The overall starting salary offer to new college graduates, regardless of major, increased 7.1 percent from last year, according to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 
.
The Summer 2008 issue of NACE’s Salary Survey shows average starting salaries on the rise in spite of a less-than-robust economy.
The average starting salary offered to students with business degrees increased by 4 percent from last year. Computer science graduates saw a large increase in average starting salary offers, up 13.1 percent from last year. Liberal arts graduates also saw a significant increase in their average starting salary offers, up 12.6 percent from 2007.
TEA recently notified districts that the reporting of paraprofessional qualifications for the 2008–09 school year will be included in the Highly Qualified Teacher Compliance Report. In past years, paraprofessional information was reported as part of the NCLB Consolidated Compliance Report.
Districts must report the HQ status of Title I paraprofessionals as of Sept. 15, 2008. The report is due on Nov. 3, 2008. Information on the requirements and sample forms are available on the TEA Web site .
To meet U.S. Department of Education monitoring requirements, TEA will implement a random validation process of paraprofessional qualifications during the 2008–09 school year.
The State Board for Educator Certification reports that more than 50,000 online teacher certification tests were taken via the Internet during the past year. That makes Texas a national leader in the use of online certification exams.
Thirteen online tests are currently available and seven more are scheduled to come on line this month (a complete list of tests is included in a recent TEA press release . By the 2010–11 school year, 34 of 78 certification tests will be available on line. Online testing has been available since 2004–05 and was put in place to increase certification test accessibility.
Prospective teachers seem to prefer online testing in part because of the quick turnaround: they receive their scores within seven days of taking an exam. School districts appreciate the quick turnaround as they make hiring decisions, too. HR administrators generally don’t offer contracts to candidates who haven’t passed certification exams.
Does every campus need a nurse? The Texas AFT School Nurse Task Force thinks so. The group will encourage legislators to take action to ensure adequate nurse staffing in schools.
Texas AFT contends that the need for school nurses on each campus has grown more acute as more and more children with health-care needs go to public schools. AFT data indicates that 10 to 20 percent of the nation’s schoolchildren have chronic physical, emotional, or social problems, and one in 20 students takes prescription medication while at school.
Nurses are often shared between campuses. That leaves teachers, paraprofessionals, school secretaries, and other school personnel with little medical training to deal with the health care needs of students.
A University of Iowa study indicates that inadequate school nurse staffing has serious consequences. Medication errors were found to be 39 percent more likely when someone other than a school nurse was involved.
