What Teachers Really Want

In an effort to inform the nation about what teachers in the national public education system think and want, Education Sector and the FDR group surveyed 1,010 K-12 public school teachers about the teaching profession, teachers unions, and reforms aimed at improving teacher quality. The survey also tracked trends by asking some questions identical to a 2003 survey of K-12 public school teachers and comparing the responses. The survey found that, among other things, 76 percent of teachers feel that too many burned-out veteran teachers stay because they don’t want to walk away from benefits and service time accrued. 55 percent said it was difficult to remove teachers who shouldn’t be in the classroom, only 26 percent said their most recent evaluation was helpful and 79 percent support strengthening the formal evaluation of probationary teachers. Teachers are more likely now than in 2003 to say that unions are essential, and would support their union’s taking an active role in improving teacher evaluation, mentoring teachers, guiding ineffective teachers out of the profession, and negotiating new and differentiated roles for teachers. To read more about this report please visit
http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/WaitingToBeWonOver.pdf.