Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

Monday Morning Tabs

Stuff from last week and over the weekend that might be of interest.

Steven L. Taylor
8

“I know that clip may be extremely confusing to Americans,” the comedian Trevor Noah said about one dance video. “Some countries have leaders who don’t suffer from osteoporosis.”

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8 responses to “Monday Morning Tabs”

  1. Sleeping Dog Avatar
    Sleeping Dog

    Twins, oh that’s weird. Sorry.

  2. Mu Yixiao Avatar
    Mu Yixiao

    The twins live in the same house?

    There are definitely shenanigans going on there.

  3. Sleeping Dog Avatar
    Sleeping Dog

    @Mu Yixiao:

    dirty mind

  4. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    Via The Atlantic: There Is No National Teacher Shortage

    Somebody finally figured this out? WA!

    (Even where I live, administrators quoted for the last “teacher shortage” admitted that the shortage involved no longer being able to find people with 10 or 15 years of experience who wanted to move here, leaving the districts to have to struggle along with recent graduates. One district HAS been looking for a psychologist for 2 or 3 years now, though. I expect it’s because the job only pays at certificated staff level, so the starting salary can be as low as $45k.)

  5. OzarkHillbilly Avatar
    OzarkHillbilly

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: Barely enough to cover the student loans!

  6. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: I wouldn’t read too much into The Atlantic’s headlines, since — not unusually — the article’s content does a pretty effective job at undercutting what paywalled headline readers will assume is to follow:

    …Many rural areas and the Deep South are experiencing shortages. Some high-poverty districts have struggled for decades to hire enough teachers. High teacher turnover is especially a problem in child care and special education. A recent study in Louisiana found that one-third of the state’s child-care centers lose more than half of their teachers every year. A 2022 government survey found that the vacancy rate for special-ed teachers is more than four times higher than that for physical-education instructors…

    …Comprehensive national data on teacher-turnover rates (the share of teachers who quit each year) and national-vacancy rates (the share of open teacher positions that aren’t filled) are simply not available, or don’t go back far enough to tell us whether this year is different.

    Of course, “School Districts Struggle With Staffing Issues, Burnout, and Turnover Even As Missing National Data Obscures Full Picture” isn’t clickbaity enough to compete for eyeballs in the TikTok era.

    Best part is, the article then ends with this gem:

    A more generous explanation is that the teacher-staffing story is pretty damn confusing. In some districts, there are too many students for the staff. In other districts, there aren’t enough students for the budget. One district might be struggling to find English teachers, while another district might only be struggling to find substitute ESL teachers. Thinking about these as equivalent phenomena is nonsensical. But many news reports might be doing just that, in part because the government doesn’t provide any clear historical record on total teacher vacancies. Oversimple narratives can surge in a vacuum of clear information.

    I mean, okay, but if Atlantic contributors want the press to steer clear of “oversimple narratives,” maybe start with their own headline copy?

    2
  7. DK Avatar
    DK

    “I know that clip may be extremely confusing to Americans,” the comedian Trevor Noah said about one dance video. “Some countries have leaders who don’t suffer from osteoporosis.”

    LOL.

  8. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @DK: The parts you’re talking about aren’t new. What you’re describing is the story of my 30-some years of being a teacher. Places that don’t have funding to hire teachers have always had problems hiring and keeping them. And now that it takes $40k in debt to go to a state school, it’s going to be even worse. Special Ed and childcare have always had the same problems, too. Special Ed teachers who stay in the field for their careers are better people than I’ve ever been, and I’ve been a “go to” sub for Sped teachers since I came back from Korea, but I don’t do it anymore. Too stressful at 69 (when I stopped).

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