Report: Teacher’s Views on Elevating the Profession

Posted by on November 05, 2012

Before and after

A new survey from Teach Plus looks at attitudes of teachers who entered the profession after NCLB in comparison with their colleagues who entered before it. Teachers with 10 years or fewer in the classroom now constitute over 50 percent of the teaching force. The report indicates that newer teachers voice growing support for placing performance ahead of seniority. However, they join their veteran colleagues on the need for more collaboration time and the importance of smaller class size. Teachers joining the profession in the last decade are more receptive to use of student growth data in evaluation, as well as performance-based tenure and compensation systems, and believe high standards and greater accountability will elevate the profession. When asked what types of working conditions help them serve students more effectively, teachers across the experience spectrum are nearly unanimous: time in the school day for collaboration; more flexible class groupings; and better teacher preparation. When asked what changes would elevate the profession, all teachers cited raising salaries as a key mechanism. To pay for those higher salaries, slightly over half of all teachers suggest raising taxes as their preferred strategy, but do not support trading off class size, a longer year, or a new pension system to pay for the increase.

See the report: http://www.teachplus.org/