Rediscovering the value of teaching.

Like most teachers, Juanita Parrish, 41, can recall plenty of experiences that reflect both the rewards and the frustrations of her teaching career. The teacher at the racially mixed Oakland Elementary School in suburban Denver, remembers one case in particular, which confirms both the stressful difficulties of the profession and the sense of professional fulfillment that keeps her committed. "There was this young man who came into my classroom after having been in another teacher's class and then in another school district," she recalls. "He came to me rebellious, rude--just plain obnoxious. But I took the time with him, and finally I asked him why he was so rebellious."

"He told me he felt it was because nobody liked him," she continues. "But I told him I did and that I wanted to help. He was a big challenge for me. He needed to know someone cared, he needed to feel their sincerity."

At a time when quality education has become paramount to American competitiveness--and to the economic advancement of African-Americans--demand for more and better teachers is increasing. No profession--not even the hallowed vocations of law and medicine--is as crucial to the economic stability of a society as teaching. After decades of indifference, the nation has finally begun to recognize the terrible economic and social price of neglecting the profession charged with preparing citizens for an increasingly competitive world.

It has also become clear that no reform of the nation's educational system can be effective without a greater presence of African-American teachers, who can meet the challenge of educating our children. Thanks to this new awareness and the changing dynamics it will trigger, teacher recruitment, training and retention (translation for career planners: opportunity, education an compensation) have moved to the front burner of national concern. Now may be the best time for African-Americans to re-examine teaching as a viable career option.

A Tough Lesson To Learn

To date, the industry's ability to meet the burgeoning demand for new teachers--especially when it comes to attracting and retaining minority teachers--has been questionable at best. But as we move toward the year 2000, the outlook for the profession is changing, and teachers and education experts point to several trends that should serve to attract more African-Americans to the teaching profession: * Salaries are increasing--albeit slowly--and changes in teacher salary structures are moving some teachers into higher earning levels more quickly. This is making the profession more competitive with other career options, many of which have lost some of their value in the aftermath of white-collar layoffs spawned by the recent recession. * The industry is offering more upfront incentives to those entering the field. Public and private programs, which will attract students to teaching and help finance their education and training, are on the rise. These programs (many of which are reaching back to high school students for potential recruits) are providing everything from guaranteed undergraduate scholarships to student-loan deferments to advance preparation for postgraduate degrees. * More school systems are developing performance incentives for those who excel in the teaching profession. Teachers who maintain high performances are often targeted for choice teaching assignments, including overseeing the training and development of new teachers. * School reforms, such as school-based management policies, have begun to change the teaching environment, giving teachers more input into how education is administered, and more of an opportunity to control their professional environment. In many schools, such reforms mitigate the professional futility that drives many teachers from the profession.

The U.S. Department of Education has launched America 2000, an ambitious campaign launched by the Bush administration aimed at tapping corporate resources (in the form of the New American Schools Development Corp., see "Business Briefs," In The News, November 1991), state government support and community initiatives to develop "model schools." The plan calls for, among other things, improved teacher-training, national standards in five core academic disciplines and financial and other rewards for those excelling in the profession. Says Education Department Secretary Lamar Alexander: "America 2000 is a national strategy--a broad framework--to transform our schools, community by community, school by school."

* The test of educating an increasingly diverse student population has created a need for a similarly diverse teaching force. Once considered a matter of curriculum development only, multicultural education now extends to not only what is taught, but who is doing the teaching. Programs that specifically target the education of young black males, many of whom fall through the cracks of the public education system, highlight this trend in stark terms. (See "Black Male Schools," In The News, March 1991.) However, one of the major problems facing experimental, predominantly black male public schools in Milwaukee and Detroit, is finding enough black male teachers to provide role models deemed necessary by the supporters of such schools.

Why Blacks Drop Out Of Teaching

Gary Morston, 31, a kindergarten teacher at Central Park East II, an alternative public school in New York City, is one of the few African-American males teaching at the kindergarten level. Morston, featured in the "Reach for the Power: Teach!" national advertising campaign sponsored by Belmont, Mass.-based Recruiting New Teachers, believes that his upbringing--as the son of a low-income, single mother--gives him a special empathy with many of the children he teaches. "I don't teach for the money," says Morston, an eight-year veteran who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in special education from the City College of New York. "I teach because I enjoy teaching, and because I enjoy the kids."

Unfortunately, such selfless commitment often is not enough to attract African-Americans to teaching. It's no secret that times are still tough for teachers, and many are still leaving the profession after only a few years. Their reasons, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE): low salaries, disciplinary problems among students, burnout and high levels of frustration. Many prospective teachers, especially minorities, are avoiding the field for the same reasons.

According to the AACTE, the number of African-Americans receiving bachelor's degrees in education fell 56% between 1977 and 1987; and the current increase in education majors--a 60% increase in enrollment at some institutions--is due largely to the entry of white females into the profession. "The bottom line is one of compensation," says Deborah Carter, assistant director of Minorities in Higher Education of the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C. "There are not enough rewards and incentives built into the system to make teaching a viable career option for many African-Americans."

Carter cites a variety of reasons why, beyond the question of compensation, African-Americans and other minorities are not more active in the profession, including the lack of financial support for undergraduate and graduate studies, problems with the certification process and the apathy toward multiculturalism in the classroom.

Perhaps more significant is that teaching has increasingly been taken for granted as a profession, particularly among many black Americans. Not so long ago, teaching was the profession of choice for many upwardly mobile African-Americans, providing opportunities for significant economic advancement. As the scope of employment broadened for African-Americans, however, many dismissed the profession. "The teaching profession has an image problem," Carter, a former elementary and secondary school teacher, asserts. "Within the African-American community, we no longer encourage teachers on the same level that we encourage doctors and lawyers. Yet, as a community, almost 80% of us believe in the need for education to attain professional and economic advancement."

This contradiction underscores the current shortage of black (particularly black male) teachers. If the current trend continues, by the year 2000, minorities will make up only 5% of the teaching population, while minority students will be 35% of the classroom population. More importantly, the minority populations of many underserved, urban public schools is often higher than 90% of the student body.

A Case Of Increasing Demand

Despite a slow economic recovery and cutbacks in local and state funding to education, demographers estimate that 1.4 million teachers will be needed by 1997, and anywhere from 1.5 million to 2.5 million will be needed by the turn of the century. This increase in demand is due, in part, to the projected retirement of more than a third of all of today's classroom teachers; the increase in minority students in the public school system; the increase in birth rates among baby boomers; and the call for multiculturalism in the curriculum and the classroom. Indeed, Joni E. Finney, director of policy studies for the Denver-based Education Commission of the States (ECS), points to California, which although struggling under a tight economy, is building schools in anticipation of a substantial increase in the elementary school population in the next decade.

Despite their lethargic pace, teacher salaries are also on the rise. According to a national teacher's union, the American Federation of Teachers, the average teacher salary in 1990-91 was a record $32,880, a 5% increase from the $31,319 average the year before, and up from an average of $23,300 in 1984. This increase came as a result of the national school-reform movement in the 1980s, which has taken steps to attract more and better-qualified teachers by providing higher salaries. During the 1990-91 school year, salaries ranged from a high of $43,406 in Alaska to a low of $22,363 in South Dakota (see chart, "A Lesson In Economics"). Salary increases were just as varied. For example, during 1990-91, West Virginian teachers had the largest increase, 13.5%, while teachers in Kentucky received a 10.7% increase and teachers in New York, an 8.1% increase. Moreover, in 1990-91, the average beginning teacher salary in public schools was $21,542, up 4.9% from academic year 1989-90.

The recent and ever-widening calls for school reform are also expected to play a major role in the expectations for and responsibilities of teachers already in the field and those considering entering it. As more schools move to site-based management teams, i.e., teachers, administrators and parents working together to improve the educational environment of children, teachers' ability to effect real change is expected to be more fully recognized. A necessary outgrowth of this movement is the increased "professionalization" of teaching. Finney of the ECS believes this heightened sense of professionalism will make teaching a more attractive career option. "Teachers are going to be a very big part of the process to effect change both in and out of the classroom," she asserts. "It's going to be an exciting and frustrating time for those who want to be a part of it. Many will have the opportunity to challenge the school, and the way things have always been done. Finally, teachers are going to be able to take control of the profession."

Blacks At The Head Of The Class

The push to recruit more African-Americans into the advises flexibility when looking for a teaching job. "Teachers are a parochial group," she says. "They want to return to the same system from which they came, and this is not always possible. People interested in the field need to be open-minded."

Much of the same advice applies to individuals interested in teaching in independent schools. The Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) advises that if you are looking for a job in one of their schools, begin by establishing a set of priorities: At what school do you want to teach? In what part of the country? At what grade levels? Then investigate the schools that meet your requirements. Write for their catalogues, talk to people who may know something about the school and make a visit.

Independent schools also tend to be more flexible than public schools. They do not require certification, and often-times, if a particular candidate impresses them, a position can be created. Before deciding to take a position, says Randolph Carter, director of the Department of Diversity and Multicultural Services for NAIS, advises, "be very clear on the salary and the job duties. Many independent schools require their teachers to live in the dormitories, or to perform functions auxiliary to their teaching positions, like coaching the basketball team."

Also ask questions about health and retirement benefits; subsidized housing and tuition/fee remission, if you have children. "And don't be afraid to negotiate for perks," Carter asserts.

Finney suggests that, in terms of public education, the states that are growing are going to need the most teachers. "Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Florida are states that will be facing tremendous demands for teachers," she says. "South Carolina is also desperately seeking teachers, as well as states, such as Colorado, which weathered the recession in the '80s and now have strong economies."

For many teachers, too, union involvement is an absolute necessity in helping to ensure their survival. There are two national teachers' unions in this country--the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers, both of which have made a commitment to the betterment of working conditions and salaries for their membership.

Reginald Weaver, 52, an executive committee member of the NEA and a former president of the Illinois Education Association, sees his union as a valuable advocate for change and encourages new teachers to get involved. "Every decision made in the school system is political," Weaver asserts. "You have to get involved in order to make an impact."

A Pop Quiz Every Day

If you really want to know what's great--and what's tough--about being a teacher, ask a veteran. If you are inflexible, like smooth routines and loathe unexpected surprises, they'll probably tell you to choose another vocation. "It's difficult to be prepared for something you haven't been prepared for," says Weaver, a science teacher at predominantly black Brooks Juniour High School, in Harvey, Ill. "But you have to know going in, there are going to be periods of great frustration--whether it's from a lack of support from the parents or the administration, or ability to impact in terms of what happens in school."

Teaching, perhaps more than any other profession, requires superior problem-solving skills--any day could be a pop quiz on anything from relatively harmless youth-oriented trends like rap music to more serious issues such as child abuse and teen pregnancy. "Teachers are mothers, philosophers, policemen, doctors, nurses, counselors. You have to be prepared to take on those roles, to handle them and to go about the job of teaching," explains Milicent Russell, 41. The former teacher, who got into teaching because she wanted to work with children holds a master's degree in administration and supervision and an Ed.D. and earns $47,000 a year as assistant principal at Van Vlissinger Elementary School, a predominantly black and poor school on the South Side of Chicago.

Phyllis ParksRobinson, 48, president of Maryland's Montgomery County Education Association, believes it's fairly easy to break into the profession and much harder once you are in. "Many teachers don't find the support they need," she says. "In a large school system like Montgomery County's, it's easy to get lost, to get located in a school where you are the only person of color, and that makes it that much harder to network. But you have to network in order to survive, because in that first year there are going to be so many issues confronting you, that it's almost overwhelming."

Despite these difficulties, many teachers survive, even thrive, in today's complicated educational milieu. The key to their success? According to teachers already in the field, professional dedication and perseverance are crucial.

Another key is that good teachers enjoy transferrable skills that can give them valuable career flexibility and mobility. Deborah Carter's experience is a case in point. She started out in elementary and secondary education, got a master's degree in education administration, and then followed her interest in research to her job with Minorities in Higher Education of the has allowed me a number of career transitions," she says. "I've always been interested in issues of equity and diversity, and the next step will be a move into curriculum development."

Another career alternative has been teachers who, qualified by training and experience, teach other educators how to increase their effectiveness in the classroom. For example, Vernell Farrand, 44, is a math project coordinator in the Newark, N.J., public school system, a position that requires her to prepare and give teacher development workshops in 10 area schools. Farrand, a 20-year veteran who earns $52,000 and was selected as a master teacher (the program has yet to be implemented in her school district), began her professional life in the research department of a pharmaceutical company. "We were doing hypertension research on dogs that required us to kill them," she recalls, "and I just couldn't take it. I had always loved teaching--I was in the Future Teachers of America club in high school--so when the opportunity to be a permanent substitute came along, I went for it."

Carter's and Farrand's experiences are typical of the broad variety of career alternatives available to teachers, from academic counseling and administration to curriculum development and research. The in-house training departments of major corporations make up yet another arean to which teachers can easily transfer their skills.

No matter where you teach, and to a lesser extent what you teach, African-Americans are needed in the classroom, and the situation has reached critical proportions.

"Our youngsters need to have role models," ParksRobinson asserts. "A lot of them, especially black males, are getting lost. We have it in our power to reverse that. We simply have to make the choice to do it."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

The following organizations, programs and publications can provide valuable information to those interested in teaching: * Teacher Recruitment Internship Project for Success (TRIPS) is a recruitment program sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based American Federation of Teachers. TRIPS focuses on recruiting of minority college graduates in math and science for salaried internships in public schools in urban school districts. For more information, contact the American Federation of Teachers, 555 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001; 202-879-4400. * The Institute for Recruitment of Teachers is a four-week, intensive summer program for minority college juniors interested in the teaching profession. The tuition-free program, sponsored by Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., is geared toward students' entry into graduate school and, ultimately, the teaching profession. For more information, contact the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA 01810-4161; 508-749-4115. * The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a consortium of approximately 1,000 day, boarding and private schools. The NAIS actively recruits minorities for teaching positions through a series of job fairs held in cities around the country. For more information about teaching opportunities at private schools, send resume to VITA Bank, Office of Diversity, the National Association of Independent Schools, 75 Federal St., Boston, MA 02110. * Recruiting New Teachers, the organization responsible for the "Reach for the Power: Teach!" national advertising campaign, provides a free referral service to individuals interested in teaching. For additional information, contact Recruiting New Teachers, 385 Concord Ave., Suite 100, Belmont, MA 02178-9804; 800-45-TEACH or 617-489-6000. * Teach for America (TFA) is a national program dedicated to the developing a teacher corps. Potential recruits are required to complete an application, a teaching demonstration and two interviews. For more information, contact Teach For America, P.O. Box 5114, New York, NY 10185; 800-832-1230. * The U.S. Department of Education offers several programs aimed at facilitating the training and continued education of teachers, including the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarships and the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship for Teachers. Douglas scholars are required to teach for two years for each year of assistance. For more information, call 202-708-4607. The McAuliffe Fellowships finance continuing-education sabbaticals for working teachers. Upon completion of the fellowship, the teachers are required to return to their school district for two years. For more information, call 202-708-5366. * An Introduction to Teaching: A Question of Commitment ($48), by Ralph E. Martin Jr., George H. Wood and Edward Stevens, provides a broad overview of the teaching profession. Allyn and Bacon Inc., Seven Wells Ave., Newton, MA 01890; 617-455-1200. * Requirements for Certification of Teachers, Counselors, Librarians, Administrators for Elementary and Secondary Schools, and Junior Colleges ($33), by John Tryneski, is an annual, state-by-state listing of certification requirements for teachers and other public education professionals. University of Chicago Press, 5801 Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637; 800-621-2736 or 312-702-7700.