 students at one of the 120+ schools served by over 11,000 teachers.

 

[VandVsmama]

I would consider public education in our area to be in the category of "fair" or "just ok." It's "meh" enough that back when ODD was entering 2nd grade and YDD was entering kindergarten, we enrolled them in a charter school (in our area, those are funded with public school $$). The difference was like night and day in quality compared to the local public school. We now live in a different part of the same state, but our kids are attending a different campus of the same charter school system...it's been great. Have to drive 35 min each way to get them to school, but totally worth it. Just the school counselor to student ratio alone is phenomenal. Very collaborative learning environment, student actively encouraged to explore, differences amongst students are celebrated instead of mocked, no bullying of any kind. The teachers are great.

The 35 min drive each way has totally been worth it.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

The most visible change is to the discipline procedures which appear to have resulted in a decrease in punishment and an increase in the disrespect teachers are facing.

I know of at least 2 teachers where kids in the class throw things at them and there don't seem to be repercussions, at least not any that are effective. Both quit. One is one of the ones I've already mentioned, but there's another that quit for that reason too, a few years ago. And this is just what I hear from one school!

 

[mumto3girls]

I would say very good—our high school was just nationally recognized as a top performing school. I have three daughters—2 in college, one in high school. I would say there have definitely been a few bad teachers along the way, but those are the exception and definitely not the rule. Very thankful.

 

[HeatherC]

We are in Massachusetts and I have to say we are pretty lucky in our district. Teachers are paid decent (for teachers that is) compared to other states and in our district there is very little turn around which speaks volumes. Most teachers only leave to retire or if they are moving or having kids and decide to stay home. Even subs stick around. Many have been subbing for the same school/s in the district for many years….myself included. I was a substitute teacher at the same school from the time my second kid was in 1st grade until Covid hit in 2020. So like 18 years. She is now graduating college next month.

While there are always things we would like to change, I feel lucky my kids were educated in this district.

We are also in a middle class town, so not super wealthy by any means. In fact, this district spends very little per pupil compared to the rest of the state. 98% go on to college or some sort of secondary training as well. I think that is a huge testament to the teachers and and administrators we have had over the years.

 

[CdnCarrie]

It's great! Lots of electives. Amazing teachers. No complaints at all. No teacher shortages that's I've ever heard of - very well paying, sought after job actually. Lots of new teachers have to sub or take terms until they get a permanent contract.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We have a variety of charter schools too. Most sound better than the public choices, though I've also heard of a few that have gotten their charters pulled or have shut down mid-year with no real explanation. It's all lottery to get in those, and a lot of people usually try.

I have mixed feelings about them.

On the one hand, I like the idea of more specialized instruction based on a students' interests and abilities, etc. Like we have ones that are immersion language charters or ones that are STEM focused.

On the other hand, I see many ways lower income kids are excluded from these choices. Yes, it's a lottery to get in, but some have requirements like - a parent has to volunteer to do lunch monitoring 2x per month, or a parent has to sign up to direct carpool traffic 2 weeks out of the year. Not so easy for parents who don't have the job flexibility or income security to take time off during the day.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

It's great! Lots of electives. Amazing teachers. No complaints at all. No teacher shortages that's I've ever heard of - very well paying, sought after job actually. Lots of new teachers have to sub or take terms until they get a permanent contract.

You are lucky - here our teaching assistants make less than they could get working fast food or retail, and the teacher pay scale includes a ten year span in the middle of their career where they won't get any raise. Some of the older teachers are hanging on through that just to get their retirement - they are already so vested, but then they will leave as soon as they can. And, seeing that discourages new teachers from entering the field.

It's the same school district that I grew up in, but we never used to have issues to this extent. I think I had one class in my entire school career where a teacher quit mid-year.

 

[Ursula J]

deleted--went off track

 

[DLR70]

Used to be great here - but test scores are going down and there's lots of drama at school board meetings over sex ed stuff. I actually work for the school district and am so glad my kids are done.

 

[CdnCarrie]

You are lucky - here our teaching assistants make less than they could get working fast food or retail, and the teacher pay scale includes a ten year span in the middle of their career where they won't get any raise. Some of the older teachers are hanging on through that just to get their retirement - they are already so vested, but then they will leave as soon as they can. And, seeing that discourages new teachers from entering the field.

It's the same school district that I grew up in, but we never used to have issues to this extent. I think I had one class in my entire school career where a teacher quit mid-year.

I think here they start off at $50,000 (need both B.Ed and another undergraduate degree to be certified or to sub) and easily maxs out around $80,000. Very good pension and benefits.

TAs don't make great money. Maybe $$35,000-40,000 a year.
They don't publish test scores here. You can't tell which school or division is "better'"

 

[Lumpy1106]

DD9 goes to private school in the next county over. LA county kept schools closed for over a year and the private school she goes to never closed. We got fed up and moved her. When we interviewed they asked us if she would be moving back when the schools re-opened. No way. The learning loss in the LA County public schools is real and will take a long, long time to recover, plus we feel real loyalty to her new school for taking her in.

Before times, we had DS in a private HS his freshman year because we had moved him to a private middle school when the (award winning, very well thought of) public middle school was doing such a poor job of keeping the kids from goofing around. It was zoo-esque. We thought the public HS was just as bad if not worse, but the public school let DS into the AP classes when the private school wouldn't, plus the private school graded harder. It was putting him at a huge disadvantage getting into college. Add to that, he could play lacrosse in the public school and he really missed it. We moved him back to public HS and, what do you know? It was exactly what he needed.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If anyone thinks their area is doing well in school they aren't on the up and up.

Opportunities offered to students can mean a good school system, teachers that want to stay that as well however there's a lot that have been shaken up by the pandemic.

A few days ago it came out that a study conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress on a routine basis every 2 years with the last one done in 2019 providing an excellent opportunity for comparison. "It was taken between January and March by a sample of students in every state, along with 26 of the nation’s largest school districts."

• "Across the country, math scores saw their largest decreases ever. Reading scores dropped to 1992 levels. Nearly four in 10 eighth graders failed to grasp basic math concepts. Not a single state saw a notable improvement in their average test scores, with some simply treading water at best."

• "Researchers usually think of a 10-point gain or drop as equivalent to roughly a year of learning."

• "In both math and reading, students scored lower than those tested in 2019. But while reading scores dipped, math scores plummeted by the largest margins in the history of the NAEP test, which began in 1969."

• "Math scores were worst among eighth graders, with 38% earning scores deemed “below basic” — a cutoff that measures, for example, whether students can find the third angle of a triangle if they’re given the other two. That’s worse than 2019, when 31% of eighth graders scored below that level.

• "No part of the country was exempt. Every region saw test scores slide, and every state saw declines in at least one subject."

• "racial inequities appear to have widened during the pandemic. In fourth grade, Black and Hispanic students saw bigger decreases than white students, widening gaps that have persisted for decades."

• "Inequities were also reflected in a growing gap between higher and lower performing students. In math and reading, scores fell most sharply among the lowest performing students, creating a widening chasm between struggling students and the rest of their peers."

• "When schools shifted to remote learning, higher performing students were far more likely to have reliable access to quiet spaces, computers and help from their teachers"

Next which I think should get more studying on it to see if there were multi-faceted reasons (which I suspect there was) says the study reflected:

• "Other recent studies have found that students who spent longer periods learning online suffered greater setbacks. But the NAEP results show no clear connection. Areas that returned to the classroom quickly still saw significant declines, and cities — which were more likely to stay remote longer — actually saw milder decreases than suburban districts, according to the results."

No state can claim they are strong in public education through and through, nope. Some districts offer better opportunities for struggling students or fostering various ways of learning but we can see that regardless of these so many areas struggled on some level somewhere. I can say that the districts here pour money into the schools and the schools with the highest test scores in the state are within my county, they offer quite a lot but they are not immune to problems.

 

[tvguy]

Hard to say. We have the highest GPAs, and highest ACT and SAT scores entering College, yet at the college level they have the highest level of students needing remedial English , Math and Science classes.
There is so much inequity in our education system across the nation. I happen to live in a District where teachers are well compensated, yet they can't attract enough people. This goes back before the pandemic started, and I know almost every industry now is finding it difficult to find people who want to take jobs now. Also before the pandemic, our district was hit with huge numbers of people retiring. People who started right at of college at 21 or 22 years of age, get their 30 years in which gets them a nice pension and lifetime health benefits so they retire early at 51 or 52..

 

[barkley]

staff shortages same as everywhere else. our tiny district has managed to maintain the bulk of it's (very long term and dedicated) staff through the last few years but now the trickle of retirements is happening from what i can see.