Back to school shopping is officially in full swing and you can see the signs all across the country. People whose lives have nothing to do with school are traumatized as school supplies take over store aisles. Although the kids in commercials are literally doing cartwheels, the only advertisement that makes anybody want to get on a school bus is Da Rich Kidzz rapping “My Limo” Kmart spot.
While most of us would like an endless summer, going back to school should be a time of anticipation and eagerness, especially for teachers. But sadly there are many educators that have the back to school blues.
Teacher and principal perceptions of their jobs are extremely important because their work has the greatest impact on student achievement. But a recent poll indicates a change in job satisfaction that is potentially concerning. In its annual Survey of The American Teacher, Metlife found that the percentage of teachers who reported being very satisfied with their jobs dropped 23 percentage points between 2008 and 2012, from 62% very satisfied to 39%.
This does not mean, however, that teachers have suddenly swung to become dissatisfied. In the 2011 Metlife survey, 81% teachers were “Very” or “Somewhat” satisfied. In 2012 that number actually crept up by a percentage point to 82%. Thus, the message is not that teachers are “demoralized” or hopeless, as some have claimed, but they are obviously confronting issues in the workplace that we need to better understand.
2011: Very/Somewhat satisfied 81%;, Very Satisfied 44%;, Somewhat Satisfied 37%.
2012: Very/Somewhat satisfied 82%;, Very Satisfied 39%, Somewhat Satisfied 43%.
There are many hypotheses for what explains these results. Some observers have blamed recent school reforms across the country for the drop in the percentage of “very satisfied” teachers regardless of what the data says. We think, however, the best explanation for these results came from AFT President Randi Weingarten who conveyed that teachers are up to new challenges but need help in doing so. In a statement published by EdWeek, she asked, “How many more surveys and polls do we need before we give teachers the tools, resources, and support to help their kids, especially with today’s greater challenges and accountability?”
Weingarten’s focus on resources accurately reflects Metlife’s findings. After years of growth (the percentage of “very satisied” teachers in 1989 was 44%; in 2008, six years after the No Child Left Behind Act, it was 62%), the percentage of teachers who reported being very satisfied began to drop in 2009-2010, just as the country plunged into a recession and funds were cut from many school budgets. Metlife’s poll shows that the students who potentially suffer most from less satisfied teachers are in schools already strapped for resources. Sixty-one percent of teachers least fulfilled in their jobs are in schools with budget declines.
In financially struggling schools, administrators said they have a more difficult time employing effective teachers, and also described providing an academically rigorous learning environment as “challenging” or “very challenging.” Schools that are economically disadvantaged need the best performing teachers to keep students engaged and excited about learning, not the most hopeless instructors.
According to the study and a recent report by EducationNext, less satisfied teachers are also more likely to teach in schools with two-thirds or more low-income students because they are not adequately trained to be effective in these classrooms. Many teachers today do not have deep understanding of content knowledge and the programs that prepare them are not teaching them the skills they need to understand students on a cognitive level. Because of this, some teachers experience burnout and leave the profession when they are stressed and feel low levels of personal accomplishment when they are not effective in improving students’ academic progress.
Even more disconcerting, recent research by TNTP indicates highly effective teachers that lead students to success despite challenges (i.e., those whose students show the equivalent of six plus months of additional student learning over low-performing teachers) have been shown to be undervalued by their schools and principals. These teachers, whom TNTP has dubbed the “Irreplaceables,” are leaving the profession early in their careers; only 47% of high-performance teachers remain in the classroom after five years.
Gallup recently revealed that new teachers with less than one year of experience are the most engaged at 35.5%. The problem is that after that year teacher engagement drops to 30.9%, and after three additional years engagement continues to decline to 27.9%. This, however, does not seem to be a trend that is unique to teaching. According to the Gallup report, “This pattern-of engagement dropping with more years on the job-is similar in other occupation groups.”
People who are not satisfied with their work, no matter what their profession, are more disengaged in their workplaces. Providing opportunities for professional development and collaboration with leadership and other teachers helps educators feel a heightened sense of gratification. That being said, in the end it all comes back to funding. Less satisfied teachers are more likely to be located in schools that have cut funding for professional development stifling instructional creativity and fostering less collaboration with other teachers.
You won’t find any of these items in the back-to-school sections of Kmart or any of its competitors. But policymakers who care about whether or not the reforms they are enacting will ultimately succeed must put the supports that research shows will engage teachers at the top of their shopping lists. Da Rich Kidzz shouldn’t be the only ones starting a new school year fully equipped with teachers who can help them achieve to their highest potential.
Mina White joined DFER in 2013 after working with urban youth in St. Paul Minnesota at TRiO/Upward Bound; a federally funded college access program for limited-income and first-generation high school students. Recognizing a need for equity in education she plans to have a bigger impact for all students through education reform.