The adjunct experience: superintendents bring reality to graduate instruction amidst questions of the role they should play

School Administrator, Nov, 2002 by Kate Beem

It was one of those win-win situations that educators are so fond of.

The school of education at Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., needed someone to teach a graduate-level educational administration course one semester a few years back. Gary Harms, assistant superintendent of instructional services for the 4,000-student Aberdeen School District, was missing the classroom where he'd spent his earlier career.

What happened next made everyone happy: Harms agreed to become an adjunct faculty member at Northern where he would teach the course on the psychology of learning, while Northern was able to offer its educational administration students a course they otherwise might not have had the chance to take.

"We're very firm that we must have someone with a doctorate to teach a graduate-level course," says Sherry Tebben, dean of Northern State's school of education. "It's sometimes difficult in South Dakota to find someone with a doctorate. But if we couldn't find a person, then we couldn't offer the course."

And Harms was happy to help and for the chance to teach again.

"They allowed me to fulfill one of my loves," he says.

Growing Numbers

What transpired between Harms and Northern occurs each semester in educational administration programs at colleges and universities across the country. But it's a scenario fraught with questions as institutions of higher education and accrediting bodies struggle with how to use part-time faculty members while maintaining quality programs that turn out students who've learned what they need to know to become effective school system leaders.

The situation is complex, mired in questions of cost savings, manpower and practicality. As soon as a solution rises to the surface, it's quickly pulled under by the harsh realities that colleges and universities struggle with as they pay long-time tenured faculty in a climate of budget cutbacks. This year alone, 45 states and the District of Columbia are facing budget shortfalls, according to a January study released by the National Conference of State Legislatures. And higher education usually is one of the first allocations lawmakers reduce.

Add to that the growth of graduate education programs, and the problem becomes clear. The programs are filled with graduate students, some with a desire to eventually become school district leaders, others pursuing the mandatory graduate degree they must attain to keep moving up their districts salary schedules. The colleges must offer classes but can't overload their fulltime faculty with courses, especially when many of the classes must be offered at night or during the summer to accommodate the bulk of students who are fully employed.

That can explain why the numbers of adjunct or part-time faculty members have grown in recent years. In 1970, 22 percent of college professors in all disciplines were adjunct or part-time, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. By 2000, that percentage had increased to 42.5 percent.

A Cheap Answer

At universities from Northern State University in South Dakota to the University of Kansas to the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, adjuncts sometimes are used to fill critical needs. That's a valid use of non-full-time faculty, most involved agree.

It's the other, shadowy use of adjuncts that's creating the uproar--a use not easily documented but one that everyone involved alleges exists.

Paid on average between $1,500 and $2,500 per three-hour course, adjunct professors can save colleges and universities lots of money. They don't receive benefits, and even teaching one course each semester and in the summer, their pay doesn't come close to that of a fulltime tenured faculty member. During the 1998-99 academic year, the most recent for which data are available, fulltime faculty at the country's roughly 4,000 degree-granting institutions averaged salaries of $54,097, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The math is pretty simple, says Arthur Wise, president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, which accredits schools and colleges of education. "It can be a money-saving strategy," he says. "It is a way to cut costs and turn educational leadership programs into a cash cow, which, unfortunately, some programs have become."

A National Survey

That complaint isn't a new one, according to Joseph Schneider, AASA's deputy director. For years, critics have charged that master's programs in educational administration, which generally prepare students to become school principals, are an easy path to an advanced degree, he says. Most courses are taught in the evenings or on weekends, so they're attractive to people who want relatively easy classes that are comfortable and convenient.

"Educational administration is particularly attractive to teachers who just simply want a boost on the salary schedule," Schneider adds. "It was the easiest degree they could get. Why would the hardest job be the easiest (degree) to get?"