Educational Issues and Trends

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Educational Issues and Trends
There are many current educational issues. The lack of Parent involvement and support is definitely one. This is especially the case at our title 1 schools. It is a struggle to get many parents to be involved in their child’s education. Another current educational issue is the lack of support and assistance for classroom teachers. For example, there are some schools where each kindergarten and first grade has a full time assistant. I teach first grade but share an assistant with two other first grade classes. We have reading teachers, however they only serve 3-5 students at a time out of 60+ students. With class sizes increasing, it becomes more and more difficult to meet each students needs without proper assistance.
The biggest educational issue in North Carolina at the moment is teacher salary. It is all over the news, and social media. Everyone is aware of the current low salaries, which have been “frozen” for years. Even though everyone is aware of the situation and most people are sympathetic, no body knows how much it is hurting our state and the families of teachers except for the teachers themselves.
Somehow there doesn’t seem to be enough money to give teachers even a cost of living raise. Since I have moved to North Carolina I have not had a raise. My salary is the same as it was 5 years ago. I have 8 years of teaching experience, however, I am getting paid as if I only have 3 years of experience. Now let me clarify, I did not become a teacher to make a lot of money, I became a teacher because I love children and I love to teach! I also became a teacher because I knew it would be a great job to have as a mother. I would be on the same schedule as my children and I would be able to help th...

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... her years of experience. Somehow we need to figure out a way to give teachers enough of raise each year to keep them from quitting their professions, moving to another state, or having to get a second job. Ideally we need to figure out a way to pay teachers what they deserve based on their education and experience. However until we are in the position to do that, I think that even a little raise and a promise that it would continue to raise each year might be just enough to keep some teachers that we are currently loosing.
I am proud to be a teacher in Orange County Schools and I know that even with the huge issue of teacher salary, Orange County Schools will keep teacher moral up and show teachers how much they are appreciated and acknowledge them for all of their outstanding work! This can be done without money and has a tremendous impact when times are tough!

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