Survey: Teacher Morale At 20-Year Nadir

The New York Times (3/8, Santos, Subscription Publication) that according to a newly-released MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, "the slump in the economy, coupled with the acrimonious discourse over how much weight test results and seniority should be given in determining a teacher's worth, have conspired to bring morale among the nation's teachers to its lowest point in more than 20 years." Most teachers "expressed at least some reservation about their jobs, their highest level of dissatisfaction since 1989, the survey found. Also, roughly one in three said they were likely to leave the profession in the next five years, citing concerns over job security, as well as the effects of increased class size and deep cuts to services and programs." Three years ago, only a quarter of respondents indicated this view.

 

Education Week (3/8, Heitin) reports that a leading likely contributing factor to this decline in morale is "the economic downturn and resulting cuts to education budgets." The survey "finds that 44 percent of teachers are 'very satisfied' with their jobs, down from 59 percent in 2009. The last time job satisfaction dipped as low was in 1989." Meanwhile, "the survey also suggests that teachers are increasingly anxious about holding onto their jobs. In 2006, just 8 percent of teachers said they did not feel their job was secure."

 

Writers: Results No Surprise. National Education Policy Center Director Kevin Welner writes at the Huffington Post (3/8) that the survey quantifies the lack of "fun" to be derived from being "repeatedly punched in the gut." He writes that "while this 15-point plummet is no doubt caused in part by the bad economy and budget cutting, it's also hard to overlook things like Waiting for Superman, the media deification of Michelle Rhee, and the publishing of flawed 'scores' that purport to evaluate teachers based on students' test results -- an offense first committed by the Los Angeles Times and now taken up by the New York Times and other New York papers. Teachers knew these evaluations were unreliable and invalid even before researchers documented those problems."

 

Emily Richmond, public editor for the National Education Writers Association, writes at The Atlantic (3/8) that the survey's results are "worrisome -- but perhaps not surprising," noting that the survey is "a reminder not to make assumptions about who are the unhappiest educators. It's not necessarily the burned-out veteran, or those working with the most challenging student populations. In reality, when comparing teachers with higher and lower job satisfaction, the survey shows no real difference in their years of experience, the grades they taught or the proportions of their students from low-income households."

Van Roekel Expresses Dismay At Results Of Teacher Survey

Michigan Live (3/9, Murray) reports that NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, responding to the release this week of the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, expressed dismay at the results, which showed "teacher job satisfaction at its lowest point in decades." Van Roekel "called the results 'shocking,' and said the dissatisfaction is 'due, in part, to the unconscionable cuts to the resources their students need.' 'More than three quarters of the teachers surveyed reported that their school's budget had decreased. For most, budget cuts were significant. I have heard similar concerns from NEA members, who have told me that staff and important programs have been cut; early childhood education has been eliminated; computers and text-books were out of date; and classes such as history, art, PE and music-which provide a well-rounded education-are no longer offered,' he said in a release."

Rural Schools Generate Funding By Enrolling Wealthy Foreign Students

A Reuters (3/9, Simon, Subscription Publication) article profiles the Grant-Deuel School in Revillo, South Dakota, which has seen its enrollment drop to around eight students. The piece notes that the district, like several other rural districts across the country, has begun enrolling students from wealthy families in foreign countries, noting that such students can generate up to $30,000 per year in tuition. Foreign students benefit by increasing their chances of attending US colleges. Meanwhile, in a separate article, Reuters (3/9, Simon) reports that some cash-strapped schools are attempting to increase their enrollment-and therefore their revenues-by luring students from nearby schools and districts and from the ranks of local homeschooled children.

California Supreme Court Holds Principals And Supervisors Accountable For Sex Abuse

The Los Angeles Times (3/9, Dolan, 630K) reports, "Students who are sexually abused by school employees may sue public districts if their administrators ignored warning signs or failed to monitor the employees, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday." California Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar wrote that "school principals and other supervisors 'have the responsibility of taking reasonable measures to guard pupils against harassment and abuse from foreseeable sources, including any teachers or counselors they know or have reason to know are prone to such abuse.'"

Civic Coalition Calls On Obama To Endorse LGBT Anti-Bullying Legislation

The Washington Blade (3/9, Johnson, 30K) reports, "A group of 70 organizations is asking President Obama to build on his work against bullying in schools by endorsing legislation pending in Congress that would prohibit harassment of LGBT students." In a letter to Obama, the group asked the president to endorse the Student Non-Discrimination Act "so that it has the same level of support from the White House as other pro-LGBT bills, such as the Respect for Marriage Act, which Obama endorsed in June, or the Employment Non-Discrimination Act." The Blade adds, "Obama has said he's committed to combating bullying and harassment in schools, but has yet to endorse legislation that would explicitly prohibit the bullying of LGBT students."

Republican Governors Largely Agree With Obama Education Policies

The AP (3/9, Hefling) reports that contrary to conventional wisdom, President Obama and many of the nation's GOP governors are "mostly getting along" vis-à-vis education policy. "After Obama spoke recently to the nation's governors, Louisiana GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal publicly praised the administration's efforts on education, and Virginia Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell said there was a lot of room for 'common agreement' on fixing schools." The piece notes that Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) took part in the president's announcement of the NCLB waiver program, while "GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels freely credits Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan for helping to pave the way for a 'tectonic' shift in education, including comprehensive law changes passed in his home state of Indiana last year that include the rigorous use of teacher evaluations and one of the nation's most expansive uses of vouchers to help parents send children to private schools."

NCTQ: Teachers' Assessment Preparation Weak

Stephen Sawchuk writes in the Education Week (3/9, 37K) "Teacher Beat" blog, "Teachers aren't getting enough formal preparation on how to make use of the reams of assessment data states are generating, contends the National Council on Teacher Quality in a brief released today." According to the NCTQ, the following three domains were surveyed: assessment literary, analytical skills and instructional decision making. Among some of the recommendations issued, "One that stands out is a suggestion that states, foundations, and teacher educators develop mock-up data sets populated with student performance data."

North Carolina Survey: High-Stakes Testing Hurts Teacher Morale

Andrew Ujifusa writes at the Education Week (3/9) "State EdWatch" blog that a North Carolina teacher survey shows "that more than half those polled say they devote over half their classroom time to preparing for high-stakes tests. ... The North Carolina survey of more than 600 teachers statewide and an accompanying report from the North Carolina NAACP, Advocates for Children's Services, and the Advancement Project (a civil rights group that tackles community inequities), also showed that nearly 90 percent of teachers thought the state's end-of-grade and end-of-course tests damaged teacher morale." Ujifusa notes that the tests are designed for state and NCLB accountability assessment.

MetLife Poll Reveals Unhappy Teachers Nationwide

Mary Ann Giordano writes in the New York Times (3/9, Subscription Publication, 1.23M) "School Book" blog, "The outpouring of reaction to the release of the teacher data reports, as well as the stream of recent articles on blogs and in other publications, has provided a pretty good sense of how many teachers in New York are feeling these days: disappointed, angry, depressed, put upon and fed up." A newly released survey by MetLife found that "those feelings are not just held by teachers in New York" but rather reflected that "morale among teachers nationwide is the lowest in 20 years." Commenting on the survey, "Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality... said the push for evaluations, punctuated by a national movement to curb the power of unions, had fostered an unsettling cultural shift."

 

Meanwhile, NPR (3/9, Stokes) reports, "What is surprising about the survey's results, however, is how much teachers' job satisfaction has plummeted in just the past three years." According to the survey, reasons cited were "budget cuts in their schools" and teachers watching "their colleagues get laid off in the past year."

Massachusetts Legislature Considers Raising Dropout Age To 18

The Walpole (MA) Times (3/9) reports that a committee of the Massachusetts House is "poised to advance legislation that will raise the state's minimum high school dropout age to 18 in time for the 2014-2015 school year, an effort that backers say will help chip away at the 8,000 students per year who quit school and disproportionately wind up in prison or dependent upon taxpayer-funded programs." The measure would implement the change from the current dropout age of 16 in increments, the Times reports, noting that the bill "will be voted on by the 17-member committee a month after President Barack Obama challenged states to raise their dropout ages to 18 during his State of the Union address."

Massachusetts Innovation Schools Determine Own Curriculum, Schedule, And Staff

The Boston Globe (3/9, Rosenberg) reports on Massachusetts' "innovation schools" which "are allowed to set their own curriculum, schedule, and calendar, and choose their own staff." Supported by Governor Deval Patrick, "the schools are still funded by their home districts," but "policies are set by a governing board." So far, "there are 18 innovation schools in the state." They are seen as another alternative like charter schools to pursue improvement strategies.

Computer Program Helps Teach Reading By Seizing Attention Of Students.

NPR /StateImpact (3/9, O'Connor) reports on the reading program at Florida's Audubon Park Elementary School, called Letters Alive, which makes use of flash cards and "a special camera" connected to a computer that offers an "interactive" experience with "moving, screeching animals" at a cost of "$1,000 for a year-long curriculum." The program is said to be successful with students with autism because "teachers say the animal actions, colors and sounds are riveting," and provoke "the best response from their toughest students."

Nevada County Offers High School Inside Prison

The Las Vegas Sun (3/9, Takahashi) reports on Nevada's Clark County Schools system's school for "300 inmates at the High Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs." The school is operated by the district and the Nevada Department of Corrections. "The district provides the teachers and supplies," while the center offers "classrooms and security." The article describes a visit by Clark County Schools Superintendent Dwight Jones to the school which offers "either a high school diploma or the General Educational Development certificate." And "Jones seems impressed."

Maryland District Experimenting With "Flipped Classroom."

The Leesburg (VA) Today (3/9, Nadler) profiles Kevin Malone, a math teacher at Tuscarora High School in Frederick, Maryland, who, in advance of geometry lessons, "expects his students to have watched a three-minute lesson he posted online two days earlier. He uses an electronic slate and a voice recorder to create a video for each take-home lesson, and students are asked to watch the video in their own time and then post on the class' webpage two comments that show either what they learned or what they did not understand." The paper notes that Malone "is one of eight teachers at Tuscarora High School piloting a teaching method called the Flipped Classroom, which moves some of the instruction outside of class and moves what is traditionally considered 'homework' into the classroom."

California Schools Lack Resources To End Social Promotion

The Los Angeles Daily News (3/1, Jones, 91K) reports that a committee comprised of educators and parents studying whether Los Angeles Unified students should be promoted "to the next grade only if they meet academic milestones," decided to indefinitely postpone "any significant change because" the district "lacks the money and personnel to eliminate the practice." This is in spite of a school board resolution "seeking a new policy to promote students to the next grade only if they meet academic milestones." Deputy superintendent of instruction Jaime Aquino, who oversaw the panel's work, said, "We believe that professional development (of teachers) and early intervention (of students) will be more effective." He added, "We don't think that holding a student back will make a difference."