|
 MI
Study:
Urban Teachers Less Qualified
"When you go to
any teacher college around this state, a larger proportion of
teachers want to teach in the suburbs...Teachers are humans.
Teachers like to get paid as much as they can."
MI
Bill
Would Require Milk Vending Machines in Schools
"...the
increased rate of obesity among adolescents and diabetes among
children indicates students are drinking too much pop."
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STUDY: URBAN TEACHERS LESS QUALIFIED
Gongwer News Service, April 30, 2003
While the overall teaching pool in Michigan is high-quality,
teachers in urban districts are more likely to not meet federal
highly qualified teacher requirements under the No Child Left
Behind Act either because of overall competence or because they
are not certified in the area they are currently teaching,
according to a study released Wednesday by the Education Policy
Center at Michigan State University.
The study showed that teachers in urban districts are three
times less likely to be highly qualified under the state and
federal definitions in their main teaching assignment than are
teachers in suburban and rural districts. Similar statistics
follow teachers in schools with high percentages of students
receiving free or reduced lunches (an indicator of poverty) and
schools with predominantly black populations.
"The data show that students' access to highly qualified
teachers is dependent on their race, socioeconomic background
and school setting," said Debbi Harris and Lisa Ray, the authors
of the study. "This is precisely the type of pattern that NCLB
seeks to eliminate."
T.J. Bucholz, spokesperson for the Department of Education, said
the findings of the study are not surprising. "When you go to
any teacher college around this state, a larger proportion of
teachers want to teach in the suburbs," he said. "Teachers are
humans. Teachers like to get paid as much as they can."
Mr. Bucholz said recruiting teachers to urban districts and
keeping them there has been an issue the State Board of
Education has been trying to address through such things as a
trial program allowing emergency teaching certifications to
certain people for Detroit Public Schools. "Detroit Public
Schools has had a tough time keeping high quality teachers they
recruit because the surrounding suburbs are able to pay $10,000
to $12,000 more," he said.
The study authors suggested the state offer grants to urban
districts to supplement teacher salaries or to forgive student
loans. Mr. Bucholz said the ideas would be good if the state had
the money to implement them. "If times were better the state
could take a serious look at that possibility," he said.
BILL WOULD REQUIRE MILK VENDING MACHINES IN
SCHOOLS
Gongwer News Service, April 30, 2003
Schools would have to offer as many vending machines selling
milk as machines selling pop, according to SB 426, introduced by
Sen. Virg Bernero (D-Lansing) Wednesday.
Mr. Bernero said in a news release the increased rate of obesity
among adolescents and diabetes among children indicates students
are drinking too much pop.
"Kids today drink twice as much soda pop as milk, exactly the
opposite of 20 years ago," he said. "In many of our schools
there is a pop machine in virtually every corridor ... Studies
show when milk is presented on an equal footing with pop, over
50 percent of students will chose calcium-rich milk."
Mr. Bernero said his legislation enjoys broad, bipartisan
support. |
