美国国家公共电台 NPR--Schools across the country offer teachers more money to staff their classrooms

Schools across the country offer teachers more money to staff their classrooms

Transcript¹

Iowa's largest school district is offering a big incentive² to address teacher shortages. Experienced teachers who put off retirement³ for one more year can make an extra $50,000 or more.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Imagine going shopping for school supplies only to find the store shelves are empty. No backpacks. No notebooks. No index cards. What's missing in many school districts across the country, though, is much more crucial. There are not enough teachers. Some schools are offering big money just to staff their classrooms. Grant Gerlock of Iowa Public Radio has the story of what one district is willing to pay to keep their educators from calling it quits.

UNIDENTIFIED CHEERLEADERS: (Chanting) Bang, bang, do your thing. This ain't nothing but a Rider's thing. Say, aye, aye...

GRANT GERLOCK, BYLINE⁴: A football scrimmage for Roosevelt High School in Des Moines is a welcome back for Friday Night Lights, complete with cheerleaders and the Rough Riders marching band. Students are ready to get back to school, too, with new schedules and new teachers.

AZARIA MUTHIE: Azaria Muthie (ph). I'm going to be a senior. I go to Roosevelt High School. One of my favorite teachers, Ms. Graber (ph) - shoutout to her - I'm excited to do AP government with her.

GERLOCK: K-12 schools, large and small, have been racing⁵ to find enough people to teach government and Spanish and physics and special education. Des Moines is no different. More than 300 teachers resigned or retired⁶ last year. That's at least 80 more than the year before. Matt Smith is the district superintendent⁷.

MATT SMITH: Missing a teacher is tough, right? Missing any teacher is tough.

GERLOCK: So when administrators⁸ saw what was coming, they worked out a new deal with the teacher's union. It's a $50,000 retirement bonus for longtime educators if they stay one more year, money the district usually sets aside for early retirement. Fifty thousand is a lot, more than some teachers' annual salary. Fifty-eight have taken the money. Smith says it's worth the cost to avoid an even worse staffing problem.

SMITH: Those are nearly 60 positions that were not vacant in Des Moines public schools for us also trying to fill it. So that's another year of instruction that students are going to benefit from from these individuals that have got just a wealth of experience. And they're so successful with kids.

GERLOCK: One of those teachers taking the 50,000 is Mary O'Connor (ph) and her husband, David (ph). We met outside the middle school where she teaches P.E. and he teaches social studies.

MARY O'CONNOR: We actually came up with the idea of, what if they paid us to stay?

GERLOCK: Mary says they were ready to retire last year. But staying helps them afford health coverage⁹ until they qualify for Medicare.

M O'CONNOR: I think the important thing for us was the chance to have some buy-in on the insurance that we have, which we love, before we turned 65.

GERLOCK: Paying teachers to not retire is unique. But retention¹⁰ and hiring bonuses upwards¹¹ of 2,000 or $5,000 are common across the U.S. - or even more. A high school near Charlotte, N.C., is offering a $10,000 sign-on bonus, looking for someone to teach math. Paul Bruno, a professor of education policy at the University of Illinois, says schools should target incentives¹² at the jobs that are hardest to fill, whether that's math teachers or hourly workers like bus drivers.

PAUL BRUNO: Given that the unemployment rate is so low and the labor¹³ market is so tight, if you want workers in these positions, you're often going to need to be competing more aggressively. And that means compensating¹⁴ them more.

GERLOCK: As it stands in Des Moines, 97% of the teaching jobs are filled, thanks in part to that $50,000 deal to put off retirement. Thing is, social studies teacher David O'Connor says that's about the same as the district paid just a couple of years ago for teachers to retire early. At the moment, that's all been flipped¹⁵ around because of the shortage.

DAVID O'CONNOR: Right now, at least, it's a one-year thing. It helps for the short term. But there's still - the long-term issue is still there.

GERLOCK: In fact, dozens of jobs remain open in Des Moines. That means the current teachers will be filling gaps. And the toll¹⁶ that takes could shape what the teacher shortage looks like next summer. For NPR News, I'm Grant Gerlock.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

3 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

8 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

11 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

12 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 compensating   

补偿，补助，修正

参考例句：

• I am able to set up compensating networks of nerve connections. 我能建立起补偿性的神经联系网。
• It is desirable that compensating cables be run in earthed conduit. 补偿导线最好在地下管道中穿过。

15 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

16 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。