Competing for Teachers in L.A.

The L.A. Times recently ran an article  (registration required) detailing a trend in L.A. Unified School District where many teachers and administrators have left the city school system for jobs at independently run charter schools.  The article reports that many of these teachers are being lured by the potential of receiving more support and enjoying more freedom in public charter schools.

I have written in this space previously about the promise and peril of charter schools in terms of improving teacher quality.  Where in fact, charters’ autonomy from legal and regulatory structures, could potentially result in increased freedom to hire the best teachers, design effective professional development, and promote a strong professional culture.  However, these practices are not currently guaranteed to happen in any particular charter school and do not occur systematically across all charter schools.  In all likelihood, adoption will vary across the charter sector, with some schools engaging in top-notch teaching quality practices and others falling far short of these goals.  What teaching quality actually looks like in the charter “sector” is likely to be widely divergent. 

But in truth, the article and the broader trend of public school teachers “jumping ship” for greener pastures is less about charter vs. public schools and more about the working conditions in traditionally hard-to-staff schools.  Recruiting and retaining quality teachers in urban and rural schools remains a struggle in large part because the poor conditions of work in these schools relative to their suburban public school, private, and or charter school counterparts.  Regardless of the governing structure of a school, teachers like those mentioned in the article want to feel empowered to make important instructional and school-based decisions.  Educators want to be treated like the professionals they are and they want to work with effective school leaders who are responsive to the needs of educators and students.  CTQ has done research across the country indicating that these critical working conditions are closely and consistently linked to teacher attrition rates in schools.  LA Unified School District and every district in the country committed to recruiting and keeping more of the educators needed to help students succeed will do well to focus intently on assessing and improving the conditions of work for educators.

Posted by Scott Emerick

Comments

[thebizofknowledge]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. As an educator and resident of California, I am deeply troubled by this trend. We are losing many of our most gifted teachers, and nobody seems to be taking note of this and trying to stem the loss.

[Ben Whelan-Morin]

As a former "district" educator turned charter school educator, I can say that I very much agree that conditions in the "regular" public schools have grown so atrocious as to become unbearable. At my charter school, I am treated like a professional. That unto itself makes a huge difference.
You say that teaching quality in the "charter sector" is widely divergent and I don't doubt that you're right. There are definitely good and bad charter schools. I think the idea of being divergent is the point of charter schools though. It's a break away of the norm. It is to find different and more diverse ways to educate our nations students in the way that they need to be educated. Quality can be defined two ways:1. degree of excellence or 2. a distinguishing attribute. Perhaps the qualities of the schools being divergent would be a good thing for students with diverse learning styles. It's a matter of finding the right charter school for the student.
There are bad charter schools, for sure. As the charter movement progresses, the hope is that those who don't tow the line will close and those who do will continue to provide a diversified quality education that is different from the norm. It is a difference of quality, but not neccesarily a measure of achievement.