Ask CCSD Board Candidates Why Teachers Leave

Our Lieutenant Governor, Kevin L. Bryant, may have no teaching experience, but he talks to actual teachers. How else to explain his op-ed 's focus on the actual reasons teachers leave the classroom. “‘Standardized Test Scores.’ Those three words head the list of reasons teachers like me give up their dream. ... Crushing paperwork, time-crunches, absurd curricula and unrealistic expectations only accelerate the resulting exodus of high-quality teachers.” These are the words of South Carolina teachers. No wonder many cannot wait to leave."

Much of this spirit-crushing load should be laid at the feet of too many administrators in a district such as Charleston County's.

"Recent statistics illustrate the exodus from South Carolina public school classrooms. Twenty-two percent of new teachers hired in 2016 left after one year. Thirty-eight percent of teachers left their jobs within their first five years. And South Carolina colleges graduate about one-third fewer teachers than they did just a few years ago." 

"Teachers I talk to would like a higher salary. But they are concerned about the mind-numbing regulation and red tape, the physically sickening gantlet of assessments, and the real prospect of violence that renders their jobs nearly impossible."

"The dozens of funding formulas, reams of regulation, destructive systems of assessment, all mandated by Columbia and Washington, have turned public schools into Orwellian stages where individuals of talent either lose their heart or succumb to the paradox of the classroom as an assembly line — and then leave."

"Many leave the profession, especially from the challenging schools, because they have no ability to enforce rules and discipline. Teachers and principals should be given the freedom to control their classrooms."

Any teacher can tell you that learning does not take place without good discipline in the classroom. It's a no-brainer.

"Paperwork, testing mania, and chaotic classrooms leave teachers with no space, time, or energy to teach. And too often, they are focused on raising the test scores of struggling students or keeping unruly students from disrupting the classroom. Teachers spend little time actually teaching, especially to those who want to learn."

Bryant can be reached at Ltgov@scstatehouse.gov.

Ask your school board candidates what they intend to do about these barriers to good teaching.