So how bad is it

My little district here in Central Illinois is still in the black, but our governor wants to consolidate us to save his bacon.

Sad state of affairs considering it takes $9,000 a year to educate someone and over $30,000 a year to put them in prison and we still would rather cut education. So more will slip through the cracks and end up uneducated and behind bars. But some cannot see the correlation between smaller class sizes, a quality education, and the crime rate.

I am less sure about other areas around the state (Nebraska), but I have been told that the school district here continues to expand.

So here's the million dollar question:
I don't have a teaching and coaching job yet because I am currently a senior in college. I have been wanting to move out of state (probably somewhere to the south) where a more competitive level of football is being played. HOWEVER, given the economic situation and your knowledge of the job situation in your areas, do you think that I should move somewhere or just stay here where I should have a fairly stable job?

Our district has cut something like $30 million over the last 3 years. There's basically nothing left to cut, we have no athletics budget at all, almost all extra programs are gone, big ol' ****ing mess. The amount of money that our district spends that directly affects the classroom is in the bottom 25% in the state, while the amount of money spent on administration salaries, etc, is in the top 25% of the state. We also spend more than almost anyone else on outside consultants for a variety of services. Basically, run the worst way possible.

Luckily, I'm almost certainly leaving this district.

Find out next week if I'm cut, my wife and I really want to get back home to Ohio but I know it is a bloodbath most places up there and more and more districts are going to near astronomical pay to participate fees. Keep telling myself that there is a saturation point and things need to turn around eventually, benefit of being naive!

You guys are making me thankful!

Coachcb, is that the average class size, or is that just studetns:teachers, which would give you ~40-45 class size?

Also, can someone explain the reasoning behind No Child Left Behind? I can't see the thought process. Are you not allowed to fail kids? and if so, what do you do with kids who haven't earned a passing grade?

Coachcb, is that the average class size, or is that just studetns:teachers, which would give you ~40-45 class size?

Also, can someone explain the reasoning behind No Child Left Behind? I can't see the thought process. Are you not allowed to fail kids? and if so, what do you do with kids who haven't earned a passing grade?

Most those studies are done on the high school level. In the primary grades the studies have shown the exact opposite.

There are a lot of them out there- here was just the first one that showed up at the top of Google-:
www.salemnews.com/local/x465503679/Study-No-link-between-class-size-test-scores/print

www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/features/reading/class.shtml

There are many more- elementary level etc

That's the average class size.

The thought process behind NCLB is a good thing; we do need to hold the education system accountable. Academic standards were slipping in this country. But, it's the administration of the program that has caused a lot of issues. You can't tie a kid's NCLB test scores into their final grade and that's a big problem. At least for me.

Here's my "real world analogy" of NCLB. Let's say you're the foreman of a construction crew. Your boss tells you that he's setting a new quota of houses to build/side/roof (etc) and that you are responsible for meeting it. That's a good thing; people need to be held to standards and high ones at that. You manage a group a crew of employees, but, there's a kicker. You are solely responsible for meeting that quota; you can't hold your employees accountable if they are doing a poor job. You go to leadership workshops, bust your hump and find a way to motivate about 85% of your employees; they really get after it. BUT, you've still got that 15% that screws off, doesn't come to work (etc) and they are dragging the quota through the mud. And, to make matters worse, that quota gets bigger every single year but your funding for the building sites is decreasing. Now, if you could just hold your employees accountable for their poor performances and lack of work ethic, you'd be more likely to make that quota.

And, to make matters worse, the company keeps telling all of the employees that they can all become the CEO of a major company some day regardless of their work ethic.

I couldnt agree more, When we realize that we need to make education the main agenda and continue to put money into these different educational programs. Instead we flood our prison systems with 1st time offenders and drug dealers all to make a point.

Sorry to be hijacking the thread, but I'm perversely fascinated by how education works (or doesn't?) south of the border.

So, what happens to the kids that basically snooze through class? Do they get pushed along with a 50 and graduate with a worthless diploma, or do they fail, or what?

To counter-example: in Ontario, you need 30 credits to graduate. You have 2 semesters, 4 classes a semester (110 hours/credit) so you have 4x75 minute periods a day. This gives 32, so you can have 2 spares in gr 12 usually (many take only 1, either to get an extra high-klevel course, or a fun course) To graduate, you need:

4 English credits (9,10,11,12)
1 French credit (or flip-flop english and french at a french school)
3 math credits (9,10,11)
1 geography (9)
1 history (10)
1 tech (9)
1 civics/careers (basically, learn a little about how the world works and finding a job) (10)
1 social studies (11)
1 PE (9)
1 Art (drama, music, visual, graphic, whatever) (9)
and 3 more credits out of certain "groups"
beyond that, you can take what you want to get where you want to go to get to your 30 credits.

There are 3 different "streams" of difficulty, usually: Academic (univ., some technical community college) Applied, (community college, technical apprentice/trades), workplace (basically shop worker, unskilled trade)

Each credit is independent of the others, a course might have prerequisite credits, but as long as you have the pre-req credit, it has no bearing. If you fail gr. 9 math, you have to take it again, even if all your other courses are now gr. 10 level. If you fail it again, you'll have a gr 11 schedule, with a single gr 9 class (and you can expect to be the oldest one there)

Teachers are indirectly responsible to the principal for their class grades, that is, if the class average is 30%, either the teacher sucks, or is marking too hard, or the class is an aberration, but they'll check on it. Standard tests are occasionally applied, but only to check for systemic problems, not to hang individual teachers.

You can expect your classroom to have what you need (enough textbooks for everyone in not new, but acceptable condition, equipment an labd supplies to go around and do ACTUAL chemistry), it's not a free-for-all, but kids don't have to buy or share books, or pretend they did an experiment. Teachers are also expected to fail kids that haven't earned a pass, because they don't want other teachers passing on unprepared students to them.

However, you won't EVER see a fieldhouse, stadium, practice field just for a football team, a school has ONE field, (maybe occasionally 2 or 3, but of varying quality) for all teams to use, and if someone has a game, you have to practice on the sidelines, at a local park, or at the elementary school. Also, no coaching stipends, reduced teaching loads, etc.

Is this a foreign concept? (Well, obviously it is) It also seems to get more bizarro as you head farther south. I hate to stereotype, but stories of 6-figure coaches with no courseload and "redshirted" 12 year olds (read: wasting a year of the kid's life) always seems to come from south of the Mason-Dixon.

Boom, you hit the nail on the head and that is why so many (including myself) either get out of teaching or are considering it.

With the explosion of online schools and credit recovery programs students have become increasingly indifferent on whether or not they pass a class. It used to be, and I am not talking a long time ago, that if a student failed the class they had to either retake it or they did not graduate. I held a conference with a student last week an walked them thrpough their grade and where they were in the class and he turned to me and said "I have not cared about this class from the first day, I am going to take a 3 week online version and still get credit". I just said ok and he walked away.