I’m leery of getting hit with a major tax increase to level up 65 salaries, but I feel as though continuity might be key for the state of education in this city and consolidation could create that.
If I were king, I would start with clearing the Board out with new people who want radical change with a focus on fiscal responsibility and improvement. I’d hire a new super with previous experience. Maybe drag someone out of retirement who is old school and not enamored with new and expensive curricula and “best practices”. I’d be looking for someone who wants to strip it bare and build it back only as big as needed. Let’s go Little House on the Prairie style education- minus the student beatings. Slash the JEH staff in half. Salaries cut. I’m not worried about “will we be competitive if we don’t pay a ton?” Number one- people will work for us. Great people work in jobs where they possibly could make more elsewhere. Number two- folks are leaving this district in droves anyway. Zero tolerance for the constant consulting $$$ contracts. Do it in house or forget about it. Obvious exceptions are ok. Number three- maybe we principal and admin staff share. Each school has VP/AP, principals oversee two schools. New focus on bare bones learning. Renewed focus on expected behavior and repercussions. Students and teachers deserve to feel safe. Zero tolerance. Or .5 tolerance. Put parents on warning- talk to your kids about behavior, we aren’t playing anymore. If your kid acts up, you come and get them. You have to miss work? Well, we aren’t a day care and we cannot afford disruption! Let teachers be free to create units to fulfill learning requirements. This is what they are good at. Focus on 3Rs. Slash and burn because we need all excess funds to repair buildings (and to pay for the ridiculous building that we can’t afford and now apparently won’t be much nicer than any other building)- I digress. Move to year round schooling. It’s radical, but if someone is correct that only 50% of Kingsley 1st graders can read- are we not in need of radical change??? Move to mandatory after school tutoring programs for anyone not meeting grade level requirements. Slashing and burning and eliminating everything not essential can help pay for this. The reality is most families supplement extracurricular arts and sports anyway, and this town is rife with scholarships. We are in crisis, and this can be a five year plan for improvement, not forever.
I know this is radical/crazy and would be difficult, and there are union considerations, etc. Again, it’s if I were king.
Frankly, we should be so disgusted with the performance of this district that we should be willing to open charter schools which could operate this way. The first one could open in the BR building. We should be so disgusted with the performance of this district that we demand vouchers. Private schools can do it better and everyone should have the option, not just the rich. There is no excuse for why so many kids are so behind. Even considering that indeed- the absolute biggest factor of success is home environment. If the home sucks, then we need to keep the kids in school as much of the time as possible. Year round, 8 hours a day, etc. I mean, our society literally depends on us not producing uneducated masses. And our kids deserve better.
The Hayden School of Jazz Charter School could be visionary.
One quick note: They couldn't create a 20% increase in taxes even if they wanted to. Both Districts are statutorily bound to a maximum 5% increase per year. So it would have to happen over a period of time. I actually think a consolidation could slow the bleeding of both districts asking for 5% year over year for the rest of time, as they fund duplicate administrative apparatuses.
The issue of paying elementary teachers the same as HS teachers has come up before in FOIA Gras comments. Teachers' expertise is in education, and that means different things at different grade levels. However, it doesn't mean that a K teacher's expertise is less valuable than a HS teacher's expertise. Commenters have been quick to jump on, "well an AP Physics teacher should make more than an elementary teacher because the subject matter is more difficult." First, I'm betting most of us had more than one teacher in HS who definitely understood the material, but couldn't teach it to save their souls ("Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?" trope). More to the point, center education as the expertise, not the subject. A K teacher is taking a group of 5 year olds, many of them who have never been in a classroom before, and not only establishing norms for classroom behavior but ALSO teaching the basics of math, reading, etc. That is centering education. As Mary Alice Off commented already on this, look at a 5th grade teacher who not only has behavior issues from some students, but massively different levels of reading (math, etc.) ability and is teaching to all of these kids at the same time. An argument could be made that elementary teaching is more difficult than high school, and we should be making more money. Instead, can we just get rid of the pay gap and pay all educators more?
This idea must be explored —if we place education & Evanston kids at the center of our thinking. I know that a previous board (before things went haywire) worked with NU to explore this idea. A feasibility study maybe? As I understand it they explored different models —there are lots of ways you could “serve up” consolidation including hybrid models. We need to do that again —asap.
People worry about d65 harming 202 if this is done. I think we all need to realize that that harm is already occurring when a huge percentage of students show up in 9th grade unable to read, write and do math not even close to grade level. And I fear it’s only going to get worse…I mean these two boards just scrapped their joint literacy goals. They LITERALLY have no joint educational goals between the two districts. There’s no accountability….it’s a situation run amok!
I think the reality is that there are a large % of parents (maybe as many as half) that view D65 as non-existent and will send their kids to private K-8 school and then in 9th grade, send the kids to ETHS. I think that's fine and that's their prerogative (my kid is on this plan). At the same time, they'll advocate to "protect" D202 at all costs, at the expense of D65.
I think you're entitled to do this plan but if you advocate for it (which absolutely screws the kids that can't afford private school), I think you lose your "good liberal" card and it's time to take the "In this house.." sign out of your yard.
Another path is to keep your kid in D65, but utilize outside (costly) tutors as needed depending on your kid(s)' needs, quality at your specific school or teacher, etc. I know quite a few people going that route versus sending their kids to private school for a variety of reasons (less expensive, still want the neighborhood aspect, don't like the Catholic Church, etc.)
We had a very bad experience when our oldest kid was in Kindergarten and went this route. The tutor worked wonders for our child (the subsequent teachers for all of our kids have been great since then), but I remember thinking about how screwed some of the less fortunate kids in the class were going to be. At the end of the day, this other route will also create a gap between kids whose parents can afford expensive tutors and those that can't.
I think this is fundamentally the reason for the achievement gap .. people following incentives that are best for their kids and the material inequality (which is getting worse, by the way) being the driving force (as opposed to "white supremacy")
100%, Tom. Sadly, I now think that in Evanston that yard sign —and others —demonstrates that “in this house we feel good about ourselves by signaling our virtue” and very little else. Words without actions are meaningless. The hypocrisy here is deep.
Great piece, although I’m not sure I understand the argument that a single district means that the teachers must have the same pay. It’s a different job. Teaching high school requires different expertise. While the gap should be closed, I don’t see why you’d have to eliminate it.
I think there are a lot of ways to approach that issue and it doesn't have to be like a one time $20m bill - it can be graduated over some years. But I can't think of a compelling reason why we should pay a 9th grade science teacher 20% more than an 8th grade science teacher, for instance.
I would argue teaching middle and elementary requires an equally specific expertise. An elementary school teacher requires the same certification and educational degree as a high school teacher. The pay gap is astounding. As a school counselor and parent coming from a strong, resourced, thriving k-12 district in the Seattle area, I have had a really hard time wrapping my mind around the split districts here. For a city that seems equity minded, I just don’t see it in this districting model.
It makes absolutely no sense! CPS doesn't do this and neither does pretty much any other school District in the US. This system is a relic without much upside.
How certain are you about the national comparison? Most school districts in Illinois I'm anecdotally familiar with have the separate k-8 and high school districts. Your prior article about pay comparisons was on that topic unless I'm missing something
Fascinating. Maybe it’s because I’m from here and used to it, but that “feels” right to me. But I’m no expert and am all for higher pay for all teachers.
Teaching AP physics is easier in many respects. You have no behavioral management issues. All students are extremely disciplined and motivated. That’s why they are there. Now take a second grade classroom. You have students who have not learned to manage their emotions and therefore regulate their behaviors. Some have learned to read and some are at various stages of putting sounds and letters together. Go up to 5th grade and now the classroom strategies get even more challenging. Some students can read at the 8th grade level and some are struggling at the 1st grade level. Don’t get me started about how “ easy “ kindergarten teaching is.
I spoke with someone in the business who put it this way: If you teach AP Physics, you're probably teaching the same class a couple times per day. On top of that, after tenure, some of these folks make over $200k a year - pretty sweet gig - summer vacations off, same classes every few years. Vastly better than a college faculty job! No wonder these jobs never turn over (I want one now)
If Evanston really cares about our kids, we should be paying that second grade teacher just as much, if not more.
When the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 it required that a study be commissioned to report to President Johnson on integration issues in the school systems. The Coleman report came out two years later. Read it. It’s very informative. It should be required reading for anyone writing about education. One conclusion it reached is that “Home Life” is the greatest predictor of success in school
It has absolutely nothing to do with number of books and everything to do with parents purchasing books as an indicator that they prioritize education for their kids. These are largely problems a school district cannot solve. However - we can absolutely do better than we are doing now and if those kids don't have people at home that care, they should have advocates in the school and we the citizens should compensate them fairly!
I believe that teaching at the high school level requires having a subject matter major versus "just" a degree in education. That seems pretty significant to me. What I think is odd about the whole pay structure is that it does not differentiate between majors, which is why it is much harder to fill a high school math/chemistry position than many other high school positions.
I’m leery of getting hit with a major tax increase to level up 65 salaries, but I feel as though continuity might be key for the state of education in this city and consolidation could create that.
If I were king, I would start with clearing the Board out with new people who want radical change with a focus on fiscal responsibility and improvement. I’d hire a new super with previous experience. Maybe drag someone out of retirement who is old school and not enamored with new and expensive curricula and “best practices”. I’d be looking for someone who wants to strip it bare and build it back only as big as needed. Let’s go Little House on the Prairie style education- minus the student beatings. Slash the JEH staff in half. Salaries cut. I’m not worried about “will we be competitive if we don’t pay a ton?” Number one- people will work for us. Great people work in jobs where they possibly could make more elsewhere. Number two- folks are leaving this district in droves anyway. Zero tolerance for the constant consulting $$$ contracts. Do it in house or forget about it. Obvious exceptions are ok. Number three- maybe we principal and admin staff share. Each school has VP/AP, principals oversee two schools. New focus on bare bones learning. Renewed focus on expected behavior and repercussions. Students and teachers deserve to feel safe. Zero tolerance. Or .5 tolerance. Put parents on warning- talk to your kids about behavior, we aren’t playing anymore. If your kid acts up, you come and get them. You have to miss work? Well, we aren’t a day care and we cannot afford disruption! Let teachers be free to create units to fulfill learning requirements. This is what they are good at. Focus on 3Rs. Slash and burn because we need all excess funds to repair buildings (and to pay for the ridiculous building that we can’t afford and now apparently won’t be much nicer than any other building)- I digress. Move to year round schooling. It’s radical, but if someone is correct that only 50% of Kingsley 1st graders can read- are we not in need of radical change??? Move to mandatory after school tutoring programs for anyone not meeting grade level requirements. Slashing and burning and eliminating everything not essential can help pay for this. The reality is most families supplement extracurricular arts and sports anyway, and this town is rife with scholarships. We are in crisis, and this can be a five year plan for improvement, not forever.
I know this is radical/crazy and would be difficult, and there are union considerations, etc. Again, it’s if I were king.
Frankly, we should be so disgusted with the performance of this district that we should be willing to open charter schools which could operate this way. The first one could open in the BR building. We should be so disgusted with the performance of this district that we demand vouchers. Private schools can do it better and everyone should have the option, not just the rich. There is no excuse for why so many kids are so behind. Even considering that indeed- the absolute biggest factor of success is home environment. If the home sucks, then we need to keep the kids in school as much of the time as possible. Year round, 8 hours a day, etc. I mean, our society literally depends on us not producing uneducated masses. And our kids deserve better.
The Hayden School of Jazz Charter School could be visionary.
One quick note: They couldn't create a 20% increase in taxes even if they wanted to. Both Districts are statutorily bound to a maximum 5% increase per year. So it would have to happen over a period of time. I actually think a consolidation could slow the bleeding of both districts asking for 5% year over year for the rest of time, as they fund duplicate administrative apparatuses.
The issue of paying elementary teachers the same as HS teachers has come up before in FOIA Gras comments. Teachers' expertise is in education, and that means different things at different grade levels. However, it doesn't mean that a K teacher's expertise is less valuable than a HS teacher's expertise. Commenters have been quick to jump on, "well an AP Physics teacher should make more than an elementary teacher because the subject matter is more difficult." First, I'm betting most of us had more than one teacher in HS who definitely understood the material, but couldn't teach it to save their souls ("Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?" trope). More to the point, center education as the expertise, not the subject. A K teacher is taking a group of 5 year olds, many of them who have never been in a classroom before, and not only establishing norms for classroom behavior but ALSO teaching the basics of math, reading, etc. That is centering education. As Mary Alice Off commented already on this, look at a 5th grade teacher who not only has behavior issues from some students, but massively different levels of reading (math, etc.) ability and is teaching to all of these kids at the same time. An argument could be made that elementary teaching is more difficult than high school, and we should be making more money. Instead, can we just get rid of the pay gap and pay all educators more?
This idea must be explored —if we place education & Evanston kids at the center of our thinking. I know that a previous board (before things went haywire) worked with NU to explore this idea. A feasibility study maybe? As I understand it they explored different models —there are lots of ways you could “serve up” consolidation including hybrid models. We need to do that again —asap.
People worry about d65 harming 202 if this is done. I think we all need to realize that that harm is already occurring when a huge percentage of students show up in 9th grade unable to read, write and do math not even close to grade level. And I fear it’s only going to get worse…I mean these two boards just scrapped their joint literacy goals. They LITERALLY have no joint educational goals between the two districts. There’s no accountability….it’s a situation run amok!
I think the reality is that there are a large % of parents (maybe as many as half) that view D65 as non-existent and will send their kids to private K-8 school and then in 9th grade, send the kids to ETHS. I think that's fine and that's their prerogative (my kid is on this plan). At the same time, they'll advocate to "protect" D202 at all costs, at the expense of D65.
I think you're entitled to do this plan but if you advocate for it (which absolutely screws the kids that can't afford private school), I think you lose your "good liberal" card and it's time to take the "In this house.." sign out of your yard.
Another path is to keep your kid in D65, but utilize outside (costly) tutors as needed depending on your kid(s)' needs, quality at your specific school or teacher, etc. I know quite a few people going that route versus sending their kids to private school for a variety of reasons (less expensive, still want the neighborhood aspect, don't like the Catholic Church, etc.)
We had a very bad experience when our oldest kid was in Kindergarten and went this route. The tutor worked wonders for our child (the subsequent teachers for all of our kids have been great since then), but I remember thinking about how screwed some of the less fortunate kids in the class were going to be. At the end of the day, this other route will also create a gap between kids whose parents can afford expensive tutors and those that can't.
I think this is fundamentally the reason for the achievement gap .. people following incentives that are best for their kids and the material inequality (which is getting worse, by the way) being the driving force (as opposed to "white supremacy")
100%, Tom. Sadly, I now think that in Evanston that yard sign —and others —demonstrates that “in this house we feel good about ourselves by signaling our virtue” and very little else. Words without actions are meaningless. The hypocrisy here is deep.
Great piece, although I’m not sure I understand the argument that a single district means that the teachers must have the same pay. It’s a different job. Teaching high school requires different expertise. While the gap should be closed, I don’t see why you’d have to eliminate it.
I think there are a lot of ways to approach that issue and it doesn't have to be like a one time $20m bill - it can be graduated over some years. But I can't think of a compelling reason why we should pay a 9th grade science teacher 20% more than an 8th grade science teacher, for instance.
I would argue teaching middle and elementary requires an equally specific expertise. An elementary school teacher requires the same certification and educational degree as a high school teacher. The pay gap is astounding. As a school counselor and parent coming from a strong, resourced, thriving k-12 district in the Seattle area, I have had a really hard time wrapping my mind around the split districts here. For a city that seems equity minded, I just don’t see it in this districting model.
It makes absolutely no sense! CPS doesn't do this and neither does pretty much any other school District in the US. This system is a relic without much upside.
How certain are you about the national comparison? Most school districts in Illinois I'm anecdotally familiar with have the separate k-8 and high school districts. Your prior article about pay comparisons was on that topic unless I'm missing something
I can't even find another state that has K-8 vs HS Districts the way we do. I'm open minded, though, so if you know of any let me know.
I asked around and the only non-Chicago suburban place I could find with this same issue is in northern Rockford suburbs. Weird.
District 39 Kindergarten teachers have the same salaries as AP Physics teachers at New Trier?
Nope
But they do everywhere else in America and also CPS. Its only suburban Chicago that does this
Fascinating. Maybe it’s because I’m from here and used to it, but that “feels” right to me. But I’m no expert and am all for higher pay for all teachers.
Teaching AP physics is easier in many respects. You have no behavioral management issues. All students are extremely disciplined and motivated. That’s why they are there. Now take a second grade classroom. You have students who have not learned to manage their emotions and therefore regulate their behaviors. Some have learned to read and some are at various stages of putting sounds and letters together. Go up to 5th grade and now the classroom strategies get even more challenging. Some students can read at the 8th grade level and some are struggling at the 1st grade level. Don’t get me started about how “ easy “ kindergarten teaching is.
I spoke with someone in the business who put it this way: If you teach AP Physics, you're probably teaching the same class a couple times per day. On top of that, after tenure, some of these folks make over $200k a year - pretty sweet gig - summer vacations off, same classes every few years. Vastly better than a college faculty job! No wonder these jobs never turn over (I want one now)
If Evanston really cares about our kids, we should be paying that second grade teacher just as much, if not more.
When the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 it required that a study be commissioned to report to President Johnson on integration issues in the school systems. The Coleman report came out two years later. Read it. It’s very informative. It should be required reading for anyone writing about education. One conclusion it reached is that “Home Life” is the greatest predictor of success in school
There's a famous study from 00s that basically reiterates this but because we're all stupid now we interpret it the wrong way:
"The Number of Books at Home Correlates to Future Success"
https://snapbackphonics.com/academic-success-and-the-number-of-books-at-home/
It has absolutely nothing to do with number of books and everything to do with parents purchasing books as an indicator that they prioritize education for their kids. These are largely problems a school district cannot solve. However - we can absolutely do better than we are doing now and if those kids don't have people at home that care, they should have advocates in the school and we the citizens should compensate them fairly!
I believe that teaching at the high school level requires having a subject matter major versus "just" a degree in education. That seems pretty significant to me. What I think is odd about the whole pay structure is that it does not differentiate between majors, which is why it is much harder to fill a high school math/chemistry position than many other high school positions.