5 radical ideas for schools

Fixing the teacher shortage in Utah may take a radical restructuring of the school year and day, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report, created by a task force of the state's K-16 alliance of government and education officials, recommends five key strategies to combat a teacher shortage predicted to only get worse.

The most dramatic recommendation would lengthen the school year and school day of Utah's public education system, changing it to a trimester schedule. Teachers and students could opt to be in school for only two of those sessions, or for a full year.

"The most out-of-the-box idea, and frankly the one that took deepest root with the majority of task force members, is a recognition that the organization and scheduling of K-12 schools is a very inefficient model that fails to maximize the use of our highly trained work force," said David Sperry, chairman of the teacher task force and scholar in residence for the System of Higher Education.

The idea, Sperry said, is radical but may be necessary to make a dent in the teacher shortage figures.

The state's K-12 student population is projected to add 14,000 new students each year of the next decade. About 700 new teachers will be needed each year to accommodate that growth.

At the same time, higher education enrollments are predicted to be flat during those 10 years, with fewer trained teachers joining Utah's ranks.

"We are simply running out of teachers, and there is no easy remedy for that unless we take some pretty serious action," said Rich Kendell, Utah commissioner of higher education.

The report, presented to the K-16 alliance Tuesday, will now go to various education groups for a more thorough hearing and consideration of whether any of the five suggestions could become reality.

In addition to the trimester model, the report also recommends a hike in teacher salaries, an increase in scholarships and loans for teachers in training, enhanced capacity at colleges of education and greater flexibility in licensing and hiring.

The trimester plan was the most "provocative" recommendation, Sperry noted, and is based largely on a recent move by BYU-Idaho to a trimester schedule in order to save on capital costs and accommodate more students. A similar transition could help the state take advantage of the teachers it already has by giving teachers the choice to work longer days and a year-round schedule, Sperry noted.

In addition, the move could increase options for students while decreasing class size and increasing teacher salaries. The longer school day and year — roughly 213 instruction days instead of the traditional 180 — would bump teacher salaries up by about 50 percent without changing the hourly pay rate.