Make it count.

Make it count. Many areas of education are foretelling drastic shortages inqualified teachers but in special education the shortages are alreadyhere. Each year, more school districts face ever harder searches forqualified special education teachers-searches that are not alwayssuccessful. Sometimes the result is under- and unqualified teachers onemergency certificates. Or teachers may meet certification standards inone state and not in another, further complicating the problems. If special education is to be successful, that is, if it is goingto meet each student's needs, then recruiting quality people andretaining them has got to become a greater focus of everyone'sefforts. That is the reason for CEC's campaign for recruitment andretention as well as many other such efforts, both governmental andprivate. For most of this century and before, business and professionalopportunities were rarely open to women and individuals from ethnicgroups. Traditionally, these people had few choices save teaching.Because other professional doors have now opened to them, we have toconvince today's professionals that with such ample choices"out there," teaching is still the best choice. How? How does one individual or one group launch a "campaignfor recruitment and retention"? Sounds almost military,doesn't it? Or perhaps like an effort from Madison Avenue Madison Avenue,celebrated street of Manhattan, borough of New York City. It runs from Madison Square (23d St.) to the Madison Bridge over the Harlem River (138th St.). In the 1940s and 50s, some of the major U.S. ? But Ibelieve that is exactly how it should sound. The people we need toattract and retain-the best and the brightest because the childrendeserve no less-are used to being courted and wooed with strongadvertising and sophisticated imaging. Consider such effective people-marketing as the U.S. Army's"Be all you can be Be All You Can Be is an episode of the MTV animated series Beavis and Butt-Head. The title is derived from the recruiting slogan of the U.S. Army. SynopsisAfter watching a number of military-related TV shows, the duo are inspired to visit a recruiting station. ." Or the United Negro College Fund's"The mind is a terrible thing to waste." These are strong,clear messages designed to be heeded. Education, too, needs to update its packaging. There is nothingunprofessional about effective marketing. To bring the best people intospecial education, we have got to realize that we are competing with thebig boys of public relations public relations,activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most . We need to reach the young person selecting a career, the mid-liferlooking for a career change and rejuvenation RejuvenationAesonin extreme old age, restored to youth by Medea. [Rom. Myth.: LLEI, I: 322]apples of perpetual youthby tasting the golden apples kept by Idhunn, the gods preserved their youth. [Scand. Myth. , and perhaps even theregular educator looking for something different. And we have theperfect public relations agent--the children themselves. Our recruitmentand retention campaigns must have all the pizazz and polish of a MadisonAvenue campaign but the showcase is not golden arches or a new andimproved mousetrap. Our product is the children and the satisfaction ofan important job well done. Because teaching counts. Children count. Recycling-not wasting asingle bit of material--has become almost the embodiment of the 1990s.Education must muster a marketing effort of a similar scale that teachesus all that likewise no single child is disposable! If we care so muchto save the trees, we must also learn to save the children, allchildren. And the professional best able to save a child with a severelearning disability, one with multiple disabilities, or a disaffectedgifted youth is the teacher. And by save," I do not mean with amissionary's zeal but by utilizing a professional's skills toguide that child to his or her maximum levels of development for thebenefit of both the child and society. Special education has valuable opportunities to offer. As educationreform heats up, for better or worse, the bright light of scrutiny canoffer bright, talented individuals chances to shine at Verb 1. shine at - be good at; "She shines at math"excel atexcel, surpass, stand out - distinguish oneself; "She excelled in math" the same time-andthis is special education's advantage over the otherprofessions-that an individual can count. Because education matters, theindividuals who make education their profession matter. They matter tosociety at large, to the parents of their students, and most of all tothe students themselves. It is time for education and its proponents to package that messageand package it properly. Millions of dollars are spent on propermarketing of everything from a military career to the proper image ofpolitical candidates. Education needs to join the marketing revolutionof the 1990s and turn its best side to the camera. This is not to say we should cover up the flaws or try to minimizethem. Measures such as less paperwork, better pay, more curricularcontrol and authority, and better preservice and inservice training,have all been proposed in varying instances and combinations and alldeserve serious consideration. However, problems and their solutions canbe incorporated into our messages of recruitment and retention. We caninvite the best minds to meet the challenges, propose the solutions, andlead us in working them through. The solutions can be as creative and asliberating as corporate advancement can be confining and confusing. Thepolitics of the office can give way to the drama of education with noloss of truth or integrity and a gain in self-fulfillment. And solutions can come. As private businesses face increasingpressure to contribute to the schools, why not take some of the elementsthat already exist and "reform" them? For instance, just aspeople have for years endowed en��dow?tr.v. en��dowed, en��dow��ing, en��dows1. To provide with property, income, or a source of income.2. a. a university chair for a particularpurpose or to honor an individual, why not ask local businesses to endow en��dow?tr.v. en��dowed, en��dow��ing, en��dows1. To provide with property, income, or a source of income.2. a. a teaching position, maybe a master teacher who will be free to mentorhis or her peers. The sponsor names the "chair" but the peerschoose the teacher to receive the post, either for one year, several, orin perpetuity Of endless duration; not subject to termination.The phrase in perpetuity is often used in the grant of an Easement to a utility company. in perpetuityadj. forever, as in one's right to keep the profits from the land in perpetuity. . Or local businesses could be asked to endow a summertraining institute or local, classroom-based research, both conductingit and replicating it. Likewise, as the private sector experiences an oversupply o��ver��sup��ply?n. pl. o��ver��sup��pliesA supply in excess of what is appropriate or required.tr.v. o��ver��sup��plied, o��ver��sup��ply��ing, o��ver��sup��plies ofworkers in some areas, they spend a considerable amount of money onseparation packages, including job counseling and resume writing. Whynot include information on retraining re��train?tr. & intr.v. re��trained, re��train��ing, re��trainsTo train or undergo training again.re��train for a career in special education?Many universities have such programs and if not, the local businessescan endow such a program. Such efforts could take many forms and wouldmake the whole painful process of staff reduction somewhat lessdifficult if there were bright and promising alternatives to offer goodpeople. Sabbaticals for business professionals that would allow them tospend a year in the school, perhaps in a team situation with a master orother experienced teacher, would also allow those outside education totest the educational waters before switching. Early retirement couldalso offer many an opportunity to try special education. For those people just choosing a job, again, letting them get toknow and work with special education's children is often the mostdecisive factor Noun 1. decisive factor - a point or fact or remark that settles something conclusivelyclinchercausal factor, determinant, determining factor, determinative, determiner - a determining or causal element or factor; "education is an important determinant of . The expansion of CEC's high school clubs andmentoring done by CEC (Central Electronic Complex) The set of hardware that defines a mainframe, which includes the CPU(s), memory, channels, controllers and power supplies included in the box. Some CECs, such as IBM's Multiprise 2000 and 3000, include data storage devices as well. members and others need to be nurtured andexpanded. All these efforts can comprise the many fronts of our professionalcampaign to recruit and retain competent individuals to educate childrenwith disabilities and those who are gifted. Any action from a singleindividual telling a neighbor about her profession to a province-widemeeting, from a successful video to a 30-minute club meeting, can expandthe campaign. What unifies all our efforts is the message: Teachingcounts. So make a career choice that counts.