Page 2B/The Battalion/Thursday, January 26, 1984
■
Study: Higher salaries will attract better teachei
By RHONDA SNIDER
Reporter
Do higher teacher salaries
and more money for material
resources in schools increase the
quality of teachers? The answer
to this question has received
much debate in the recent con
troversy over the quality of edu
cation in America.
Two Texas A&M political sci
ence professors have designed a
report, “Resources for Public
Education and Teacher Quali
ty,” to answer the question.
Drs. Harvey Tucker and
David Hill believe there is evi
dence to “support the proposi
tion that better candidate
teachers can be attracted by
higher teacher salaries and grea
ter material resources for educa
tion.”
The report cited a study
which found a significant corre
lation between average teacher
salaries and average Scholastic
Aptitude Test scores. In states
which had higher salaries for
teachers, the average SAT
scores tended to be higher also.
In addition this study re
vealed that expenditures per
pupil in average daily attend
ance are also significantly corre
lated with the SAT scores of
those who intend to study edu
cation.
The study, conducted earlier
this year by C.E. Feistritzer of
the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, co
vered 22 states.
Tucker said this was unique
data and worth compiling into
the report that he sent to the
Governor’s Select Commission
on Education. The Commission
is making recommendations to
the Texas Legislature on how to
spend the state’s money on edu
cation.
He said this research doesn’t
prove that states which raise
teacher salaries will have better
quality teachers. It also doesn’t
prove the high salaries will pro
duce students who will make
higher SAT scores.
For example. New Hamp
shire had the second lowest av
erage teacher salaries but had
the highest average SAT scores
of the 22 states in the survey.
Nevertheless, Tucker said, the
research approaches a positive
answer to the question of how to
get better quality teachers.
The research also suggests —
though it doesn’t prove — that
students who plan to major in
education will be smarter if they
attend a school system with grea
ter funding for material re
sources, he said.
“It gives us evidence to sug
gest that this is not a silly idea,”
Tucker said. “It suggests to me
that if we make a commitment to
higher salaries and more money
for school systems, we could im
prove on those who decide to go
into education as a career.”
Tucker said data are not avail
able on those who actually did go
into education as a career, but
the scores are available of those
who plan to major in education
and these are usually lower than
average SAT scores.
A two-step, long-term pro
cess is needed to produce higher
quality teachers, Tucker said.
He recommends increasing
salaries which will begin to
attract a higher quantity of can
didates to the teaching field.
This will bring both higher and
lower quality teachers which
leads to the second step — weed-
iP;
ing out the lower quality ones.
He said this is a long-term
strategy because initiating the
higher salaries would not
change the present teachers, but
would merely give them a grea
ter income. Tucker said not
much can be done to improve
teacher quality in the short run.
In the long run, however, the
natural turnover in the leaching
field will result in higher quality
people, he said.
This process will take at least
three to five years before any
effect is seen due to more intelli
gent young people who decide
to go into leaching because of
the higher salaries. And it may
take as long as 10-15 yean
fore a state would recogniit
significant increase in
teachers because, hesaklill
take that long before thei^
ity of those presently teatj|
reach retirement age.
In addition to incr®
salaries, other conditionsI(
er recommends toattractl
quality teachers are morei
for material resources, ei
lion of violence and di
problems in the schools ifil|
increased respect and
for teachers. All of wtiiclj
improve the teachers’ss
vironment, a primary
lion for quality work, hes
ne'
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AIM
12th Man Kickoff
Team
Persons interested in trying out for
the 1984 12th Man Kickoff Team
should report to the Kyle Field
Dressing Room on Monday, Janu
ary 30th at 5:30 pm for General
Meeting. No prior experience is re
quired.
Rocking?
Researcher says rocking babies has benefits
ma
United Press International
WASHINGTON — In a
study suggesting the rocking of
babies may have more benefits
that just calming an infant, a
California researcher reports
that premature babies placed on
oscillating waterbeds have en
hanced nervous system func
tioning.
These tiny infants showed
fewer signs of irritability, were
alert more often, were more re
sponsive to the human face and
voice and perhaps most impor
tant, had fewer occasions of in
terrupted breathing during
sleep than similar babies who
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stayed in an ordinary incubator.
Dr. Anneliese Korner, pro
fessor of psychiatry and be
havioral medicine at the Stan
ford University School of Medi
cine, said the waterbed’s gentle
oscillations may mimic the
maternal biological rhythms the
baby experienced before birth.
She noted that, unlike normal
term babies, prematurely born
infants usually are placed in an
incubator in a hospital and thus
are deprived of normal move
ment stimulation similiar to that
experienced before birth.
Numerous studies of labora
tory animals have suggested that
lack of such movement after
birth may impair the early de
velopment of the brain.
“The most gentle way I could
think of providing compensa
tory movement stimulation to
preterms was through
waterbeds,” Dr. Korner said at a
seminar sponsored by the feder
al Alcohol, Drug Abuse and
Mental Health Administration.
The incubator waterbeds
have gentle head to foot motions
and also maintain a temperature
just slightly higher than the air
in the incubator. The fluid sup
port also is easier on the babies'
gentle skin.
“This intervention not only
helps the pre-terms behave
more normally, but also — and
possibly more important —
makes their behavior less fright
ening and more appealing to pa
rents,” she said. “This is of major
significance to the long-term
well being of pre-term babies.”
Dr. Korner said premature
babies — which account for 7
percent to 10 percent of all in
tan ts born in the Uniied
— are particularly vulnerabi
future nervous system,
rial and mental healthproNi
“Their biological immai
at birth not only places ilia
medical risk, but predispi
them to behaviors that art
hausting and frustratingfo
rents,” she said.
“Pre-term babies’disc
nized movements, fragM
sleep patterns and excessist
ility make them difficj
tabu
ty .
care tor. They are hank
soothe and teed andlessrts
sive to parents than are fulk
babies.
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First Presbyterian Church
1100 Carter Creek Parkway, Bryan
823-8073
Dr. Robert Leslie, Pastor
Rev. John McGarey, Associate Pastor
S.
SUNDAY:
Worship at 8:30AM & 11:00AM
Church School at 9:30AM
College Class at 9:30AM
I Bus from TAMU Krueger/Dunn 9:10AM
Northgate 9:15AMI
Youth Meeting at 5:00PM
Nursery: All Events
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LL U LLI
» »If
After two studies md
that premature babies pkt
waterbeds have fewer occai
of the breathing intemij*
known as apnea, Dr. Kra
conducted a more deni
study, comparing pi
babies on water beds rorupi
weeks with those assigned 1
domly to normal incubator
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“We found that thei
perimental groupdemonsm
significantly more ma;
motor behavior, showed ai
cantly fewer signs of irrii
and were more than twictl
often in the visually alertiii
and were significantly molt®
sponsive to a human face?
voices” she said.
“This pilot study, whidi*:®
tend to replicate, thus sugilE
that compensatory moves® A si
stimulation as provide ||nced
waterbeds is likely to enluBu, be
the neurobehavioral devdfcitce ;
merit of preterm infants.' Ilexas
jthe bo
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foran
“AFFAIR OF
THEHEART
1984Spring/
Summer
Bridal
Extravaganza
Bride ’n Formal and APs
Formal Wear, along with
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planned an exciting afternoon
full of events for the bride, the
groom, and the wedding party.
irivitat
Session I Registration: Feb. 7-8
If you want to be a part of MSC After Hours, fill out
an application in Room 216 MSC before January
DATE: Sunday, January
29th,1984
TIME: Booths open
at 2:00 p.m.
Style Show at
3:00 p.m.
PLACE: Aggieland Hotel
Grand Ballroom
1502 South Texas
in College Station,
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R.S.V.P.: Reservations
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(409) 693-6900
or
(713)659-7000
Bride ’n Formal and
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Present
THE STORYBOOK
WEDDING
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demonstrate their producl
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Talk to the vendors—Florists,
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EXHIBITS
Many area firms associated
with the wedding market will
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Thousands of dollars worth
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AGGIELAND
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BRID^n
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