As Hoosiers decide how they will vote this fall, they should pay special attention to what candidates are saying about education.
Don’t let them get away with telling us that everything is just fine. Objective sources say it’s not.
A key problem facing Indiana involves how to attract and keep good teachers.
We’ve heard a lot about teacher shortages. The problem is real — and it’s nationwide, not just a Hoosier headache.
But Indiana may be having a harder time than most states with teacher recruitment.
One month ago, the Learning Policy Institute released its “teacher attractiveness ratings.”
Indiana ranked fourth from the bottom in teacher attractiveness. Only Colorado, Arizona and Texas rated lower.
The Learning Policy Institute may not necessarily tell the whole story about education in Indiana, but Hoosiers should pay attention, because poor “report cards” damage our reputation.
The institute based its ratings on four main factors — compensation, teacher turnover, working conditions and qualifications.
Indiana scored below the national average on these key measurements:
• starting salary — the U.S. average is $36,141; in Indiana it’s $34,696.
• pupil-teacher ratio — the U.S. average is 16 students for every teacher; in Indiana its 18-to-1.
• testing-related job insecurity — the U.S. average finds 12 percent of teachers are worried that low testing scores could threaten their jobs; in Indiana, a whopping 26 percent of teachers fear the fallout from standard tests such as the unpopular ISTEP exams.
• inexperienced teachers — the U.S. average stands at 12.6 percent; in Indiana it’s 14.8 percent.
The institute says retirements account for fewer than one-third of teachers who leave their profession. Most teachers list some type of dissatisfaction as affecting their decisions to leave.
According to the institute, “administrative support is the factor most consistently associated with teachers’ decisions to stay in or leave a school. … teachers who find their administrators to be unsupportive are more than twice as likely to leave as those who feel well-supported.”
Decisions affecting teacher satisfaction will be made by many of the candidates on your ballot this fall — from governor to state legislators to school board members. Statewide leaders decide on the funding available to schools and statewide testing. Local school board members make hiring decisions about administrators who create the working atmospheres in their buildings.
Make sure your state and local candidates are taking education seriously before giving them your votes. We need leaders who can do better for Indiana than ranking 47th among the states in teacher attractiveness.