America Must Counter Teacher Dropout Problem, Dramatic Action Needed
Dramatic action is needed to counter America’s teacher dropout problem, according to Teachers in Space education director Don McMahon.
“Everyone knows we have a dropout problem among high-school students,” said McMahon, a 40-year veteran teacher. “Most people don’t realize that the dropout rate for teachers is even higher.”
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, almost half of all teachers quit teaching during their first five years. In rural schools and low-income areas, the dropout rate is even higher. Schools with more than 75% minority, disadvantaged, or Hispanic students lose over 20% of their teachers every year, according to the Haberman Educational Foundation.
“The numbers alone do not convey the full severity of the problem,” said McMahon. “It’s not just the number of teachers who are leaving but the quality of teachers. The best qualified teachers are often those who leave first because they have the easiest time finding employment in other fields.
“We cannot solve this problem through ‘business as usual.’ We need innovative new incentives for teachers to remain in education. Government cannot do this alone — the private sector must play a role as well.”
Teachers in Space is a non-profit private-sector program designed to create such incentives, said Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright.
Teachers in Space is working with the private companies that are developing new reusable suborbital spacecraft, which promise dramatic improvements in cost and safety. These low-cost vehicles will enable large numbers of teachers to fly in space and return to the classroom. “Our goal is to raise $20 million to fly 200 teachers a year, four from each and every state in the Union. We want to put a thousand astronaut teachers into American schools, within the next decade,” Wright said.
“We want to make teachers heroes. At Johnson Space Center, I met a computer programmer who told me, ‘I used to be a science teacher. I left teaching because of the salary, but if your program had existed at that time, I would have stayed in teaching.’ That’s the sort of teacher we’re trying to reach. That’s the kind of incentive we want to create.”
As a first step, Teachers in Space is currently recruiting Pathfinders who will be the first Teacher Astronauts to fly in space and return to the classroom. After their flights, which are expected to take place in 2010 or 2011, Pathfinders will be invited to return each summer to help teach the next class of astronaut teachers.
The deadline for teachers to submit Pathfinder astronaut applications is December 4, 2008. Finalists will be announced and training will begin on selected weekends in 2009. Teachers who are selected will not have to give up their day jobs.
More information about Teachers in Space is available on the project website.
Teachers in Space is a joint project of the Space Frontier Foundation and the United States Rocket Academy.