As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Vera, a young girl when her own mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning. This town, fiercely protective, brutal and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. Only 16% of respondents said they have input into these decisions now.Richly emotive and darkly captivating, with elements of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and the imaginative depth of Margaret Atwood, Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin conjures a community in which girls become wives, wives become mothers and some of them, quite simply, disappear. Teachers also would like greater input in school- and district-level decision-making. Only 51% said they currently work in that environment. In the survey, 97% of teachers said a positive work culture and environment would keep them in the profession longer. #ELSEWHERE SAN ANTONIO HOW TO#Of those surveyed, 82% said say they lack planning time, and 81% feel pressured to teach to achieve high scores on standardized tests.įinally, teachers feel caught in the crossfire of the state’s culture wars as school boards have centered more of their attention in some cities on book bans and removing more inclusive curriculum than on how to help teachers and students have a more productive year. The survey results showed that 86% of teachers consider their noninstructional tasks and responsibilities obstacles to being a good teacher. And most have done it unpaid on their own time.Īt the same time, teachers have felt the pressure to raise standardized test scores to pre-pandemic levels, but it hasn’t been an easy task as teachers’ workloads have increased because they have also spent more time addressing the social and emotional needs of students returning to school after the pandemic. Some teachers have been required to take a 60- to 120-hour course on reading, known as Reading Academies, if they want to keep their jobs in 2023. Lawmakers over the last two years have put more on teacher’s plates. Results show that only 17% of teachers indicated they felt valued by Texans, and only 5% of survey respondents said they felt valued by elected officials. These factors contribute to low teacher morale. In rare cases, the program rewards Texas’ highest-rated educators with hefty pay raises that could balloon to a six-figure salary. The bill also included a merit raise system designed to help rural and poorer school districts attract talent. In 2019, Texas lawmakers mandated raises for teachers in a $11.6 billion overhaul of public school finance. The task force has met twice so far, and school leaders and teachers have shared different strategies they use to attract and retain their workforce. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Education Agency to create a task force to tackle the teacher shortage issue. In the Charles Butt Foundation survey, 91% of Texas teachers who said they feel unfairly paid earn less than $50,000 a year. The average pay for teachers has not increased between 20 it instead decreased from $55,433 to $54,192, according to a University of Houston report released earlier this year. In the classroom, about 98% of respondents say they have to buy their own supplies, with the median cost being about $500. Teachers point to low pay, lack of respect from both the community and elected officials, excessive workloads and pandemic school disruptions as reasons they want to leave. That number dipped to about 9% during the 2020-21 school year but is going back up - rising to almost 12% during the 2021-22 school year. Since the 2011-12 school year, Texas’ attrition rate has hovered around 10%. Some bigger districts, like Houston, have the capacity to approve significant pay increases while some rural districts have shifted to four-day weeks.Ī major indicator that points to a shortage now is the state’s attrition rate, which tracks the number of teachers who have left the field in any given year. These survey results come as Texas is amid a teacher shortage and school districts are scrambling to find creative ways to attract talent as the state and nation emerge from the global coronavirus pandemic.
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