Teachers Laid Off and Replaced With Comm. College Adjuncts in Public School

[JPZenger]

Has anyone seen this before? It is apparently happening at my kids' urban public high school.

The administration is proposing to close a large budget deficit by laying off many teachers. At the same time, they are proposing to add many "dual enrollment" classes to offer combined high school and college credit. Those dual enrollment classes would be taught by adjunct instructors provided by the community college.

Our state prohibits laying off teachers for purely economic reasons. Therefore, they have to rationalize it as a change of curriculum. So they are eliminating the current system of "honors" classes taught by high school teachers. A few would remain, but would now be renamed "advanced classes." Most of these classes would be replaced by the dual enrollment classes.

(AP classes for now are proposed to remain unchanged, even though they duplicate most of the subjects and intent of these new dual enrollment classes)

The administration is actually proposing that kids who are above average take TEN college level (5 per semester) classes as a 11th grader. Under the current curriculum, these students would typically take one AP class and 3 or 4 year-long honors classes. Currently, each student can choose to take as many or as few AP and honors classes as they wish, provided they have the academic ability. My guess is that these classes could not possibly all be college level.

To top it all off, they are proposing to send all of the above average kids to a separate building that is rented space. That takes advantage of a loophole in the union teacher contract that limits the use of non-union teachers.

The community college instructors may be part-time to avoid benefits costs, and part of their costs would be subsidized by state grants and other funds provided to the community college from participating communities. The end result is that the CC adjuncts are much cheaper per class than regular school teachers.

I just read a study that high school teachers have better results teaching college level classes to high school students than outside college instructors. The study found that this result was from the fact that high school teachers are accustomed to teaching 16 and 17 year olds, and can relate better to them. They also have more training in educational methods than adjunct college instructors, who might have little or no educational training.

The proposal is particularly bad because all of the younger teachers would be laid off. These teachers are more likely to be minority and more likely to be able to relate well with the students.

The administration tried to quietly rush this through, but fortunately everyone is getting organized and the changes have temporarily been slowed down.

Anyone else see this occuring elsewhere? Any thoughts?

P.S. - I am a concerned parent, not a teacher.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I've served as an adjunct instructor at this 4 year university and I don't even have a college

degree. I was asked to teach due to a rare set of skills that I acquired through 30 years of work.

Wouldn't the state have to change all teaching certificate requirements?

[teenagebambam]

2. As a college teacher

This is a phenomenally bad idea. High School teachers have generally been certified by the state and have had a firm grounding in educational theory and sociological issues related to the age group. College teachers, in general, haven't- most just have advanced degree in their subject area and have no education-specific training other than on-the-job.

[JPZenger]

3. Slanted Rules

Apparently, our state has a state law that says if you are certified as a college instructor, you are automatically certified to teach dual enrollment classes in high schools. Under these rules, a high school teacher with a masters in education is NOT ALLOWED to teach the dual enrollment class, but an adjunct with NO educational coursework is allowed to teach if they have a master's in their subject. So an adjunct with a master's in Literature is allowed to teach any english course, even if they have no idea how to teach.

[CTyankee]

4. I believe you are right! I am qualified to teach as an adjunct at a local

liberal arts college but could not qualify to teach in public high schools. Nor would I want to because I don't have the training the public school teachers have to have in the state of CT. The teachers I know in this state are superbly trained...

[jsamuel]

5. AP shouldn't even exist where there is dual enrollment available.

The only reason to have both is that the school gets nearly 1000 dollars for each student who takes an AP test. That is not the case with dual enrollment. You get college credit in dual enrollment, but with AP classes, you have to pass the final AP test to get anything, which is much much more difficult than the dual enrollment classes.

I think adding dual enrollment classes is a great idea, however I don't like that they are doing it to justify firing a bunch of teachers.

[JPZenger]

6. Pros and Cons

Dual enrollment classes are preferable for students going to non-selective colleges and most public colleges. However, many selective colleges refuse to give credit for dual enrollment classes taken inside a high school. For those students, they are better off with AP, which 99% of colleges accept.

Schools have the option to keep something like $20 per student to administer an AP test. However, some just charge the amount that has to go to the College Board, without adding on the local fee. Other schools absorb all of the test costs. In any case, no school makes a profit from AP classes.

[JPZenger]

7. One Semester of Grad School and then you teach in High School

I looked up the requirements of my local community college to become an adjunct instructor. You need 18 graduate credits in the subject you want to teach, which is a little more than one semester.

There is no requirement for your bachelors to be in a relevant subject area. There is no requirement for any training or experience in teaching (or student teaching). Of course, there are no benefits.

[antigop]

8. I agree 100%,

If you look at the entrance requirements in a lot of colleges/universities, you need a "4" or A "5" on an AP test to get credit. A "3" doesn't cut it anymore.

If you look at score distribution for the various AP tests, maybe 30% get a "4" or a "5".

AP is just a way to throw a bunch of money at the company that administers the tests.

More kids would get college credit by passing a dual credit class.