BSU student interest in school teaching nosedives

MUNCIE – Undergraduates at Ball State University — once known as Ball State Teachers College — are losing interest in becoming school teachers.

The statistics alarm John Jacobson, dean of the university’s Teachers College.

In the past decade, enrollment in the elementary and kindergarten teacher-preparation programs nosedived from 1,512 to 839, a drop of 45 percent. Elementary education has been the university’s most popular program among undergraduates seeking teaching licenses.

Other data raise another red flag.

Undergraduate enrollment in all the teacher-preparation programs, which include not only future kindergarten and elementary school teachers but also prospective theater, music, journalism, math, English, chemistry, social studies and other teachers, dropped from 2,273 to 1,930, or 15 percent, in the past two years.

“The story is more than just Ball State,” Jacobson said. “At Ball State and in Indiana and in the nation, there is a decline in individuals coming into teacher preparation and initial licensing.”

The trend isn’t surprising to Evan Shroyer, a Ball State senior studying elementary education who said “there is a negative perception of public education right now. The perception is public education is going downhill.”

A Southside High School graduate, Shroyer also noted that school teacher doesn’t appear at the top of the list of the fastest-growing, high-wage jobs of tomorrow.

The “Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs” list created by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development ranks K-12 teacher below such occupations as nurse, dental hygienist, software engineer, plumber, construction worker, social worker, graphic designer and truck driver.

Shroyer has spoken to a lot of disgruntled veteran teachers who have complained that, in addition to grading students, they find themselves and their schools being graded by state and federal politicians.

Ball State freshman Jenna Ferguson, a Jay County High School graduate who is studying intensive special education, said, “Teachers get blamed for kids coming out wrong.”

She also expressed a concern about the lack of school funding.

“We don’t know what exactly is causing it,” Jacobson said of the enrollment decline, citing a lack of research.

The causes might include the negative portrayal of education by politicians and the media; teacher compensation; teacher evaluations; lack of respect; “the joy of teaching is gone”; morale problems; higher standards (starting in fall 2013, an overall grade point average of 3.0, instead of 2.5, was required for admission to the teaching curriculum at Ball State); and more opportunities for female undergraduates besides traditional careers like teaching and nursing, according to Jacobson.

In late October, Ray Scheele, a political science professor, told The Star Press that teachers “have really felt like they’ve been under attack for several years now, starting in the (Republican Gov. Mitch) Daniels administration.”

He said the issues included charter schools, vouchers, pensions, school funding, test scores and teacher assessments.

Scheele was commenting on the candidacy of Democrat Melanie Wright, a Daleville school teacher who would go on in November to unseat longtime state Rep. Jack Lutz, R-Anderson, a retired furniture store owner.

Education Week, a national newspaper covering K-12 news, reported in October that the reason topping many analysts’ list of qualms about entering the teaching profession was the Great Recession of 2008, which resulted in teacher layoffs that sent a message to potential teachers that the profession was no longer reliable.

The viability of Ball State’s Teachers College has been reinforced by a growth in graduate student enrollment, which for the first time exceeded undergraduate enrollment in 2010.

Undergraduate enrollment in the college is now 1,249, compared to graduate enrollment of 2,056.

Ball State, for example, has seen phenomenal growth in enrollment in its online master’s degree for applied behavioral analysis with an emphasis on autism.

Other advanced degrees offered by the college include master’s degrees in school counseling, adult and community education, and school psychology; an educational specialist degree in school superintendency; and doctoral degrees in educational administration and supervision, among many others.

Unlike some states, Indiana remains an exporter of teachers. The state has a surplus of elementary, history and English teachers.

Still, Jacobson said, “It’s a trend that we need to be concerned about, because we want to attract the best and brightest. We’re very serious about that. We are concerned about all of the education programs. Are we attracting the best and brightest to come into the teaching profession?”

Many teachers leave the profession after five years. Combine that with fewer teachers in the pipeline and it’s a reason to be concerned, he said.

Contact reporter Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.

Elementary/kindergarten teacher-prep enrollment

(Ball State, undergraduate students)

Source: Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Ball State