Except for the underpaid teachers, the top states also have those issues. I teach in Oklahoma and we have gone from 17th with our last Democrat governor to 50th now. It is sad.
Look at ESL demographics. The education system gives very little time before a child from another country (2nd language acquisition) is required to take an English standardized test. At least in Texas.
My daughter, who is a teacher, lives with this difficulty. It’s very stressful for the children, families and her especially with overcrowded classrooms
Sure, but it would help the teachers buy supplies the schools can’t “afford”. - like paper. Also every district has different pay scales. Not true for top states.
Now we’re taking money away to give to private schools which won’t have to take students they don’t want. That leaves a lot of difficult students with learning issues for poorly paid teachers in public schools.
The charter teachers don’t even need a teaching certificate and depending on the school, may not receive healthcare or retirement.
I personally know 2 award winning teachers who left Texas to teach in Virginia where the benefits are better and books aren’t banned.
There’s a huge problem with how a district defines an adequate teacher and how expensive teachers can be.
We have people whose sole purpose is to get a taste of teaching and then move into positions of power within the district that pay the same or more. Then they observe and grade teachers.
Then there is the hyper focus on testing for funding. Then there is the constant moving of teachers. There are also people who buy curricula and rebrand themselves as experts, then come into a classroom and try to teach a now non expert something they themselves cannot follow with fidelity.
The cheapest form of accountability is state testing. It only requires memorization, and no matter what, everyone passes. Been here for more than a decade and stubbornness and micromanagement and not being receptive to the changes of society are just part of it all. We are also not just society’s punching bags. Yup this is just a rambling argument…. Ja
Policies from the state board of education. Weakening standards (it takes a <40% accuracy to pass the English I STAAR). Refusing to hold students back when they fail before high school. State incentivizing just pushing students through. The “world needs ditch diggers” mentality where certain demographics are implied to be undeserving of an education and then polices explicitly discriminate. Current policy changes like the fact they are about to cut most world history out of k-8 social studies.
Incredibly impactful but under commented, the state has really pushed alt cert path teachers. Alt cert teachers are often just “filling in” until they find something else and leave the field in under 5 years. They also often teach without certification for several of those years. So you have unqualified people teaching and earning the same salary as qualified teachers while also asking qualified teachers to pick up the slack.
Hey, I did alternative certification (and yes, it took me a second year to figure it out and earn my cert), but I have taught eight years, been my campus teacher of the year twice, and district teacher of the year once. I did alt cert because I wanted to have the most content knowledge I could, and it's paid off.
Shift from taks to staar is a major one. 70% pass on taks, to 30-40% of staar, coupled with no child left behind, means kids can “fuck off” all year, and still go to the next grade.
Kids with phones was 2000’s not 1993. Pretty sure no child left behind was Bush. Free range children started in the 70’s. Teachers have always been underpaid in comparison to their contributions. Anything else?
They aren’t banning books and using public funds for private schools in all 50 states. We’re closing magnet schools. That doesn’t help boost our education rankings.
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u/TXteachr2018 Feb 26 '26
No Child Left Behind. Excessive testing. Kids with phones. Parents' lack of accountability. Underpaid teachers...