HOW THIS TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK, IT'S TIME TO TURN ADMIRATION INTO ACTION BY USDE SECRETARY MIGUEL CARDONA! (1192 hits)
For Immediate Release From Huffington Post!
“Teaching is the profession that enables all other professions,” writes Secretary of Education Miguel A. Cardona. “And teachers deserve respect.” Twenty-five years ago, I was a newly minted college graduate brimming with excitement for the teaching profession. So excited that I spent $450 of my own savings on crayons, notebooks, and decorations for Room 160 — my first classroom. To welcome my class of fourth graders, I designed a wall banner with a rocket ship that said, “Let the journey begin.”
On that day, the journey began for me, too.
We, educators, live for those moments when our students feel a sense of belonging in our classrooms and start to believe in themselves. Those moments when a student discovers a love of writing, a knack for numbers, an ear for music, or an eye for art that they didn’t know they possessed — when students don’t just meet your highest expectations but surpass them.
Especially during National Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to thank you — America’s educators.
You build relationships with students and set a high bar for their growth. You believe in their potential, even when they don’t see it quite yet themselves. It’s not an exaggeration: You change lives.
As we celebrate you, know this: The Biden-Harris team and the Department of Education see you. We know appreciation can’t just be a box of donuts dropped off in your breakroom. You deserve action that shows America truly values you.
At this moment, you’re facing unprecedented challenges. A public education sector that lost 9% of its jobs amid the pandemic has left you with growing workloads and less time to provide students with the individual attention that you know they need. Salaries are far below what most professionals with graduate degrees earn. Politicians who’ve never studied the science of learning are trying to tell you what you can teach and attempting to drive a wedge between you and your families.
But this divisiveness does not reflect the thriving school communities I’ve seen nationwide. And through it all, you’re focused on what matters most — your students.
Teaching is the profession that enables all other professions. And teachers deserve respect.
That’s why, as your secretary of education, I’m pushing for what I call a focus on “the ABCs of the teaching profession”:
Agency. Better Working Conditions. Competitive Salary.
That’s what President Joe Biden and I are fighting for.
Agency means making sure you’re part of conversations that impact the work you do. Thriving school communities incorporate the voices of teachers along with students, families and school leaders. Agency means treating you as a professional with pathways to advance your career and earn more while still doing what you love — teaching.
Better working conditions mean giving you the support you need to do your job effectively, including time for planning and collaboration with your peers. And it means finally moving past “one-and-done” professional development and prioritizing job-embedded learning, coaching and mentoring.
Competitive salary means recognizing that no one pursues a career in education to get rich, but no teacher should qualify for your state welfare program. In the last 25 years, wages for college graduates have gone up by 28%, while weekly wages for teachers have gone up by a measly 2%. That’s an increase of $29 per week for teachers and $445 for other professionals
