Education Sector, a national independent nonpartisan education think tank, has released a new report Waiting To Be Won Over: Teachers Speak on the Profession, Unions and Reform.
American public education is in the midst of intense change, and teachers, in particular, are facing pressure to produce better outcomes for students.
Ann M. Duffett, Steve Farkas, Andrew J. Rotherham, and Elena Silva examine teachers’ opinions and attitudes toward teacher unions, teacher unionism, and a range of current district reforms, including those aimed specifically at improving teacher quality.
“I’ve been around four years, and I’ve heard people say, ‘If you want to get out of the system, get out of it now before you’re locked in,'” said a Milwaukee teacher surveyed for the report.
“I have to say I just don’t know what it would be like if we didn’t have a union. I’m losing faith in the union more and more all the time, but I don’t know. … What would it be, if we didn’t have one ?” said a New York City teacher.
Researchers surveyed 1,010 K–12 public school teachers about their views on the teaching profession, teachers unions, and a host of reforms aimed at improving teacher quality.
Some key findings from the survey include:
Seventy-six percent of teachers say that too many burned-out veteran teachers stay because they don’t want to walk away from benefits and service time accrued. And over half (55 percent) say that it’s very difficult and time-consuming to remove teachers who shouldn’t be in the classroom.
Only 26 percent of teachers say that their most recent formal evaluation was useful and effective in helping them to improve their teaching. Seventy-nine percent support strengthening the formal evaluation of probationary teachers. And nearly a third of teachers (32 percent) say that tenured teachers should be evaluated on an annual basis.
Teachers are less likely today (than they were in 2003) to support paying teachers more based on test scores. Only half of teachers support the idea to measure teacher effectiveness based on student growth or “value added.”
Teachers are more likely today (than they were in 2003) to say unions are essential. The jump among new teachers (<5 yrs) who say the unions are essential is especially striking.
Teachers say they would support the union taking an active union role in improving teacher evaluation, supporting and mentoring teachers, guiding ineffective teachers out of the profession, and negotiating new/differentiated roles/responsibilities for teachers.
The findings presented in this report offer guideposts for discussing how to transform schools and student learning to meet today’s challenges and create a teaching profession that people seek to join.
This is an internal validity check about a schooling process without linking it directly to student learning rates. As you review this report, consider the relatively heavy emphasis on “teaching” over learning.
In the spirit of comity, does the public care about teacher opinions or teacher results?
I wonder, can a public occupation such as teaching endure that does not yield results other people want, such as slipping competitive schooling advantage? Teachers in other countries are moving ahead of U.S. teaching-learning results. That’s fact, not opinion.