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April 14, 2000 Special Report: Iowa
faces teacher shortage; By
Chris Belts DES MOINES, Iowa--Iowa faces an increasing challenge in providing quality classroom education to its kids. Teacher shortages in the state's special education and other areas threaten to jeopardize Iowa's proud educational tradition. "We have a major crisis facing Iowa that is going to hit with full force with in the next four or five years," State Rep. Philip Wise, D-Keokuk, said. "We (Iowa Legislature) seem intent upon managing by crisis. Gov. (Tom) Vilsack did propose some modest first steps with respect to the issue of teacher shortage, and so far the Legislature is not even responding favorably to those." Jamie Ferrare, education dean at Drake, agreed. "I don't know that Iowa has really taken the initiative. There are certain things that the state of Iowa is doing, and I give them credit for that, but they certainly don't match yet what I think some other states are going to be doing or haven't been doing all ready," Ferrare said. "We've got critical shortages in critical areas. I expect there will be shortages in a lot of different areas over the next three or four years." "I am not sure the state government has a plan to address that right now," Ferrare said. Information provided via e-mail by Norma Lynch, Iowa Department of Education consultant, said the teacher shortages are primarily in special education and high school industrial and math classes. These shortages within special education include multi-categorical resource, which is where a teacher has a classroom with kids of multiple learning disabilities, mental disabilities, moderate to profoundly handicapped, other learning disabilities, hearing impaired, visually impaired, and kindergarten through six grade physically handicapped. Outside of special education, where teachers must meet further certification outside of just a college degree, shortages are in English as a second language, kindergarten through sixth grade reading, and grades 7-12 in primarily industrial and math areas. Wise said rural areas will see the pinch first. "They're going to be the first ones hit hard by this. In fact, I would suppose if we don't do something we are going to literally force the closure of small rural schools," Wise said. "Those folks in those small rural districts are simply going to be unable to hire teachers to staff their schools." The problem inherent in teacher shortages in Iowa is complicated. With the profession having low salaries and limited opportunities for promotion, qualified teachers in math likely will enter different fields with higher salaries. Iowa's 38th ranking in teacher pay, according to State Rep. Betty Grundberg, R-Des Moines, causes many education graduates to look elsewhere. Teachers are not filling the important shortage areas, said Grundberg. "Encouraging our students who go into teaching to go into teaching into those shortage areas," Grundberg said on what should be done. Grundberg, chairperson of the House Education Committee, said student awareness of the shortage areas is the first step toward filling key teacher positions. Grundberg said there is an overabundance of elementary teachers in Iowa and that Iowa needs to take steps to direct college undergraduates to where job openings are located. Democrats in the Legislature and Vilsack want to increase funding for teachers by way of potential loans to students who are willing to specialize in shortage areas. Other proposals, which have not been passed, include rewarding teacher achievement and giving permanent substitute licenses to retired teachers. Vilsack wanted to increase forgivable loan funding by $350,000 to $600,000, according to Wise. "It seems very unlikely that those are going to be enacted by this General Assembly," Wise said. Grundberg sees other problems than just teacher shortages. "Rural schools are in trouble, not because of a lack of teachers, as much as it is for a lot of other things," said Grundberg. "We are graduating many more teachers in Iowa than we could ever use, primarily because we are graduating more elementary teachers." She points to the lack of pupils in smaller Iowa districts with 13 districts with under 200 kids in kindergarten through high school. With some classes having 11 students or less, it is hard to offer a full range of needed high school classes, Grundberg said. In special education, according to John Lee, Iowa Department of Education administrative assistant for special education fiscal and data services, there is an abundance of conditionally licensed special education teachers in Iowa in response to the shortage. Information received from Lee over e-mail said that the federal count of kids with learning disabilities under 21, in Iowa, was 73,079 as of last December. Of the 3,789 full-time-equivalency teachers that instructed kids of school age in special education, 15 percent were only conditional. Conditionally licensed teachers, who can have temporary licenses up to three years, in special education need further training, Lee said. "We are always going to have those conditionals there," he said. "That percentage kind of surprised me." Conditionals have teaching licenses for two-year increments. Lee does not see much changing in the near future. "It will be status quo, no real change until we have an influx of funding," Lee said. How to combat the frustration special education teachers feel, lack of respect for the teaching profession, the better opportunities outside of Iowa and low salaries are all problems contributing to the teacher shortage. Math teacher Janelle Kockler of Goodrell middle school in Des Moines said a lack of teacher respect and stress dissipates interest from qualified candidates. "You are working with 120 kids a day, 25 people at a time, it's kind of like 25 kids yelling at you all at the same time, all wanting your attention, so it's very high stress. YouÕre on a very tight schedule as far as bell to bell. We always laugh that we don't get to go to have a coffee break when we want or we don't even get the chance to go to the bathroom when we want to go, because we are on such a tight schedule," Kockler said. "Whenever you say you're a teacher, people will say 'oh, you get three months off..., you're done at 2:45 in the afternoon when the kids leave'," Kockler said on how she perceives other peoples' opinions to be. "It is kind of like, 'While you don't do anything, you work short days'," she said. "I think more people might consider going into it if it was a more respected career," Kockler said. "I said someday I just might be ready for a cubicle where I just sit with a computer all day, and I don't have those 25 (students) on me all the time." Anne Israel, sophomore education student at Drake, also said the profession is disrespected. "Teachers, really, honestly, don't get the respect they deserve," Israel said. She said teachers face a more difficult situation as more knowledge is understood about how kids learn. Education majors must be able to apply different teaching techniques to include all children, most of whom do not retain information the same way, she said. "A lot of the time people get the misconception that teachers are baby-sitters," Israel said, stressing a common complaint by teachers who feel disrespected even when they have to make up for what isn't taught at home. Matt Showman, a junior education major at Drake, sees this as adding to the curriculum itself. "Not only do you have to teach curricular areas, now you have to teach anger management and sex education and all these different things that teachers were never supposed to teach. That's what the home did," Showman said. Parents' nonchalant attitude and disrespect are an irritant to Kockler. "I think it has to be respect from parents," Kockler said on who needs the biggest attitude adjustment. Rep. Wise also sees this concern. "We have lots of middle class and upper middle class parents who don't seem to have the time to be bothered with their own children, and they expect the schools to do it alone without the kind of support and reinforcement at home. That's a prescription for failure," Wise said. "The level of involvement by parents in the lives of their kids and the education of their kids has declined substantially," said Wise, who was a government teacher and department chairperson at Keokuk High School and is a member of the Keokuk Education Association. Israel said she feels the added responsibility of teaching should be more widely understood. "Just inform people, get the knowledge out there that there is more to teaching than meets the eye," Israel said. She plans to leave Iowa after a possible brief stay teaching in the state after her graduation in May 2002. "I don't want to stay here when I graduate, because I have lived here. I want to go south where it's warm," Israel said. "People are going to go where the money is and where the benefits are." Ferrare said recruiters are invading Iowa to take qualified teachers to meet their own shortages. Other states have zeroed in on Iowa, most of whom have more marketable forces that Iowa doesn't. "Those states are growing, ours is not. There are more jobs opportunities out there and greater flexibility," Ferrare said. Wise warned of the out-of-state recruiters. "We know for a fact that there are recruiters from states, particularly in the West and Southwest, and Texas, Nevada, California, that are coming to Iowa. (They're) coming to Iowa campuses and hiring graduates right out of school, offering them signing bonuses. We simply cannot allow that to continue, we have to be able to compete," Wise said. With the big shortages in special education and the requirements and initiative that it requires, the shortfall doesn't look to made up soon. Being able to sit in classrooms with children who have learning disabilities takes a particular interest, Israel said. "You have to have that certain knack to be a special education teacher," Israel said. "You have to have patience. I don't think I could handle it, seeing those students struggle as much as they do." The teacher shortages in math and industrial technology will continue as long as the discrepancy between salaries continue, Kockler said. |