Good Teachers Quit Due to Lack of Support, Compensation

FIRST PERSON | CNN's "Education Overtime" series has been focusing on issues in classrooms across the nation. The story shared Thursday featured Linda DeRagnaucourt, a 13-year teacher who is leaving the job she loves. She has won numerous awards over the years, is beloved by her students, and does well by state standards. Only she hasn't had a pay raise in five years, and doesn't feel that the $38,000 salary is enough to pay the bills. In a sense, she is making significantly less than in the past. She is also making less than the average starting teacher's salary of $39,000, let alone the average of $54,000.

Linda's tale is a familiar one among public school teachers who are leaving to pursue better-paying careers. Especially in a tough economy, money talks. But she is lucky that she is doing as well as she is. Some of us who choose to teach in private schools are making significantly less than that with just as much experience or more. She is choosing to pursue a nursing degree and earn $24,000 a year more. Not all of us are able to do so.

DeRagnaucourt also talks about how much she loves and respects her students but doesn't get that same love and respect in return from administration. Teachers don't always know their course load until just before school starts. Some find out only a day or a week prior to the first day of school that they even have a job. And then administration wonders why they don't seem so prepared?

Teaching is not a 9-5 job. It is not something that you can just walk in and do without careful thought and preparation. Every subject is different. Even if you are teaching the same subject, a different grade level is a world apart. And then within those grades is an entire spectrum of abilities and learning disabilities.

Teachers are getting less and less assistance with any difficulties in their classroom. For some it may be a disruptive student who has behavior problems. For others it is learning disabilities or other issues that require more intervention than one teacher can do by herself. In the private schools, unless you have a strong support staff on the payroll, forget about getting the help you really need from the districts.

Teaching is something so many of us love. Like Linda, we feel fulfilled when we see that "Aha!" moment shining in a child's eyes. We thrive on hearing "thank you" and watching the fruits of our labors. But with the lack of consistent, competitive compensation for our skills and help from administration, it becomes harder and harder to justify the stress.

Sources:

Grumbrecht, Jamie. "Why one good teacher decided to quit," CNN