To Be A Great Teacher...You Need To Stay Open to Learn!

A friend and I had a brief conversation regarding USA Today's recent article on the anticipated cuts that will be made by thousands of districts in effort to survive due to the tough economy. She had mentioned to me that it was unfortunate that in many cases non-tenured teachers would be the victims of the cuts. She inferred that it was unfortunate that the quality of the teacher's work may not be considered, or the amount of effort, or how she/he contributed to the school's environment or teams--just the amount of years she/he's been in the district.

Reflecting on her comment, I too wondered about this. We all know excellent teachers who are tenured, long-term teachers, who make great mentors. However, I can also guarantee that most of us also know teachers who might not be able to put forth the effort needed anymore, who might not be willing to try something new or go beyond what they learned in school 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

These are the teachers, which in most cases, are getting paid the most and who are protected by unions the most. Again, I stress in many cases tenured teachers are mentors, role models, and examples for all of us. However, research and interventions change and I'm not sure why even tenured teachers wouldn't be expected to continue professional development in effort to stay fresh and up to date.

In Illinois, teachers with standard or master's level teaching certificates have ten years to complete one of the following:

• Complete an advanced degree,
• Meet Illinois criteria for becoming highly qualified in another teaching area,
• Complete National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process,
• Earn eight semester hours of college coursework in an education-related program,
• Earn a subsequent Illinois certificate or endorsement,
• Complete four semester hours (three if Master's level) of graduate coursework preapproved for this purpose in either Self-Assessment of Teaching Performance or NBPTS preparation, or
• Earn CEUs/CPDUs in activities (120 CPDUs for Standard/40 Master).

These options are the same for those with an initial certificate, except that Standard level teachers have 5 years to complete one of these options...Master level teachers have 10 years! Additionally, Master level teachers also have a 2/3 deduction in number of CPDUs or one hour deduction from semester hours of graduate coursework.

My question is: If I'm a tenured teacher, what is my incentive to continue my professional development if I'm already getting a higher rate of pay with no increase in level of responsibility?

Here's an even BIGGER question: As a preschool teacher, unless you work in a public school system or live in a state where lead teachers have to have a certificate, individuals need to attend professional development sessions but may never be offered pay increases and if there are increases, they are minimal (child care, some state programs, private programs, etc.). What incentives does this create for teachers to provide quality care and education to her students? to stay at her center?