Teachers Toolbox Teacher’s Toolbox is designed to provide teachers with useful information, including helpful hints and links to beneficial websites.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has released its annual report on teacher salary trends, which shows that beginning teachers’ salaries have continued to improve, surpassing the $30,000 mark for the first time in 2001-02. The average pay increase for experienced teachers was only about 2.7 percent over the previous year, as compared to the 3.2 percent increase for new teachers. However, the average teacher salary increase in 2001-02 represented the largest inflation-adjusted salary increase since 1987-88, and average teacher salaries improved faster than inflation for the fourth time in five years. That was the relatively good news, and now for the not-quite-so-good news. According to the AFT report, “Despite the recent period of catch-up, the pressure to increase teacher salaries is abating.” This is due in part to a more balanced supply-and-demand in most subjects—with fewer areas experiencing considerable shortages. Also, the report notes, “The serious financial straits of many states have led to staff reductions in 2002-03 and curtailed salary growth.” The AFT report notes that the average teacher salary still falls “well below the average wages of other white-collar occupations.” For example, mid-level accountants earned an average of $54,503, computer systems analysts an average of $74,534, and engineers earned an average of $76,298. In 2002, teachers averaged $44,367 in earnings. There was also a wide variation in salaries reported across the states. California had the highest average teacher salary at $54,348, and South Dakota had the lowest at $31,383. However, the report points out, the cost of living in California is at least 30 percent higher than in South Dakota. For more information, visit www.aft.org. A pdf of the report, Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2002, is available at www.aft.org/research/survey02/SalarySurvey02.pdf.
The Watershed Academy Web is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Web site that offers self-paced training modules that serve as a “basic but broad introduction to watershed management.”
The modules are organized into six themes:
• Introductory/Overview
• Watershed Ecology
• Watershed Change
• Analysis and Planning
• Management Practices
• Community/Social/Water Law
According to the EPA, the national demand for watershed training exceeds its availability, and the agency’s live classes are consistently overfilled. Through the Internet academy, the EPA hopes to be able to bring the training to many more people. The modules take about one-half hour to two hours to complete, and most are at the college freshman level of instruction. Completion of a series of 15 modules earns the Watershed Academy Web Training Certificate. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/watertrain.
There are a number of resources available to help educators bring the exploration of Mars into their classrooms, and to help their students learn more about the science and technology involved in space exploration. Among the resources from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are the Mars Curriculum Modules for grades four through 12 (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom/resources.html). The NASA CORE site offers Mars-related audio-visual materials (http://core.nasa.gov). The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter orbited and mapped Mars for four-and-a-half years. Education activities related to the project are available at http://mola.gsfc.nasa.gov. For education activities based on the Mars Global Surveyor, visit http://mgs-mager.gsfc.nasa.gov. The Imagine Mars Project is a national arts, science and technology education initiative in which students designed their own ideal Mars community. For lesson plans and resources, visit http://imaginemars.jpl.nasa.gov. Arizona State University has an educational Web site on the Thermal Emission Spectrometer. If you want to know what Mars is made of, visit http://marsed.asu.edu, because that’s what they’re trying to find out too.
