Challenge for the Future at Mary Washington: Identifying and Compensating New Professors – A Peer Study (data compiled by McGrath Educational Services)

As part of my search for meaningful data, I stumbled upon an interesting tidbit. If one were to examine a particular university which is driving to upgrade its status and "brand name" in the collegiate community, one way to do so would be by identifying, properly paying, and retaining its young professors. The University of Mary Washington (formerly Mary Washington College) in Fredericksburg, VA could be identified as one of those schools. For the record, I have no ties to UMW and culled this information out as part of an analysis on the general professor salaries in the Southeastern United states as well as Virginia. I particularly like the comparison to Christopher Newport University, a school in my town of Newport News, which makes no secret of its desire to become the "Harvard on the James (River)"

In recent years, there has been a movement at the University of Mary Washington (UMW) designed to enhance the stature and “brand name” of the institution. The long-term objective is to build the school into a top-flight college with a strong reputation in the Southeastern United States, as well as nationwide.
The first step in this direction occurred when the school’s name was changed from Mary Washington College in 2004. The latest expansion projects, Eagle Village and the William M. Anderson Center, completed in the past two years at a cost of $115 million, are further examples of institutional progress.
McGrath Educational Services was “hired” to conduct a study – one which would make recommendations on how the school can better hire and retain young professors for its various programs. After an initial consultation, it was agreed to work on a professor salary study.

To understand UMW’s place among “peer” schools, one must understand the identity of UMW. Currently, there are almost 4,400 undergraduate students, mostly women (64%). UMW is a four-year institution and accepts first year students on a full-time basis.

To find the peer schools for UMW, the first database studied was from SCHEV (Schools and Colleges of Higher Education in Virginia). Their list was not accepted because of the influx of Northeast and Midwest schools. However, an initial list was developed from the NCES (National Center for Educational Statistics). The list of 36 was narrowed to 15, all four-year schools with 1,000-5,000 students, located in the Southeast. Here is how UMW compares in average associate and assistant professor salaries:

Institution
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Lecturer
Bluefield State College
54512
49705
40356
Christopher Newport University
73087
56727
50135
Citadel Military College of South Carolina
68140
56117
49000
Elizabeth City State University
69438
62321
56294
Fairmont State University
58099
48707
40984
Francis Marion University
59881
53130
47499
Henderson State University
53048
48999
38809
Kentucky State University
58303
47373
41248
Longwood University
62978
53778
56383
Shepherd University
61370
52865
Blank
South Carolina State University
61272
57489
43430
The University of Virginia's College at Wise
60041
55810
43300
University of Mary Washington
63386
53768
52667
University of North Carolina at Asheville
67703
61218
Blank
Virginia Military Institute
62789
52005
41514






The findings from the initial search suggested that while some valuable information was gained from the salary comparison, it would be advantageous to perform another search to clarify the findings. It was decided that the second search would be restricted to all four-year schools in Virginia.

Based on the results of the second search, the data now shows new trends, especially as to where UMW ranks among its peer schools in Virginia, of which there are as many as five. The new breakdown looks as follows:

Avg. Salary
Avg. Salary
Avg. Salary
9 Mos.
9 Mos.
9 Mos.
Associate
Ass't
Instructor
Professors
Professors
2010-11
2010-11
2010-11
Christopher Newport University
73087
56727
50135
College of William and Mary
81108
66312
42922
George Mason University
83149
68538
55845
James Madison University
66941
58357
50003
Longwood University
62978
53778
56383
Norfolk State University
69299
56575
50499
Old Dominion University
73816
66627
44942
Radford University
64910
56717
49010
UVA-Wise
60041
55810
43277
U. Mary Washington
62768

53877

52561
U. of Virginia
92539
76654
50815
VCU
78471
62387
47568
VMI
62789
52005
41514
Virginia Tech
82021
70900
45009
Virginia State
64425
64613
50184



This comparison provided more meaningful data. For average salary paid to associate professors, assistant professors and instructors, UMW is on par or slightly below schools such as Radford, Longwood, VMI, Virginia State and U. Virginia-Wise. However, a deeper analysis shows that UMW is in the high range (3rd of 15) for compensating lecturers.

In a matchup against Christopher Newport, a future athletics (Capital Athletics Conference) rival and school of roughly the same demographics, there is a significant difference. UMW is approximately 5% (for assistant professors) and 15% (associate) behind CNU for average salary. Also, UMW is 20-30% behind the College of William and Mary and 35-40% behind the University of Virginia.

There are several recommendations. First, in order to attract and retain younger professors, UMW needs to stay ahead of the average salaries of its “peer” schools. Second, because Fredericksburg is now considered part of Northern Virginia, and has a high cost-of-living expense, UMW also needs tom keep its average professor salaries competitive with CNU, which is the highest paying peer school. UMW should also aim to close the gap with W&M, VA Tech, GMU and U. VA. If this cannot be accomplished, alternative retention methods should be found, such as providing accessible affordable housing in Spotsylvania and Caroline Counties.






Hampton's Wells, McCorory and Lewis at the 2012 Olympic Track Trials - Update


The coverage of the USA Olympic Track and Field trials begins on the evening of Friday, June 22nd on NBC or one of its sister stations. Stay tuned for Facebook updates.


Last year, a worldwide television audience caught a glimpse of the World Track championships, broadcast from Daegu, Korea. Amazingly, three of the female athletes who earned airtime during the NBC and Universal Sports television coverage of the meet have a common bond in that they are all graduates of Hampton University in Southeastern Virginia. Although running more for personal glory than Pirate pride these days, there is still a connection of sorts among the three – Kellie WellsFrancena McCorory and Yvette Lewis, that being the dream of representing their country and winning an Olympic gold medal. The trio didn’t all compete together for Coach Maurice Pierce at Hampton (Wells and Lewis were teammates from 2003 – 2006, Lewis and McCorory in 2006-07, the year after Wells graduated), but do bump into each other occasionally at track meets in America and Europe. As a followup to last year's profile of the three young ladies, here's an update of their progress, coupled with the initial entries. The Olympic track and field trials began today at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, a town affectionately called "Tracktown USA."

The Veteran - Kellie Wells
   Wells is the oldest of the three (30 on July 16th) and possibly the athlete most primed for Olympic gold given her age, experience and record of recent success.

At Eugene, Wells won gold in the 100-meter hurdles, with an inspiring performance in a world best time of 12.50, topping better known competitors such as Lolo Jones and Danielle Carruthers. Speaking to NBC’s Louis Johnson (after hugging him), her emotion was apparent. “I’m speechless and I’m a woman of many words!”
Indeed, Wells had traveled a rocky road. At the 2008 Olympic Trials, the Richmond, VA native competed in the semifinals and crossed the line in a personal best of 12.58 to qualify for the finals. However, with her first step after crossing the line, she heard a pop and suddenly fell to the track. The pop was from a tear in her hamstring and prevented Wells from the opportunity to compete for a shot at making the team.
Most of the 2009 season was spent in recovery mode, but signs of life showed in 2010 as the graduate of James River HS finished second in the 100 hurdles at the USA Outdoor Championships and ended up ranked ninth in the world for the event.
The road to recovery continued into 2011. Wells won her first US title in the indoor 55-meter hurdles with a world best time of 7.79. Her winning ways continued through the outdoor season with strong finishes at meets in Doha and Rome, then reached a new plateau with the race in Eugene. Given that the women’s hurdling contingent is arguably the strongest group of tracksters on the Olympic team, it looks as if the strongest from the group of Wells, Jones and others will take gold at the World Championships and become the immediate favorite for London.
Update: Kellie was the subject of a feature story in last month's Runner's World magazine. She comes into the trials with a qualifying time of 12.55, which seeds her second in the 100-meter hurdles, just behind Dawn Harper (12.47). This could be Wells' last chance to make the team and she will be a crowd favorite of the knowledgeable Hayward fans who know about Kellie's past trials and tribulations on and off the track.

The Phenom - Francena McCorory
McCorory is just 23 years old, but boasts a wealth of accomplishments over her short career. At the 2010 NCAA Indoor Track Championships, she won her second consecutive collegiate 400 title, but this time broke the nineteen-year old American record of Diane Dixon with a blazing time of 50.54. This was not her first American record, having also set the national standards for the 300 (indoor) and 400 (outdoor) as a star athlete at Hampton’s Bethel HS.
In one memorable high school race, at the 2006 Eastern region championships, McCorory ran the anchor leg for the Lady Bruins 1600-meter relay and grabbed the baton in eighth and last place, roughly 70 meters behind the leader. In a memorable comeback, she managed to systematically pass all seven other runners while posting an unprecedented split of 51.9. Accomplishments such as these helped McCorory earn the title of HS Athlete of the Decade from the Peninsula’s (VA) DAILY PRESS newspaper..
McCorory entered the finals of the 400 at Eugene with a strong qualifying time, but a heavy heart. Two weeks before the national meet, her father passed and she was determined to dedicate the finals race to his memory. In spite of a sluggish start, she regained her composure between the 150 and 350-meter marks and almost chased down three-time world champion Allyson Felix while finishing second. The margin (50.40 – 50.49) of difference was close enough to consider the Hampton resident a favorite to win a medal in Daegu, with Felix serving as her main competition for the gold.


Update: Francena comes to the Trials in a great position. Last year, at Daegu, she placed 4th in the open 400, while lowering her time to 50.26. However, given a second chance on the world stage, the Hampton native shined, anchoring the 1600-meter relay to a gold medal. Sanya Richards-Ross was her relay teammate in Daegu and will now be the top seed in Oregon with an impressive clocking of 49.39. However, McCorory is the second seed at 50.06, which she accomplished less than two weeks ago while winning the New York Grand Prix meet (shown to a national audience on NBC). With Allyson Felix opting out of the open 400, there is a great chance for Francena to make the Olympic team in the open 400. She is a shoo-in to make the 1600-meter relay team

The Grinder - Yvette Lewis




To date, Lewis has been a victim of an unusual run of bad fortune in her professional career. In 2007, the native of Newport News, VA finished second in the triple jump at the US Championships only to not qualify for the World Championships due to missing the qualifying standard. At the Olympic trials the following year, Lewis turned in a jump of 13.84/45-5 (after a best of 45-6.5 in the preliminaries), only to finish in fourth and miss making the Olympic team by one place and less than five inches.
The two-time NCAA champ also narrowly missed qualifying for the American team heading to Daegu. At Eugene two weeks before, Lewis placed fifth in the triple jump, then was disqualified from the women’s 100-meter hurdle finals due to a false start caused by a very minor shoulder move.
However, the future still looks bright for Lewis. At 27, she reports to looking forward to competing in a full slate of meets in Europe this summer while keeping in check for next year’s Olympic trials where she will be a force to be reckoned with in the triple jump and 100-meter hurdles.  Don’t count out the woman who essentially won a state title for the Menchville (HS) girls track team by herself in 2003, then later set a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) record with 48 individual points at the 2006 meet.


Update: Yvette may be the only woman in history to run the 100-meter hurdles under 13 seconds while also having a best triple jump of over 45 feet. If there is anyone else on the list, my guess would be Jackie Joyner-Kersee. But Yvette is bypassing the triple jump (best - 45'6 1/2") to concentrate on the 100-meter hurdles, which is arguably the deepest event for the American women's team. She has been training hard in Chula Vista, CA for several years now, and the effort has produced success. Lewis has won several hurdle races in European and Australian meets while lowering her time to an impressive 12.76. In most years, that would be enough to make the team easily. but with Harper, Wells, Lolo Jones and others competing in the same event, the battle is uphill for Yvette. The good news is this - she has gained some experience and national TV exposure. Plus, Lewis is peaking right now.

Leading the Charter School Movement in D.C. (Part 2 of 2)

 New Leaders for Better Thinking
In order to make charter schools work, the leadership would have to be fully functioning. Cultural competency would be an important piece toward achieving success, particularly in a city where over 90 percent of the students in the school system were African-American while less than 70 percent of the population was.

Retired general Julius Becton was the first superintendent under the new charter school plan. Although charter school enrollment rose dramatically during his 18-month tenure, he is given little credit for its success during that time. Part of the reason given is that his “military” form of leadership did not resonate to those who worked for him, and any increased support for charter schools was symbolic or occurred simply because the model was effective.

Other leaders met the superintendent position and burned out quickly. Arlene Ackerman and Paul Vance held short terms as head of the school system. Their ideology was different, as Ackerman was partially in favor of charter schools, but helped pass legislation to give more power to the schools, including charters. Under Ackerman, charter schools received access to more local government money, but also were held to a higher standard than previously. By comparison, Vance was less supportive toward the charter movement, and under his leadership, growth stagnated.

Yet, the charter movement continued to move forward, with support from Democrats and Republicans alike. New District mayor Anthony Williams was supportive, but so were members of the White House cabinet, now under the leadership of Republican president George W. Bush as the 21st century began.

In 2002, the legislation entitled No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. Given the coarse requirements which would face school systems across America, many school leaders at the national and local levels became willing to look at alternative methods to help reach the stringent standards. The District of Columbia was ready to move forward with its development of new charter schools.

Only a year after the passing of NCLB, the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act was signed into law. Under the Act, $45 million was earmarked for transformational change within D.C schools, $15 million for charters and an additional $20 million toward a K-12 voucher program (2008). This act, also known as the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, became the impetus which created dramatic change for charter schools in the nation’s capital. All that was needed was a transformational leader for the District schools, one who could handle the resistance toward the movement, as well as the cultural competency issues which would arise as students from the poorer, more predominantly African-American sections of town, began to seek new schools in other parts of the District.

Bring in the New Chancellor

In 2007, with a new mayor, Adrian Fenty, in place as head of the District, the timing was again right for the District to seek a leader who was prepared to make huge changes. In order to do this, the new head of D.C. schools would need more power to make change.

For the new mayor, this meant hiring a data-driven technocratic type of boss. Fenty was known as a data-focused decision maker (Risen, 2008) who cared less about politics and more about the end result. To this end, he named Michelle Rhee, at the time just 38 years old as the new chancellor of District schools. The power given to her was unprecedented, and she wasted no time in putting it to use. Serving directly under Mayor Fenty, and not to the school board, Rhee was given the power to fire central-office employees and educators, and within months of her hire, 98 office workers, 24 principals, 22 assistant principals, as well as approximately 250 teachers and 500 aides were terminated (2008).

The type of change which Rhee was looking for was a sweeping one. However, her leadership style was challenged, not because of its grandeur, but because Rhee was seen as an out of touch bureaucrat. This was noted by her Korean heritage and upper-middle-class suburban background. Her cultural awareness was challenged, because it did not match the majority of the racial and financial demographics of the District students.

In her short term as chancellor, Rhee did manage to prevail in making change, particularly with the charter schools, of which she was a supporter. This support may have helped, as many of the charter schools in the District have flourished while maintaining a diverse student body.

Putting the Lens on One School

One of the charter schools to flourish in the aftermath of the Rhee administration is E.L. Haynes Charter school, with two campuses in upper Northwest Washington. Founded in 2004 by Jennifer Niles, the school is a shining example of the potential growth with a well-run charter school. Last fall, Haynes opened its high school building to ninth graders and will add one grade per year until all four grades are represented. In all, the school serves 600 students, and accepted a thousand applications for the 100 open seats available for this school year.

In its first six years, the school earned national recognition for its student achievement gains, which included 80 percent of its students scoring proficient or advanced in math and 66 percent in reading (Joiner, 2010).

More remarkable is the ethnic makeup of its student body. According to ELL chair Michelle Rush, 45 percent of the Haynes students are African-American, 30 are Latino, 15 percent white and 10 percent Asian.

Two-thirds of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch, showing the working-class background of many of the parents. 15 languages are spoken by the Haynes students (2010).

The faculty at Haynes is well versed with conversations about race. As part of their training at the year-round school, teachers are required to attend a three-day seminar on The Race and Equity in Education Seminars (REES), sessions which involve the faculty and staff engaging in activities which address their own biases, and which of these are brought into the classroom. According to a quote from lower school principal Michelle Molitor, which was presented in a recent magazine article, “It gives dominant culture folks a safe environment to expose the things they don’t understand and to build allies and friendships (2010).”

Although there are lower performing charter schools in the District of Columbia, E.L. Haynes serves as a model example of how to build a successful charter school, one which the District school leaders can follow and use for other charter schools.


References
Foster, B.L. (2006). What’s going on in DC’s charter schools. Washingtonian, October 2006.

Joiner, L. L. (2010). Whatever it takes. The Crisis Magazine, Centennial Issue 2010. 17-22.

Ravitch, D. (2010). The Myth of Charter Schools. The New York Review of Books, 
        November 2010.

Risen, C. (2008). The Lightning Rod. The Atlantic Magazine, Nov. 2008.

Sullivan, M. D., Campbell, D. B., & Kisida, B. (2008). The muzzled dog that didn’t  
       bark: Charters and the behavioral response of D.C. public schools. University of Arkansas.
       Fayetteville.