[ TEACHER STRIKE ]
Less quantity, With all the talk of "professional development" surrounding the just-approved public school teachers contract, parents may have the impression their kids' teachers must now earn more advanced academic credits to move up the pay scale.
more quality in
teacher training
Credits fewer, course work
greater in the new professional
development dealBy Christine Donnelly
Star-Bulletin
Actually, fewer credits are required than under the old pact, but the courses accepted will be more demanding and useful back in the classroom, insists the head of Hawaii's public schools.
"The number of credits may be lower, but the amount of work involved will be greater because the nature of professional development has simply become far more rigorous than what was previously acceptable," said state schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu.
The term "professional development" refers to work teachers do outside the classroom to both increase their pay and advance their expertise. The academic credits can come from accredited university classes teachers pay for themselves or from internal Department of Education-designed classes, seminars and workshops that are usually cheaper but do not necessarily transfer outside the state of Hawaii.
Under the old system, a teacher could take just about any class or workshop and get credit for it, said LeMahieu. But now, he said, the Department of Education has designed a much more rigorous program requiring the classes "be truly job-embedded, based on best practices and something that the teacher can immediately apply in their classrooms."
Ray Hart, a fifth-grade teacher at Kamalii Elementary School, can attest to the intensity of the Department of Education's new professional development credits. He recently took a two-credit course that required him to create an online tutorial on using the Internet as a research tool. Hart spent 32 hours learning how to build a Web site and create the tutorial, then another 68 hours improving it, including having his students use and critique it.
"So it's not just a matter of seat time, that you sit through some seminar and get a credit," said Hart. "It's a lot more practical, something you can bring back to your students."
But Hart and other teachers said the more stringent professional development courses created or contracted by the Department of Education are not widely available at all schools, especially on the Neighbor Islands. Until they are, teachers will continue to have wide leeway in course selection, union officials said.
That's what worries parents such as John Friedman, who lives on Kauai and is president of the Hawaii State Parent Teacher Student Association. "With fewer credits required, it is more essential than ever that the advanced training be of the highest caliber and in the areas most needed in our schools, such as literacy," Friedman said. "I would certainly hope that some of the professional development be aimed at ensuring all students read at grade level by third grade."
And Friedman said advanced degrees, academic credits and certification should not be the only gauges of good teaching. "There are many, many ways in which teachers can demonstrate their excellence. They also deserve to be rewarded," he said.
Some teachers agreed, but said providing financial incentives for teachers to continue their education -- as the new contract does -- was a significant breakthrough in Hawaii's bid to attract and retain good teachers amid a nationwide teachers' shortage.
Hawaii's teacher salaries move along a grid with vertical and horizontal legs. The vertical line, called "steps," is based on years of experience, or seniority. The horizontal leg, called "class," is based on teachers earning academic credits beyond a bachelor's degree.
It used to take 96 credits to move all the way across the six classes; that drops to 75 under the new contract. And teachers can move two classes a year, rather than just one.
Beginning teachers get the greatest advantage, because the new contract requires 15 credits, rather than 30, to move from Class One to Class Two, for a 7.5 percent pay increase. The number of credits required to move from class five to class six also drops, from 21 to 15 credits, for a 6 percent pay raise. Each movement in between -- classes two through five -- requires 15 credits and brings a 4 percent pay increase. The total salary increase from class one to class six is 25.5 percentage points, which with compounding equals a more than 28 percent increase in pay.
Combined with 3 percent and 6 percent pay differentials, respectively, for teachers with master's degrees or doctorates, and a $5,000-a-year bonus for teachers who are nationally certified, the compressed class movements are a big plus, said Hart.
"It's going to help us recruit, let me tell you," he said. "It will motivate teachers to spend their own money to take classes because they'll see their investment pay off (in higher salaries) much quicker."
And while the incentive for teachers may be financial, students will gain, too, he said.
"The knowledge gets passed down, for sure," he said. "The more you know, the better you teach."down, for sure," he said. "The more you know, the better you teach."
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