One Nation Under...

Tonight as I found myself reading a friend's profile message, I was reminded of how frustrating moving is when you are a teacher.  Over the past three years, my husband and I have moved three times due to his career in the military.  Luckily for me though we only moved from Clarksville, Tennessee to Columbus, Georgia and then back to the state of Tennessee.  With towns like Clarksville, Tennessee and Columbus, Georgia you may have guessed that my husband is in the Army.  Teaching in military communities has caused my eyes to be opened to a situation that many people do not normally care much about unless they are nomads or are well-educated on schools around our great nation. 

While teaching in Clarksville, Tennessee, a parent came in for a conference while he was home for his two weeks of leave from Iraq.  This particular parent met with me so that he could be reassured that his son would be able to compete with his peers if they were reassigned to a base in another state, like Alaska.  Knowing that our standards are not the same, that was something I could not promise him.  It actually reminded me of when I transitioned from Cobb County, Georgia to Williamson County, Tennessee.  All of a sudden I knew all of the answers, and felt as though the material had already been taught to me.  I now know that I had this feeling because the standards were not alligned, so I may have actually already been taught the material I was being taught in Tennessee although I was in a new grade level.

A push in education is to have national standards.  Many people oppose this way of micromanaging, but as families become more transiant, and certain jobs cause people to move around a lot, I feel that it is one of the only ways public schools can maintain consistency which allows students to grow and compete with one another no matter how long they have lived in their current town. 

The other side of this debate is whether teacher licensing should be nationally mandated.  Although I am not crazy for the federal government having their hand in too many things, I feel that this would be a great way to allow teachers to be certified to teach the same things.  For instance, in Georgia I taught 8th grade and every subject.  However, when I moved back to Tennessee the two years of experience I had teaching Social Studies, Science and Math did not equate to Tennessee adding those endorsements on my licensure in Tennessee.  In Georgia my primary area of hiring was English/Language Arts, but I taught one class of Science/Social Studies and a remedial class of Math.  Of course Social Studies is my favorite class to teach, and I can't teach it in Tennessee unless I take a test and pay more money.  How frustrating!