National Survey of Teachers’ Views Find Support for Unions, Problems with Teacher Evaluations

 

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Education Sector, a non-profit think tank in Washington, D.C., surveyed approximately 1,000 K-12 public school teachers on their views on the profession, unions, and education reform.  What follows are ten select findings from the survey report, “Waiting to be Won Over”. For the complete report, visit www.educationsector.org.

 

t 76% of teachers agree that, “Too many veteran teachers who are burned out stay because they do not want to walk away from the benefits and service time they have accrued.”

 

t 78% of teachers say it is either a good or excellent idea to, “make it far easier to leave and return to teaching without losing retirement benefits.”

 

t 41% of teachers report that their most recent teaching evaluation was just a formality.  Another 32% agree that, “It was well-intentioned but not particularly helpful to [my] teaching practice.”

 

t 79% of teachers support strengthening the formal evaluation period of probationary teachers so that they will get tenure only after they have proven to be very good at what they do. 

 

t 86% of teachers agree that, “Teachers are required to do too much paperwork and documentation about what goes on in their classroom.”

 

t 64% of teachers oppose giving financial incentives to teachers “whose kids routinely score higher than similar students on standardized tests.”  Opposition to this concept is increasing among teachers; in 2003, just 56% of teachers were opposed.

 

t 54% of teachers agree that teacher’s unions were “absolutely essential.”  Another 31% saw unions as “important but not essential.”  Among union members, 65% agree that unions were “absolutely essential.”

 

t Newer teachers are considerably more likely to say teachers unions are “absolutely essential” compared to newer teachers in 2003 (60%, up from 51%).

 

t 47% of unionized teachers characterize the relationship between their union and district leadership as, “mostly about cooperation and trust.”  33% of these teachers characterize the relationship as, “mostly about conflict and distrust.”  19% of respondents were “not sure.”

 

t When forced to choose, 52% of unionized teachers would prefer their union to stick to traditional issues such as protecting teachers salaries, benefits, and jobs.  32% say that unions should increase their focus on things like teacher quality and student achievement.