Schools Chief Outlines Recruiting Plan Bergeson Proposes Raises, Mentoring Program For New Teachers

It’s going to take more than money to lure quality teachers to public schools, state schools Superintendent Terry Bergeson said.

She’s working on a recruiting plan - in addition to a 10 percent proposed salary increase over two years - that includes mentors for rookie teachers and apprenticeships for college students.

“We will not attract people to this profession if it isn’t transformed,” Bergeson told 1,700 educators attending a conference of the state Commission on Student Learning at the Spokane Convention Center Tuesday.

Now, new teachers sometimes get stuck with the toughest students because they lack seniority, and then they get little outside support, Bergeson said.

“The first year, you’d be under a great mentor,” she said.

While Bergeson won applause for her proposed improvements, Gov. Gary Locke received a standing ovation an hour later, when he stopped in to commend the educators for staying the course with an education reform plan that’s been tough and controversial.

“Alarming numbers of people were on the verge of giving up on our public schools,” Locke said. “I think we can safely say we’ve turned the tide.”

His own proposed salary increase for teachers - 4 percent over two years - is significantly smaller than Bergeson’s proposal.

But he also wants to hire 1,000 new elementary teachers, using both state and federal money. Like Bergeson, he’s proposing a mentor plan. The 2,000 new teachers hired each year would get on-the-job training during their first year of teaching.

Before becoming teachers, applicants would have to pass tests to prove they have good teaching skills and knowledge in their subject areas.

Locke said he also wants cash awards for elementary and middle schools that improve their test scores three years in a row.

Bergeson said she and Locke are “basically on the same page” when it comes to improving education.

Their biggest disagreement is on how much more money teachers should make. “I really am worried about the loss of buying power,” Bergeson said.

The rest of the two-day conference is reserved for work sessions on how to make reform successful.

Educators are attending sessions on how to raise writing scores in the state’s new assessments. Writing is the only area in which most fourth-graders lost ground last year.

They’re pitching ideas for creating assessments for social studies, the arts and health and fitness. So far, the only subjects with new state assessments are math, reading, writing and listening.

Another session focused on how educators at 53 schools statewide dramatically raised their math scores.

“If we pull all this together,” Bergeson said, “we’re going to have world-class learners coming out of Washington schools, ready to take anything we throw at them.”