Why Great Teachers Quit
Education Reform, In The News, Testing Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
This is a great book by Katy Farber. No connection to us but echoes much of what we have to say.
“Available July 2010 from Corwin Press and Amazon, and most major booksellers.
Learn why today’s best teachers are leaving- from the teachers themselves.
Low pay, increased responsibilities, and high stakes standardized testing– these are just some of the reasons why more talented teachers are leaving the profession than ever before. Drawing on in-depth interviews with teachers all over the country, Katy Farber presents an in-the-trenches view of the classroom exodus and uncovers ways that schools and turn the tide.
Farber’s findings paint a sometimes shocking picture of life in today’s schools, taking a frank look at:
* Challenges to teacher endurance, including tight budgets, difficult parents, standardized testing, unsafe schools, inadequate pay, and lack of respect
* Strategies veteran teachers use to make sure the joys of teaching outweigh the frustrations
* Success stories from individual schools and districts that have found solutions to these challenges
* Recommendations for creating a school environment that fosters teacher retention
Featuring clear analysis and concrete suggestions for administrators and policy makers, Why Great Teachers Quit takes you to the front lines of the fight to keep great teachers where they belong: in the classroom.
Featured on this site will be the comments from Farber’s extensive interviews of current and former teachers (visit the teacher voices page). To learn how to share your story about teacher attrition, visit the your story page.
This book will give voice to the countless teachers who have left the profession, and offer solutions for how to lessen the tide of teacher attrition in America.” Not just America!
A great deal of stress is put upon teacher by the governement and the public. There is little to no trust given to teachers- if they were trusted then why would they need to be inspected and told how to teach?
I am in Finland at the moment where teachers are not externally inspected and they say that they feel that they are respected and trusted in their jobs.
The teachers do not feel like they are in competition with each other and can therefore work together in stressful situations.