A new study from the National Council on Teacher Equity of the nine Miami-Dade Public School Districts says two are providing the least experienced and least effective teachers.
“It’s a hard, hard job,” said Nancy Waymack of the National Council on Teacher Equity. “They’re not coming and going because it’s an easy place to be. So certainly teachers in those schools need support and they need to know they’re gonna have that support.”
The districts in question are District One and Two. Both have more African-American students and more low-income students than anywhere else in the county. The study said as a result, students are being shortchanged a quality education at Carol City, Norland Senior, North Miami, Central, Edison, Jackson, Northwestern, and Booker T. Washington High Schools.
The study also said teachers in Districts One and Two also have a higher turnover and are absent more.
“They often also have the youngest teachers, the least experienced teachers, those that are out of the classroom,” Waymack said.
Miami-Dade County Public School administrators said they identified the inequities years ago and started making changes to correct it.
“Since that time, we’ve already understood and recognized the need to increase our teacher retention rates in particular at our most fragile schools and we’ve seen a dramatic increase with the teachers that are staying,” said Pablo Ortiz of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
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The president of the Miami-Dade teachers union also said that during the first week of the new school year, the focus should be only on that.
“I think our teachers are working really, really hard, be they novice teachers or experienced teachers. It takes a combination of everybody to make this school,” said Frederick Ingram of the United Teachers of Dade.
