Topline results and crosstabs from the survey are available at UMass.edu/Poll

The second wave of results from  Annual Massachusetts Educator Survey (AMES) reveals that public school teachers across the Bay State have unmet professional needs, as well as substantive concerns about student wellbeing.

The survey of nearly 1,200 public K-12 teachers across the state, which was conducted throughout the summer by the Center for Education Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in conjunction with the UMass Amherst Poll, asked educators a broad range of questions about their perspectives and experiences inside and outside of the classroom. While Massachusetts teachers generally report high levels of satisfaction with their jobs, their students and the professional relationships they have built in their roles, they also voice concerns that help explain findings from the first wave of the survey’s results.

“Massachusetts teachers are asking for help,” says Jack Schneider, Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor of Education at UMass Amherst and director of the Center for Education Policy. “Our September release of AMES data indicated that large majorities of teachers enjoy the work and find it fulfilling, but nearly half (42%) said that they don’t find it sustainable. So what’s at the root of that problem?”
 

The kids are alright

“To be clear, teachers do not see students as the problem,” Schneider states. “Ninety-eight percent of teachers are somewhat or very satisfied with their professional relationships with students, and a majority of teachers said that their students value learning (59%), actively participate in class (72%), treat each other with respect (67%) and treat their teachers with respect (72%).”

Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the UMass Poll, agrees, noting that “Across demographic groups of teachers, we find similar views suggesting that—despite the challenges faced by both teachers and their students—classrooms in the commonwealth remain a positive space for learning.”
 

Problems facing students at home, and a lack of support staff to help in the classroom

Nteta notes that while teachers view their classrooms in a positive light, students in the state’s public schools still face many of the same challenges as adults in the commonwealth.

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“Amidst the growing mental health crisis in the Bay State, a whopping 94% of teachers believe that anxiety and/or depression are a problem in their classrooms,” Nteta says. “With Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents still engaged in a historic detention and deportation campaign in the U.S., 7 in 10 teachers (70%) report that students’ immigration status has emerged as a problem as well. And as Bay Staters contend with rising costs for food, clothing, shelter, and utilities, large majorities of teachers identify poverty (82%) and homelessness, foster care, or loss of a caregiver (74%) as issues that their students contend with.

“These findings underscore that ensuring a high-quality education for students in the commonwealth will require elected officials and key stakeholders to address the profound mental health, economic, and family challenges that students and caregivers face,” Nteta says.

Schneider notes that topping the list of ways that schools and districts could improve working conditions is the need for more support staff, such as school counselors and paraprofessionals, who can provide additional assistance to high-need and at-risk students. In fact, two-thirds (66%) of the survey’s respondents selected “more support staff” as one of the top three changes that could be made at the school or district level to best retain teachers.

“Teachers see their students facing major challenges outside the classroom,” Schneider says. “Students are coming into school with major needs beyond what the academic program is designed to address, and teachers want help in meeting those needs.”

Higher salaries to recruit and retain teachers

Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and co-director of the UMass Poll, points to higher salaries topping the lists of ways to better recruit and retain teachers as a clear indicator of one of the main issues facing the Bay State’s public educators.

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“Retaining excellent teachers is critical for maintaining high-quality K-12 schools,” Rhodes says. “What are the keys to achieving this objective? Eighty-five percent of  Massachusetts teachers cited higher salaries, and 60% cited better benefits.

“Although policymakers and advocates sometimes cite more specialized policies like career ladders, professional development opportunities and performance-based compensation as important for retaining talent, front-line teachers overwhelmingly cite bread-and-butter compensation issues as the keys for retention,” Rhodes observes. “This may seem surprising, given that Massachusetts teacher salaries compare favorably with those in many other states. However, once the high cost of living in the commonwealth is taken into consideration, the compensation of Massachusetts teachers is not especially high.”

Rhodes also notes that the view of higher salaries as critical to retaining talented people in the teaching profession is especially strong among teachers of color and younger teachers. “These patterns suggest important lessons for policymakers who are invested in maintaining a diverse and dynamic teacher workforce in the coming years,” he says.
 

Not enough hours in the day

The survey found that another issue impacting teachers is time, or, more specifically, a lack thereof.

“Most Americans see teaching as primarily the work of classroom instruction, but the work also includes a range of other tasks—lesson planning, grading student work, collaborating with colleagues and meeting with students,” Schneider explains. “We asked teachers how much more time they would spend on these tasks if they could restructure the current workday, and more than two-thirds indicated a need for a minimum of 75 additional minutes. Roughly three-quarters of teachers, for instance, indicated a need for 15-60 additional minutes during the day for lesson planning.

“Obviously schools don’t have hours of extra time each day to work with, but this is a major issue,” he continues. “We know that many teachers are giving up some part of their evenings and weekends throughout the year because they don’t have adequate time for all aspects of the work; we know that some teachers feel forced to cut corners; and we know that teachers feel significant stress related to not having enough time. Even if we can only begin to triage these issues, it’s worth starting someplace. Fifty-six percent of teachers, for instance, would like 15-30 minutes to meet basic needs like eating lunch and using the bathroom during the day. We can probably find that kind of time.”
 

Input on school improvement plans

“Why haven’t these issues been addressed?” Schneider asks. “As it turns out, teachers don’t have a tremendous amount of influence over policy, even in their own schools. According to state law, all schools are required to develop a school improvement plan—a process in which teacher participation is mandated. Yet, only 19% of teachers said they were ‘significantly’ included in the development of their school’s improvement plans, and only 20% said they think the school improvement planning process works well. This is a well-intended policy that simply isn’t working as envisioned.

“If the state were to place more emphasis on meaningful local goal-setting and stakeholder-driven improvement—as opposed to broad, statewide efforts to manage change—we might begin to see more teacher concerns addressed,” he suggests. “In fact, if done well, we might also see more student, family and community concerns addressed through the school improvement planning process.”

The Annual Massachusetts Educator Survey was conducted June 2-Aug. 24, with a sample of 1,179 Massachusetts public K-12 educators. The margin of error of the survey is 2.9%.

Topline results, crosstabs and a full methodology of the survey can be found at UMass.edu/Poll