Residency & Retention

Blogger Mike Antonucci wonders why the big NCTAF report on teacher retention leaves out one key factor -- residency requirements:  "The NCTAF researchers analyzed 59 variables that may affect teacher turnover, including age, race/ethnicity, experience, grade level, salary, enrollment, student poverty, and student academic performance," says Atonucci (Teacher Turnover Study Examines 59 Variables, Misses One).  "How strange, then, that the report doesn't mention one critical factor in teacher turnover that is very rare, but exists in both Chicago and Milwaukee - a residency requirement for teachers."  He argues that researchers would have found some impact, most probably a higher rate of attrition in cities with residency requirements.  What do you think?

Comments

It is too bad the study does not have this stat. It is an important one, if they left because of this.

Does anyone know if that study looked at impact of marriage status and child bearing/child rearing on teacher turnover as it intersects class, education, and household income?

[George Schmidt]

A good place to study high school patterns would be the annual high school job fair, held in January or early February at the College of DuPage and featuring the top suburban high schools in the Chicago area.

Nobody out of the thousands of prospective teachers at the thing thinks about teaching in Chicago. The reasons are several, but one of the biggest is the residency requirement. I've attended three of these things over the past four years.

It's worth the time for reporters to learn more about how the gap between city and suburb is widening. And this isn't only the gap between the area's most affluent schools and Chicago. Schools like Morton and the Provisos are there, too.

[Bill Sherlock]

Why wouldn't a CPS teacher want to live in the city and take advantage of its fine public school system?

I recall that former CPS Superintendent Joseph Hannon sent his daughter to Whitney Young HS back in the '70s.

The irony of the policy is that teachers have been priced out of the city for the most part, with very little exception. What's a struggling new teacher to do - even one committed to the cause, etc.?

As I watch teachers who are truly gifted and deeply committed to urban kids being "outed" and forced into suburban districts, it's hard not to be outraged.

There was such hope for a reversal of this policy. What happened???

This is not only a major issue for those who leave but also how many never apply to teach in Chicago to begin with because of this rule?

If you are a daring individual (and what CPS teacher isn't?!), you can get a house in some parts of Chicago for less than $100,000. You just have to hope for the best that the neighborhood will improve, as those are the ones that are gang infested with flashing blue cameras on every corner. But then, that is what being an urban pioneer is all about.

Give me a break. I just did a search in a Chicago Real Estate engine and found only 150 1 bedroom condos available under 100k. That includes condos that need work done.

The fact is, Chicago real estate has gone up over 100% in the past 4 years. It is just bad timing for a new teacher and first time homebuyer. I read an article in the Tribune about a shortage of nurses in Chicago. The number 1 reason was housing. The article said nurses can not afford to live in the city. Here is the kicker. Their average salary was only 80K. Those poor nurses. At least they have a choice.

[George Schmidt]

every time some orthodox Ayn Randist carps about where teachers send their kids to school, my dander gets up.

Arne Duncan and his wife are sending their children to Chicago public schools.

One of mine just finished high school, a second just finished kindergarten, and a third is on the way to elementary school.

BUT...

Paul Vallas sent the little Vallases to Chicago Christian because Sharon Vallas was a very devout evangelical (not Orthodox) Christian.

In any of those cases, what business is or was it of yours?

If you want to know how my eldest did at CPS, contact me off list. Even the most "data driven" hack couldn't deny the numbers, and much of it is thanks to CPS. One of the things I was most interested in (since I taught it) was Advanced Placement, and there (pending the last scores, coming next month) we seem to be looking at a perfect Ten (ten AP tests passed with, mostly, score of "5" our of ten taken).

There are very few schools even in Chicago's wealthiest suburbs that have students that can take that many AP classes, and fewer that can cite students who have passed as many across the range from English (both versions) to Statistics and Calculus. That's CPS today (and was 20 years ago, before salvation came via mayoral control).

Those out-of-date one liners about who does or doesn't send the kids to CPS are simply not worth much ink today.

The original teacher bashing Chicago Reporter "study" claiming to show that even CPS teachers didn't send our kids to CPS was debunked almost as soon as it came out, but that's been ignored since.

And besides, everyone should support a family's right to send the child to religious school or private school (at the family's full expense) if devotion requires.

Truly, it's none of your business where we send our kids to school, and none of the public's. If a family wants to send the kids to the Lakeview Buddhist center, to the local synagogue, to the Albany Park Muslim center, or to any of a hundred Christian schools (not all Roman Catholic), fine. Someone pays, but not the taxpayer.

But for the record, the old urban myths never were true, and are even less true now.

[Brian]

I had a job at a top notch suburban high school and made more than $ 10,000 of what I made in my first year at CPS. The reason I left the school and took a job in the CPS was because I had been a lawyer for 10 years prior to teaching and could afford it. I wanted to live in the city and not commute. However, if I didn't have the savings that I do, there's no way I would have chosen to teach in the city. I was treated much more professionally at the suburban school, had better administrative support, better benefits for my family, and far less paperwork. I won't go into the nitty gritty details, but I can understand why teachers want to leave the CPS.

George - I don't think anyone is questioning teachers' rights to send their kids to the school of their choice. I think, rather, most people think it's interesting. And, I'd say that choices are related to perceptions of CPS as a viable option for their children.

[JohnMarshall]

to 8:55 Did you receive masters' credit on the pay scale in the suburbs for your JD degree? It has always amazed me that teachers with MDs and JDs (yes, we have them) can not get a salary lane/upgrade but we accept administrative (hello NOVA)degrees from questionable schools.

can;t get one for religion either.

I also don't think people get their dander up about people sending their children to different types of schools. I do think, though, that the constant harping about the evils of magnet or SE schools by someone who sent his child there seems a little hypocritical, not matter how one tries to spin it.

[Brian]

to 2:36

In the suburbs, I did get Master's credit for my JD.

Of course, the city sees no value in what it brings to my students to have been a lawyer for 10 years and the knowledge that comes with a JD, so I get no credit for it . . .

If I wasn't financially secure, I wouldn't put up with the CPS. I'm not afraid to tell my principal, "No," because I'm not worried about being pink slipped. I can afford to be unemployed for a while, and I have the credentials to find another job. The ability to say "no" really is a stress reliever. I really enjoy saying "no" when I'm asked to do something without being paid for it. I love my kids and work hard for them, but I won't let myself be abused just because something is for the good of the children. I notice young teachers who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefits of the kids, and I don't think that's good for anybody because I believe it leads to burn out and leaving the profession. Teachers need to learn to say "no." I don't see policemen and firemen working uncompensated overtime just for the good of the community. I've known police officers and emergency personnel who love their communities as much as we love our kids. But believe me, they're compensated for working extra hours. They know when to say, "no."

I agree with Brian, and the tool used to manipulate teachers is shame.

They treat teachers as if they are purely mercenary creatures, their devotion to children and the profession questioned, and it cows many people of conscience, so they keep saying yes, right up until they burn out, go broke or it affects their own family relationships.

This is why one of the biggest weapons they have against us are "Warning Resolutions" in the Board Report. Even if they don't say in the report what they are 'sanctioning' you for, it is humiliating just to be named, because the implication is that you have done something terribly wrong, and most teachers (sorry, cynics, but yes - most teachers) are aware of the fact that they are in loco parentis and they are modeling behavior for children who may not always have consisent access to adults upon whom they can rely.

I don't know what the answer is, and the drumbeat is already sounding down the road as contract negotiations begin again.

In my 20+ years as a teacher and administrator in CPS, I have rarely had large groups of teachers refuse to do something that an administrator asked them to do for students.
I've heard principals and APs complain about how their teachers are clock-watchers and are unwilling to do anything, but--having been in some pretty disfuctional schools and some pretty functional ones--I have almost never seen that. Are there some who do not see teaching as a profession? Of course there are, but most teachers are there because they like kids.

I think most teachers got into teaching because they wanted to make a difference--and they like children. As long as they don't feel as if the administrator is taking advantage for his/her own glory, teachers are willing to do a helluva lot. Sometimes that needs to be acknowledged.

[teaching is aprofession]

7:38
Your comments make a lot of sense. I did a lot of free work with children BEFORE I was tenured. I did not become a teacher to make money but I need to be compensated for my time. No one is paying us for child care or elder care when we stay late to work for free.

I have a friend who is a roofer. He cares about me and my wellbeing. When I needed a new roof, he gave me a price. I trusted him. I hired him. I paid him.

I have a friend who is heating and air. When my furnace needed replacing, I gave him a call. He gave me an estimate. I hired him. I paid him.

When a fellow teacher came up with a plan to help students with their homework after school, he asked me to volunteer. I turned him down.

Is my time of less value than the roofer or mechanic? If we don't place a value on our skills, how can we expect anyone else to?

Like the economically independent attorney who was not a hostage to salary and intimidating administrators, I too became a teacher while enjoying economic freedom. What I discovered as a teacher in the existing structure of education was that for teachers to remain in the system, teachers need to adapt to abusive work conditions, accepting in silence whatever they are dealt and justifying the system for the abuse in order to remain teachers and to create a sense of self dignity. The advice I received from veteran and tenured teachers regarding student behavior, student work expectation, and working long unpaid hours at home as an expectation in the profession of teaching was unbelievable. Keep the behavior reports down to a bare minimum so as not to draw attention to myself, lower my expectations in outcomes for class lessons so that I can give my students good grades, and I shouldn’t be teaching if working daily unpaid hours after school at home was a problem.

Teachers are expected to work pro bono for the BOE, as a requirement. It is not an option if a teacher wants to keep the job. The veteran teachers have accepted it and pass that expectation on to new teachers. I was hired to work the school day, which was the school hours, but I quickly learned about the unwritten requirement for doing the work needed to prepare for my classes and assessing my students at home on my time and my family’s time.

As another poster posted that he/she has to pay, without exception, for all services needed. I believe most working people do also, as do I. The only profession where hours of work are mandated for pro bono is for teachers. I find this expectation, in the teaching institution, and acceptance by teachers and the public at large, phenomenal in a country where slavery has been abolished. The only reason that I can explain why teachers accept being forced to donate their time and give up their personal freedom is that they are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

http://www.womensaccounts.com/loving_an_abuser_stockholm_syndrome.html

"Stockholm Syndrome (SS) can also be found in family, romantic, and interpersonal relationships. The abuser may be a husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, father or mother, or any other role in which the abuser is in a position of control or authority.

It’s important to understand the components of Stockholm Syndrome as they relate to abusive and controlling relationships. Once the syndrome is understood, it’s easier to understand why victims support, love, and even defend their abusers and controllers

Every syndrome has symptoms or behaviors and Stockholm Syndrome is no exception. While a clear-cut list has not been established due to varying opinions by researchers and experts, several of these features will be present:
• Positive feelings by the victim toward the abuser/controller
• Negative feelings by the victim toward family, friends, or authorities trying to rescue/support them or win their release
• Support of the abuser’s reasons and behaviors
• Positive feelings by the abuser toward the victim
• Supportive behaviors by the victim, at times helping the abuser
• Inability to engage in behaviors that may assist in their release or detachment

Stockholm Syndrome doesn’t occur in every hostage or abusive situation. In another bank robbery involving hostages, after terrorizing patrons and employees for many hours, a police sharpshooter shot and wounded the terrorizing bank robber. After he hit the floor, two women picked him up and physically held him up to the window for another shot. As you can see, the length of time one is exposed to abuse/control and other factors are certainly involved

It has been found that four situations or conditions are present that serve as a foundation for the development of Stockholm Syndrome. These four situations can be found in hostage, severe abuse, and abusive relationships:
• The presence of a perceived threat to one’s physical or psychological survival and the belief that the abuser would carry out the threat.
• The presence of a perceived small kindness from the abuser to the victim
• Isolation from perspectives other than those of the abuser
• The perceived inability to escape the situation"

Teachers, I hope your union can help improve your working conditions.

Thank you. I hope our union can help improve our working conditions too. The problems are these: merit pay, charters, biased standardized tests, NCLB. These things will not help the teacher in a general neighborhood school make a convincing arguement that changes in the working conditions of teachers are necessary immediately.

[gail gray]

I read in a newspaper 3-4 months back (probably Chic. Tribune) that the IL legislature voted on eliminating the teacher residency requirement. As I recall, the IL State representatives voted unanimously to remove this requirement. The ruling then went to the IL Senate. I haven't heard anything about this action since then. Does anyone know anything else about this?

[Judith]

For the union to improve working conditions, each school needs to hire a delegate who will stand up to the principal, not curry favor to improve their own situation. AND the staff and faculty need to be willing to stand up behind the delegate; don't expect him/her to do your dirty work for you. After all--the union is only as strong as its members.