Josiah S. Litant’s Post

This is the letter we sent Harris/Biden four short years ago! What should we suggest now? December 1, 2020 Dear President-Elect Biden, Vice-President-Elect Harris, Dr. Jill Biden, and the Biden-Harris Transition Team, Congratulations and THANK YOU for leading our struggling nation through this dark time toward a safer, saner, and brighter future. At this time of Thanksgiving, we could not be more grateful for all of you. We at the Teacher Salary Project in particular thank you for your courageous commitment to doing what everyone knows is the right thing: increasing teacher salaries. Since 2005, the Teacher Salary Project has been fighting to raise awareness around the impact of our national underpayment and undervaluing of teachers and wishes to support the Administration however we can in making our shared commitment to this vision a reality. The Teacher Salary Project is a nonpartisan organization committed to working with everyone in the country — Democrats and Republicans, from the schoolhouse to the White House to the business and civic communities — to ensure that teaching becomes the prestigious, desirable, financially viable, and professionally exciting job we all know it needs to be. To build the public and political will for change, The Teacher Salary Project shares teachers’ stories, highlights research and data, lends thought leadership, and advocates for higher teacher pay. Our Founder & CEO, Nínive Calegari, was featured on MSNBC supporting Vice-President-Elect Harris’ plans to elevate teaching through higher salaries. Previously, we published a book (with bestselling author Dave Eggers) Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers, policy brief and numerous articles; released a feature-length documentary film, American Teacher (narrated by Matt Damon, featuring Linda Darling-Hammond and directed by Academy-award winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth) shown in theaters across the country; produced a short-film series; delivered a TEDx talk; and launched a Governors’ Challenge to encourage our nation’s top leaders to use the bully pulpit to advance this critical and bipartisan issue of improving teacher pay. In the COVID-19 context, the critical issues of schools re-opening, connectivity and access to devices, and funding to maintain teachers’ jobs must be prioritized in the immediate term. But there is no time like the present to simultaneously begin charting the path toward the longer-term reality of a professionally-compensated education workforce that can eradicate chronic teacher shortages while creating joyful and stable classrooms where each student can achieve their highest potential. We recommend the Administration prioritize the following: (Four the four-point plan we suggested and more, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g4iEr6fF

Earlier today at The Global Impact Forum x Penn State University, James Lane shared survey results from a nationally representative sample of US adults and their opinions on our current public education system. What I will remember most is that almost all of us agree on some of the most important topics facing US education today. 1. Preparing #students for the #workforce has the greatest overall support at 84%. This suggests broad consensus on the importance of career readiness as an educational goal. 2. Attracting and retaining good #teachers also garners strong overall backing at 81%. This indicates wide recognition of the critical teacher quality plays. 3. Student mental health shows a notable partisan divide. 86% of Democrats prioritize it compared to only 63% of Republicans, a 23-point gap. Independents fall in between at 70%. 4. Helping students who've fallen behind sees majority support across groups, but again with Democrats highest at 83% and Republicans lower at 71%. 5. Access to public pre-K reveals a stark split. 71% of Democrats support expanding it versus just 48% of Republicans. 6. The widest partisan gap is on protecting students from discrimination. 81% of Democrats rate it a priority, compared to 45% among Republicans. This 36-point chasm likely reflects differing views on DEI efforts in schools. 7. Expanding charter schools, while historically a Republican priority, now scores 50% of Republicans in favor of it compared to only 22% of Democrats.

A new Gallup poll shows Americans' satisfaction with the K-12 education system has improved, rising from 36% in 2023 to 43% in 2024, though 55% of respondents remain dissatisfied The Hill https://lnkd.in/gp7yzYex #EducationSystem #GallupPoll #K12Education #EducationImprovement #EducationReform

60% of Americans say they don’t want their children to be teachers. When we first asked this question in 1969, only 25% of Americans were not supportive of their children being teachers. We asked a new question this year in the #pdkpoll to see the top reasons for this sharp decline. Top reason? It’s teacher pay…. More on the PDK Poll from EdWeek. https://lnkd.in/e4ykv-S2

Since a low in 2023, Americans' view of public education has improved. Read the new results from the Gallup survey here: https://lnkd.in/eJ5yCAje. #PublicEducation #EducationImprovement #EducationResearch #PublicOpinion #EducationData

Teacher compensation has dropped 20% since 2010 when measured against inflation. Teachers are sprinting towards the exits. You will hear voices ask you to stay, to sacrifice yourself for the kids we all love serving. Hear this: do what is best for you. We need a wholesale, fundamental reworking of the public education job description in this country. We need bosses who set the tone, provide the resources, and get out of the way. We need clear boundaries, clearer hours, and the clearest of mutually agreed upon expectations. Other countries have figured this out. This isn’t an impossible task. 1) Push as many dollars as possible to the classroom level with salaries and benefits 2) Provide high quality instructional materials as a base so teachers don’t have to burn the midnight oil preparing materials from scratch 3) Implete evidence based methods of faculty support and immediately retire methods that do not work 4) LISTEN TO YOUR TEACHERS https://lnkd.in/e7sJ4fNi

This report reinforces why the CEOs of TalentFirst are working with West Michigan #K12 leaders to address chronic #absenteeism. When kids aren't in class, they can't learn. It's that simple. Educators tell us absenteeism has gotten so bad, it is a major driver of low literacy scores. In response, TalentFirst developed a toolkit to help employers promote the importance of regular school attendance. (See link in the comments.) We'll have more to say about this in coming weeks. We need to take action to ensure the economic vitality of our region and the longterm success and wellbeing of the children and families who live here. Solving these problems is a community responsibility. https://lnkd.in/g5UWX5gg

As you all know, most K-12 teachers in Utah are women, and we are ranked 47th through 50th (depending on ranking) with the widest gender pay gap, so this doesn't surprise me. The gender challenges in Utah impact pretty much everything in one way or another. Let's pay what people deserve. Also, why do we talk about tax cuts in Utah when there are so many things that need to be fixed? We need to take our K-12 educators' jobs/careers much more seriously. I was a junior high teacher in the 1980s, so I know what it takes to be a teacher. Teachers are professionals. Teachers change lives! Why are we not doing everything we can to keep high quality, effective teachers for the development of our most important resource in the state of Utah - our children. Let's put Utah's children first! https://lnkd.in/gy4gu4rP (I hope the The Salt Lake Tribune hasn't blocked this article behind their wall - if so, please open it to all 😊). Utah Women & Leadership Project A Bolder Way Forward Utah Gender Pay Gap Voices for Utah Children

"Since its creation in May 1980, the Left has demanded Republicans justify opposing federal intervention in U.S. education. However, with President-elect Donald Trump‘s Department of Government Efficiency now promising to “outright delete” the Department of Education, it’s time to flip the script. The real question isn’t, “Why should we eliminate the Department of Education?” It’s, “How can Congress possibly justify funding this ineffective and unconstitutional institution any longer?” These dismal results come at a staggering cost. Funding this vast federal agency, with its more than 4,000 employees, has cost parents and U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars. Since 1980, K-12 spending and college costs have doubled in real terms, while every additional dollar funneled through Washington has come at the expense of local schools, including public, charter, and private, that actually educate our children. As the American Enterprise Institute’s Rick Hess recently pointed out, more than 1,000 Department of Education employees are paid more than $160,000 annually, with nearly 90 making upwards of $200,000 — more than four times the average starting teacher salary."! Pitiful, time to eliminate this ineffective, bloated, woke and unconstitutional federal agency which promotes policies to take away the rights of parents to be responsible for their kids.

Check out these 9 education predictions for 2025, from longtime Education Week Opinion Contributor, Larry Ferlazzo, as well as why the education community may want to brace itself for a tough year ahead. #EWOpinion #K12 #Education #EWTopReadsoftheWeek