How do i know a schools tier?

[joe30]

Disagree entirely. Money is the number one reason why people go to work, so if you rank two jobs in the same region side by side, the vast majority will go for the higher paying post above everything else.

Would a school still be a tier 1 school if it paid $20,000 a year like a lot of crappy schools in the city? I am thinking of No. The number of applications to their posts would fall off a cliff and they'd no longer attract the best teachers.

[Glerky]

Imagine you were a parent...

Look at the school from that perspective. Resources, Class size, facilities are all going to draw in families. This will lead to higher tuition. This is not 100% accurate but you can get a real sense of a school from this.

There are very few Tier 1 for profit schools. Name a city and the best school is usually the non-profit school that caters to the embassy kids and expat business kids. The exceptions are oil schools but these are usually non-profit in a way as the school is a perk of the company and not trying to 'make' money.

Is there a Tier 1 for profit school in a city that pays more then the non-profit? Is that out there?

[bobbydylan84]

A the OP. this is an interesting debate. It seems then that I am in a tier 1 school already. However, there must be a list of schools world-wide which represent the best schools to work at. I would say that only a few countries would have schools that would be in a ´Top Ten schools´.

I have to say I don´t think money is the motivator for me. I am looking for a progressive educational environment; is this romantic, as a teacher?

Once again, thanks for the replies and I am feeling confident I know what tier I am in and know I have a more focused search criteria.

Bobbydylan84

[Thames Pirate]

The problem is that there are some extremes in what people want. For example, American School Paris is one of the best in Europe and perhaps one of the world elite, but no matter how much they pay, you are likely to be able to save a LOT more at a much less prestigious school in a far less desirable location. So the people who work there want to be there to live the Paris life, which is a form of compensation that is not quantifiable. This is true of many locations. Furthermore, some teachers want an easy job where they can put in the minimum effort and then enjoy the expat life, while others want to work in a dynamic school with forward thinking programs that, while requiring extra work, are meaningful to the teacher. Some are happy bringing an international component to a school of domestic students, while others prefer the highly varied and extremely multicultural student body.

So the tier system is very subjective.

Also, every school has its negatives. There is no perfect place. Some have inefficient admin. Some have a difficult board or intense parents. It is a matter of which issues bother you and which you can live with.

That said, there are indicators that a school might be better than another or have a higher tier:

--Pay relative to the city or region (is the pay competitive overall and specifically with similar schools in the region)
--Workload--what extra duties are involved? What is the minimum and maximum load? Are teachers constantly stressed?
--Profit status
--Internationality

Generally there is one school in a city or country that is the US State Dept school--those are usually (but not always) the best in that location.

So there is some vague agreement on some schools, but mostly it is all subjective.

[PsyGuy]

@Thames Pirate

The tier system is not all very subjective, there are portions of it that are such as work environment, but their are factors such as comp (as @joe30 presents) that are very objective. Whats subjective about IS Genovia pays more coin than Acme AS? Thats not subjective, those values can be quantified, and easily.

It is not always the US DOS IS thats the elite tier IS, its just as likely to be the embassy BS IS.

[sid]

Money is pretty objective, but not completely. Each city has a different cost of living, so not always completely straightforward. Even objective websites that run statistical - can be inaccurate for individuals, as individuals still have to factor in how much each category matters to them - if rent is 160% higher in City A than in City B, that makes no difference to me if my school is covering the rent and promising the same standard of accommodation. But if I eat out a lot, that vector matters. Cost of airfare back home matters a lot if I fly there every long weekend, but not at all if I just use the 1 annual ticket my school provides. So while money is a big deal, it does have vagaries and variables that mean I can't just look at straightforward figures for salary and cash benefits.
And Pirate, with all respect, what others are pointing out is that money (objective or not) is not the only criterion for judging a tier. Also that different teachers apply different criteria. What matters most to you might be lower down on my list. Some teachers want high-flying schools where teachers are always pushing for better, while to others that environment is sheer competitive hell.
Live and let live.

[PsyGuy]

@sid

That is still objective, all of those factors that effect cost of living are all quantifiable and observable. Aside from that cost of living is not comp.

Did you perhaps mean @joe30, and not @Thames Pirate?

[sid]

Looking back, I meant PG.

[PsyGuy]

@Sid

Indulge me, but could you confirm that?

[sid]

That I made a boo-boo? It happens now and again.
Or that I meant you?
Both are true.

[PsyGuy]

@sid

That you were referring to my posts, interesting.

[joe30]

Who the hell would want a job where 'teachers are always pushing for better', let alone define it as a criteria for a tier 1 school. That's just codespeak for 'this school wants little slaves who don't care about a work-life balance'.

[Glerky]

I think that Sid has a point about cost of living. Although it can be quantified and is observable this is sometimes hard to do unless you are there (I know there are websites but I have not found a truly reliable one). If you are in KL and looking at Dubai it is hard to get an idea of different costs until you are on the ground.

Is ASParis one of the best schools in Europe? How did TP judge this? Package? School climate? Student body? Longevity of staff?

[fine dude]

'Pushing the limits' can be a double-edged dagger. I'm not sure if spending most of your weekends attending PD would translate to exceptional student gains. I always felt schools waste millions on useless PD and nobody checks for their efficiency. All the admin does is just send a mass survey to teachers with a bunch of generic questions.

I could use a couple of meaningful strategies every year and apply them consistently across the board than being the waiting-for-another-bandwagon-guy.

Some do tweet everyday about how fascinating their new tech tools are, but very few collect data to quantify their effect on students' conceptual change. If your 'pushing the limits' can't lead to better test scores or admission to good colleges, then I'd rather restrain myself from pushing.

[joe30]

I'd restrain myself from pushing anyway. It's not like you get paid anymore if you get better results.

Work-life balance, people.