Paper part 2

Claudia Taylor, a teacher at Harlem Village Academy located in New York, says "I’m tired of making decisions about whether or not I can afford to go to a movie on a Friday night when I work literally 55 hours a week. It’s very frustrating. I’m feeling like I either have to leave New York City or leave teaching, because I don’t want to have a roommate at 30 years old." (3) This injustice towards the careers in the field of education is felt all around the United States and is one of the biggest factors that contributes to failing schools. Without a salary that equally matches the importance of the job, qualified teachers will continue to become scarce and teachers already employed will eventually loose their motivation and passion due to the harsh realities of life.

In order to improve Memphis City Schools, and schools across the nation, a big change will be needed in the teaching force. We need to attract and encourage more people with high teaching potential to become part of the meaningful and important field of education. Effective teachers currently employed must some how be convinced to not seek different careers and these teachers must be persuaded to lend their expertise in areas with disadvantaged kids. The methods teachers use most include consistent use of practices that are likely to increase student achievement. Such practices must move beyond basic skills such as, reading, writing, listening, and speaking because they are no longer enough to succeed in a academic career. Critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning, responsibility, sociability, and self-management are all skills and qualities that need to be integrated in the teaching system to boost students achievement and prepare them for life after school. If we were to increase the salaries of teachers in Memphis, and everywhere in the U.S, motivation and passion would be restored in the education system. This would provide the encouragement we need to entice qualified teachers back into the profession while adding ambition into the class rooms that is needed to improve student accomplishment.

A new charter school in Washington Heights, set to open in 2009, is putting into practice the theory that teacher quality is the crucial ingredient for success. (3) The school is planning to pay teachers $125,000 a year, almost two and a half times the national average teacher salary. The school plans to allow 120 students to attend, mostly from low income families, with as many as seven teachers. This school will be one of the most anticipated educational experiments in the country. If it succeeds, the pressure for cities and teachers' unions to make substantial changes to the way in which teachers are paid in traditional public schools will be great. “'This is an approach that has not been tried in this way in American education, and it opens up a slew of fascinating opportunities,' said Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. 'That $125,000 figure could have a catalytic effect.'” (3)