Special Sunday Edition: Checking the Overall Temperature of Education

Good Day! 

Firstly, this is the last call to make necessary preparations for the Solar Eclipse that will pass through the heart of the United States continent on April 8. Where on the path of the Solar Eclipse will you be? NASA will provide you with all the information you need to be prepared, even at this late stage, so check out their 2024 Total Eclipse page.

Nextly, today’s newsletter is going to be a different from normal. The Pew Research Center came out with several articles centered around various elements of education. They highlight the challenges of teachers, parents, and the overall state of U.S. public education. TLDR: It’s not great, but the information is necessary. It’s heavy stuff, so be sure to pace yourself as you navigate the articles. 

Lastly, cheers to your morning brew ☕

Are teachers satisfied with their profession? 

Regarding the overall workforce, teachers are less satisfied than other workers. A study conducted in early 2023 found that 51% of all employed adults were very satisfied with their jobs. For teachers, the overall satisfaction rate is a paltry 33%.

The good news is that 71% of teachers are satisfied with their relationships with fellow teachers.

The bad news: when it comes to how teachers see themselves as trusted sources, out of other teachers, school administrators, students, and parents, teachers have a 30% confidence rate that parents trust them, which is 22 points lower than how they see students trusting them.

To dive more into data about teacher’s job satisfaction, you can continue reading here.

The balancing act that we call Teacher

Anyone who has been a teacher knows we have all the time in the world to do everything! No profession has more time to do what they need to do than teachers. I mean, most teachers get the summers off! What a great deal…right?

Okay, clearly, we were being facetious. On a serious note, most teachers are overworked, and breaks are never really breaks. 84% of teachers say there is never enough time in the day to get their work done. Why is that? 

On top of doing what teachers have to do, teachers are tasked with other duties like:

• hallway and lunch duties

• helping their students outside their normal class times

• covering for another teacher

• running clubs and other extracurricular activities

Overall, these are minor reasons teachers state they cannot complete all their work. The most obvious reason is that teachers just have too much work, which 81% of teachers state is a “major” reason.

On top of this major issue, 70% of teachers stated that their schools are understaffed, which leads to teachers having to wear multiple hats. As for teacher work-life balance, just slightly over half of teachers say achieving a good work-life balance is difficult.

To dive more into data about how teachers manage their workload, you can continue reading here.

The problems K-12 students are facing 

When it comes to how students are doing in the classroom, teachers do not have a very favorable view on how well their students are doing. Only 17% of teachers say their students are doing excellent academically, with 48% saying their students are doing fair or poor academically.

• One of the biggest impacts that has affected student success has been the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. What exactly has been impacted? There are four big things that teachers say left a negative impact on students: 

• Student’s behavior (36% very negative; 46% somewhat)

• Students academic performance (33% very negative; 48% somewhat)

• Students emotional well-being (31% very negative; 46% somewhat negative)

• The way parents interact with teachers (18% very negative; 37% somewhat negative)

Teachers are facing chronic absenteeism along with elevated rates of anxiety and depression among students. Across all levels, 49% of teachers say absenteeism is a major problem, with high school teachers at 61% saying it is a major problem. Rates of anxiety and depression are also high, with 69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers stating this is a major problem.

Teachers have to deal with a variety of behavioral issues, and unfortunately, two-thirds of teachers don’t believe they have influence over disciplinary practices at their school.

To dive more into data about problems students are facing at public K-12 schools, you can continue reading here.

Classroom Challenges

Can you recall the last time you went one day without using your cell phone? How about one hour (excluding the hours you sleep at night, of course)? Cell phones have become a ubiquitous part of our lives and necessary to function in our every dayeveryday, constantly busy lives. But for students, is it necessary to have it, especially in the classroom?

72% of high school teachers say that cell phones are a major distraction in the classroom. There is a dropoff in middle school, with 33% of teachers citing it as a major distraction. Surprisingly, 6% of elementary school teachers cite it as a major distraction. I mean, elementary students shouldn't have their own cell phones yet, right? 

82% of teachers stated that their school or district does have policies regarding students' use of cellphones in the classroom, and the difficulty comes in enforcing them. 60% of high school teachers say it is very or somewhat difficult to enforce cellphone policies compared to 30% and 12% of middle school and high school policies, respectively.

There is also a lack of respect students have for teachers. When it comes to male and female teachers, female teachers are more likely to have experienced some kind of physical violence towards them, 43% vs 30%, respectively. When it comes to verbal abuse, 68% have experienced verbal abuse, whether it is a few times a month or at least once during the school year. 

To dive more into data about challenges in the classroom, you can continue reading here.

How teachers view parental involvement 

Most teachers see parents as not being very involved in their children's work. This is more prevalent in high-poverty areas, where 82% of teachers say parents do too little regarding their children's misbehavior. Across the spectrum, 79% of teachers state parents do too little regarding misbehavior.

Overall, teacher sentiment regarding parents doing too little to help with their children’s school work and ensuring their children attend school is 68% and 63%, respectively. In high-poverty schools, those numbers are 80% and 74%, respectively.

The sentiment of parents showing appreciation toward a teacher’s effort is 65%, with 24% of teachers saying “often” and 41% saying sometimes. Regarding disrespectful communication, 40% of teachers say this often happens or sometimes.

Regarding the different grade levels, elementary teachers are more likely to say parents show more appreciation for their effort and contact them to express their support for what they do in their classrooms.

To dive more into data on teachers’ views of parent involvement, you can continue reading here.

Teachers' Alarming Perspective on the State of Public Education 

Let us cut to the meat of this - the overall sentiment from teachers is dire. Over the last 5 years, 82% of teachers expressed that the overall state of public K-12 education has gotten worse, with 53% believing that it will continue to get worse in the next five years.

What is the major reason teachers say this?

• The current political climate (60%)

• The lingering effects of COVID-19 (57%)

• Lack of school funding (46%)

Breaking down teachers by political affiliation, whether Democrat or Republican, both mostly agree with the belief that the state of education has gotten worse over the past five years. Where they diverge are why it has gotten worse, with Republican-leaning teachers less likely to cite the political climate as a reason and less likely to state funding as the reason.

Which political party do teachers trust the most in fixing education? It is interesting to highlight the "neither party," and here are issues in which teachers believe neither party will get the job done in the following areas: 

• Ensuring adequate funding for schools (33%)

• Ensuing teachers have adequate pay and benefits (35%)

• Ensuring all students have equal access to high-quality K-12 education (31%)

• Shaping the school curriculum (42%)

• Making schools safer (35%)

Overall, teachers trust that the Democratic Party can handle fixing these issues better than the Republican Party, but a factor that has to be considered is that more teachers identify with the Democratic Party (58%) than those who identify with the Republican Party (35%).

To dive more into data on teacher's views on the state of public K-12 education, you can continue reading here.

Closing Bell

On this day in 1891

Nebraska introduced an 8 hour work day. President Ulysses S. Grant did issue a “National Eight Hour Law Proclamation on May 19, 1869, but it wasn’t until 1916 when the Adamson Act was established on the Federal level that regulated workers that worked for private companies. The Fiar Labor Standards Act of 1938 established a maximum work week at 40 hours, which began the modern way we all think about our normal working hours.