The invaluable Mike Antonucci at the Education Intelligence Agency blog makes the same point I've been making about cutbacks in teacher staffing, namely that school districts hired so robustly that a retrenchment was inevitable, even without the sharp downturn of the last three years. He points out that in the last decade teacher hiring outpaced the growth of enrollment. Indeed, the problem goes back decades, as the chart below shows (click to expand). Notice how teacher hiring (the red line) has been on a steady upward movement even during periods of enrollment decline, including the 1970s and most of the 1980s.
When you add in the fact that the cost of employing the average teacher has been soaring thanks to growing pension benefits and increasing health costs, it's not difficult to understand the financial squeeze that most districts are experiencing right now. One could add a certain amount of grist to this subject by adding a third line charting student scores on standardized tests over this time.
Okay, I can't resist. Below is a chart comparing SAT scores since the mid-1960s with the ratio of students to teachers in our schools. As we've hired more teachers amidst flat enrollment, the ratio of students to teachers has fallen 37 percent, driving down class sizes. Where is the payoff? Unfortunately SAT scores have fallen 7 percent in that same time period. Yes, I know a greater percentage of students takes the test these days. But the NAEP scores show basically the same thing. Reading comprehension skill among high school seniors is flat since 1971, for all the investment we've made in smaller classes.
Okay, I can't resist. Below is a chart comparing SAT scores since the mid-1960s with the ratio of students to teachers in our schools. As we've hired more teachers amidst flat enrollment, the ratio of students to teachers has fallen 37 percent, driving down class sizes. Where is the payoff? Unfortunately SAT scores have fallen 7 percent in that same time period. Yes, I know a greater percentage of students takes the test these days. But the NAEP scores show basically the same thing. Reading comprehension skill among high school seniors is flat since 1971, for all the investment we've made in smaller classes.
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