Collaboration and Support Over Pay

According to a massive new survey underwritten by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic, Inc., American teachers are more interested in school reform and student achievement than their paychecks, reports the Associated Press. The national poll, the largest of teachers ever completed, includes the opinions of teachers in every grade, in every state, and across every demographic, and was conducted to keep teachers’ voices in the debate over education reform, according to the Gates Foundation’s director, Vicki Phillips. Most teachers surveyed said they feel students in their states are doing okay in school, but believe fewer than 75 percent will graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and work. More value non-monetary rewards like collaboration time with other teachers and a supportive school leadership over higher salaries. Only 28 percent felt performance pay would have a strong impact, with 30 percent feeling it would have no impact at all. A majority of teachers said they would like to see tougher academic standards common to every state, despite the extra work these could create for them. Teachers are not opposed to standardized tests, despite union lobbying against them in states like Washington. But instead of yearly tests, teachers would prefer formative, ongoing assessments to help them understand how much their students are learning over time. Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/03/02/more_than_40000_us_teachers_surveyed/?rss_id=Boston.com+–+Education+news.  See the survey at http://www.scholastic.com/primarysources/download.asp