Posted on 07/29/2012 2:05:32 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Looking to boost the quality of science education, Florida has just made it tougher for aspiring teachers to pass required certification exams.
But the move to ensure that would-be science teachers know their subjects well could worsen Florida's shortage of science teachers. That could leave middle and high schools scrambling even more to find instructors for biology, chemistry, Earth-space science, general science and physics classes.
.... The State Board of Education this month bumped up the scores needed to pass the teacher-certification exams in those five science fields. As a result, the passing rates for first-time exam takers are expected to drop sharply.
The passing rate for the biology-teacher certification exam, for example, is predicted to fall from 87 percent to 68 percent, the Florida Department of Education said. The rate for the middle-school general-science exam is projected to fall from 78 percent to 58 percent.
"Of course, we applaud anything that increases rigor," said Sherry Southerland, a science-education professor at Florida State University and co-director of FSU-Teach, a program that aims to train more math and science teachers.
But middle- and high-school science teachers are always on Florida's list of "critical teacher-shortage areas," meaning there aren't enough of them to fill all the open jobs.
Tougher certification exams "will only exacerbate the problem," Southerland said.....
....State test data make it clear Florida teacher-preparation programs train relatively few new science teachers. Last year, 611 people took the biology-certification exam, for example, compared with more than 1,600 who took the exam to teach middle- or high-school social-studies classes.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.orlandosentinel.com ...
WTF is your problem?? Most certification requirements ARE ludicrous. The idea that an experienced technical professional needs to go back to school for two years in order to teach is laughable. What is needed is an apprentice-type program in which the prospective teacher works under/with an experienced teacher for a school year.
I spent my formative years closely associated with "the ed biz". My mom taught school for forty years, so from 1st grade to 12th, I LIVED the ed biz.
The problem is the parents.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The problem is government education is socialist-entitlement education.
Teachers are always blaming the parents
The best thing anyone who is really concerned about education and the nation’s children is to advise parents to remove their children from the government’s godless socialist-entitlement schools IMMEDIATELY
The teacher’s union will never allow teachers to be paid varying rates according to the subject they teach. Drama teachers must have the same salary as calculus teachers given same seniority, dontcha know.
IMO, STEM teachers need to be paid more, at the expense of other liberal art teachers.
That is a poorly written article that conflates several issues:
* The usage of federal money to hire STEM
* The policitization of STEM subjects as soundpieces that don’t actually teach real STEM, but instead hide behind the veneer of ‘science’ to deliver political messages
* Further politicization to hire presumably unqualified people to push an agenda
None of that article says anything about STEM itself, as uncorrupted by Obama. (Does anyone really think any more calculus classes will be taught as a result of the 100M initiative?)
We do need more STEM. Political soundpieces aren’t “STEM” even if Obama calls them that.
I have taken the math, physical science, physics, and Elementary education Praxis II tests, and passed them all on the first attempt. I was educated in the 70’s and 80’s in public schools and I believe i got a great education. I have seen young teachers attempt the elementary praxis many times and fail it multiple times. These exams are not difficult but these young liberal kids struggle with them. Praxis test prep is a huge industry because so many or our new college grads are so unprepared. They can quote you anything on this social justice crap but they can’t locate a country on a map or perform elementary math problems. Raising the score criteria won’t help with teacher qualification, getting them a real unindoctrinating education will. Our colleges and universities are simply liberal indoctrination centers.
You got it. When I taught in the "inner-city" I had 40+ on my roster but only about 25 ever showed up, and never all 25 at once. At the start of the year I would call roll. "Nervidious Sping?" "Naw, Mr. Assault, Nervus done move to Calfonia three year go." "Stervalonia Smith?" "Naw, Smiff she daid. She got shot cold by her daddy fo eatin he potato chips. Dinchoo hear?" "El-Compulus Lash?" "Naw, he in prison fo shootin dat poleeceman. Member?" And so on.
So then I report the fifteen kids who aren't going to ever show up to the office and they say, essentially, "We don't want to hear it. Keep marking them absent. We really don't know for sure where these kids are officially yet and we probably won't know until the end of the year. If then. Might at three four years to find out for sure."
I told other teachers and they gave me the answer. "$$$$$s"
Years ago I was working full time and wanted to get into teaching. I whined to a friend of mine, who also has a Ph.D. that I couldn't find a way. he looked at me and said something I will never forget "If you want it bad enough, you will find a way." He was right, I found a way.
apparently you don't want it bad enough, or you don't care enough, because if you really wanted to teach, like me, you would find a way.
Instead of complaining that the requirements are ludicrous you would just do it. You found a way to get your Ph.D. Now I challenge you, find a way.
Only the lazy parents that don't really care and are more interested in whining rather than raising good kids.
Translation: One voting mob of bullies replaces the old group of voting mob bullies and shoves their equally non-neutral political, cultural, and religious worldview down the throats of other people's children and forces the taxpayer to pay for this abomination.
Sorry....I will continue to urge parents to remove their children from the government's godless and socialist-entitlment K-12 indoctrination centers, work to put as many teachers out of job and into the private market as possible, and permanently close down these prison-like, First Amendment ,and freedom of conscience cesspools of ignorance ( misnamed “schools”).
“With lax standards K-12, everyone assumes they’re college material.”
You’ll have to forgive me, I was in a hurry due to an upcoming watch I had to perform.
I work in Afghanistan and I pop on and off this computer with other things going on.
Thanks for the schooling.
Most certification requirements ARE ludicrous.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That others will cooperate with ludicrous doesn’t make the ludicrous any less ludicrous. ( Is a “duh” needed here?)
Government schools are ludicrous because they are godless socialist-entitlements. One of the predictable outcomes of socialism is ludicrous policies and practices.
Go onto any college campus, and you will see people teaching freshman math, physics, chemistry, etc, who have never taken an "ed" course. Why is it that somebody qualified to teach college freshmen is unqualified to teach HS seniors?
Simply decree that any college instructor who has taught freshman courses for two years with good results is qualified to teach what his degree is in, in high school. You immediately give an alternate career to college instructors who don't make tenure.
Alternately, bus HS students to the local community college for their junior/senior year science classes.
How about teaching at community college?
My local school district gives HS juniors and seniors the option of taking courses at the local community college. This bypasses the ed establishment's requirements.
An incompetent science teacher is worse than not teacher.
Being maleducated is worse than being uneducated.
Upstate NY is nothing like New York City, although the winters can be snowy.
Maybe...just maybe, the reason these classes that you described are so difficult to manage is that most of these kids should be completely finished with formal education by the age of 13 and out into apprenticeships doing meaningful **work**.
Government schools look like prisons. In many ways they treat children ( whose only crime was being born) like prisoners. While in their prison-like “schools” all of their First Amendment Rights are either completely crushed or severely regulated and suppressed by government bureaucrats. Then, when they manifest prison social pathology the clueless government teachers blame the parents, the kids, taxpayers, legislators, ....everyone but themselves for cooperating for a system that crushes the spirit.
If our Founding Fathers were to be resurrected today they would be **HORRIFIED** to see how we treat children in the common, prison-like, government, socialist-entitlement school! When they advocated education for the nation's children, they likely had their **own** educations in mind. This included, homeschooling, private tutoring, a few years of one-room schooling organized by neighbors, dame schools, Sunday schools, and ( for those with the ability and wealth) small residential academies in the homes of high respected tutors to prepare for entrance into college as **young** teens.
They would be much more horrified at the behavior of the kids outside of school and their parents all the time.
When I taught, there was only one door the kids could come in and it was guarded by a city policeman. Why? To keep armed kids (5th to 12th grade) and armed adult drug dealers from coming in. Some got in anyway. That was the only exit during the day, as well. This was illegal since the fire doors were locked. The fire dept. did not enforce it. Why? If the doors (many) were unguarded, the kids would pop the doors open and let anyone in who wanted to come in.
Not all public schools are that way. Where I live, the kids are pretty much college bound and the parents are involved, so the craziness of the big city schools is not needed.
While in their prison-like “schools” all of their First Amendment Rights are either completely crushed or severely regulated and suppressed by government bureaucrats. Then, when they manifest prison social pathology the clueless government teachers blame the parents, the kids, taxpayers, legislators, ....everyone but themselves for cooperating for a system that crushes the spirit.
Uh, the teachers in the city schools I taught at were generally very good and some even excellent. Put them in a decent school and they would rock.
What ruined the kids was the government stupidity that helped ruin the kids' parents with their ignorant welfare system.
Sheesh, and I thought the bodies had to be warm. Not!
You guys still have some really screwy gun laws. I can carry in any city in my state.
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