Revisiting Teacher Engagement

            No matter what profession you are in, a positive work environment is key to work productivity and job stability.  However, with the ongoing budget, staffing and curriculum changes in school districts across the country, morale has been at an all time low.  

Recently, there was a study conducted by Gallop on teacher engagement.  The survey which was administered by telephone, connected with 6,711 full-time teachers across the country about enthusiasm, emotional connection to work and time off[i].

            The results of the Gallop Survey found that 30% of the teachers reported being “actively engaged” in their jobs.  Fifty-Seven percent responded they are not engaged at work and 13% reported they are actively disengaged and they “act out their unhappiness in ways that undermine their coworkers accomplish.  It is believed that teachers who are disengaged account for 2.3 million missed work days.[ii].”

            The results of the Gallop Survey are concerning.  The concern is that although it is well known teacher disengagement is a problem, very little has been done to address teacher disengagement.  One of reason very little has been done maybe due to the perception about the teaching profession and the teacher union. 

            While there is a symbiotic relationship between the teaching profession and the teacher union, they are two distinct entities.  However, whenever there is a problem there is a tendency to place blame on both.  Evidence of this can be seen in ongoing fights over collective bargaining between teacher unions and school districts.  While union officials were negotiating to keep their members from having to pay a co-pay for medical visits, teachers were portrayed as greedy for not wanting to make concessions that everyone else was making as states and districts continue to recover from the economic crisis and diminishing resources.  It was never mentioned the unreimbursed money teachers spend on supplies and incentives to keep students engaged and improve self-esteem or the unpaid time at home spent grading papers and writing lesson plans.  Neither was it mentioned that teacher salary is not competitive with other professions or how staffing cuts of teachers and non teaching staff affected the teachers who were not laid off, but would have to take on the additional duties of lost staff.

            Lastly, the results of the Gallop Survey are disheartening because of the untold impact.  A disengaged teacher has given up and becomes harmful to the learning process.  A disengaged teacher is most likely a teacher who gives passing grades for students who do little to no work.  Finally, a disengaged teacher has students who are not learning, not meeting their potential and are at risk to give up on education and drop out.  This never seems to be considered in the discourse on teacher disengagement.

            It would have been nice if the Gallop Survey asked the participants what keeps them engaged?  How to reengage them or if they understand the impact their disengagement has on their students?  

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[i] http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2015/01/gallup-majority-of-teachers-not-engaged-with-jobs.html?print=1

[ii] ibid

What High School Graduates Say about their Education

                There has been a lot of debate about high school graduates who are entering the adult world unprepared for college or the workforce.  A majority of the research on the lack of preparation has been from the perspective of employers and educational advocates on what they believe high schools students should learn before they graduate and how schools should prepare their students.  However, there is a recent study by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies conducted a study from the student’s perspective.

                The study entitled “Rising to the Challenge:  Are High School Graduates Prepared or College and Work,” asked 1,347 recent public high school students from the classes of 2011-2014 via an online survey about if they felt their education prepared them for college and the workforce[i].

             The participants were asked a series of questions concerning how well did their high school education prepare them for college or the workforce?  Which area(s) you wished your high school better prepared you for the expectations of college or the workforce?  When it comes to the schoolwork expected of you in college, how has college been so far?  Which best describes your experience in high school?  Participants also answered questions reflecting on their high school experience[ii].

             The results of the online study found that eighty-three (83%) of the participants that are enrolled in college (2or 4 year) reported at least some gaps in preparation in one or more subject areas.  Two-thirds of participants said they would have taken higher level courses in high school if they had realized the expectations of college and the workforce.  Eighty-seven percent (87%) reported they would have worked harder if their high school had demanded more and set a higher standard.  Lastly, one third of the participants stated they wished their high school did a better job teaching work and study habits[iii].

             Although the study provided some good data, the study just scratched the surface and confirmed the need for better preparation at the high school level for graduates entering college and the workforce.  The study also revealed the need to continue to gather data from the student perspective since the student perspective is underutilized in current research.  Although the study did provide some good insight, the study did not go far enough by asking students the question:  if they felt their principal or teachers were knowledgeable enough to prepare them for college and the workforce?  The lack of such question(s) has revealed a gap in the current research that needs to be examined.

The gap in research on administrator and teacher knowledge concerning the preparation high school students for college and the workforce is crucial to determining how to develop and implement meaningful reform so high schools can properly prepare their students.  In order to ensure high schools are properly preparing their students, research from the student perspective will inform researchers, administrators and teachers if the goals of preparation for college and the workforce are being met.

           If we want are high school graduates properly prepared for college and the workforce, the student perspective is the compass that will show us if our reform efforts are moving in the right direction.  However, it is the knowledge of the administrator and teacher that move students in the right direction of proper preparation.

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[i] http://www.achieve.org/rising-challenge-powerpoint

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

When Children Became Reduced to Test Scores

                There is a message being ingrained in the minds of children and young adults.  The message is: “you are a test score.”  Beginning in elementary and continuing in middle and high school, this message is validated through the implementation and instruction of content that is designed to familiarize children and young adults with the kind of questions that may appear on the upcoming standardized test.  Further validation of this message comes from the school principals and teachers who under the veil of encouragement and school pride attempt to get children and young adults to obtain the desired target score.

 

                The emphasis on, benchmarks and standardized test scores has been a cult like conviction since the late 1980/early 1990s, among advocates who believe that test scores are effective indicators of opportunities and roles  young adults will have when they leave high school.  The No Child Left Behind legislation gave advocates a permanent platform by making test scores the seminal piece of the educational process.  With the ability to penalize administrators, teachers, schools and districts for not meeting specific academic targets, an unprecedented era of education began.  In this era success is measured not by what students learn, retain and recall, success is a specific target score on a standardized test that determines proficiency.

 

                The results of children becoming reduced to test scores has made, learning fragmented, one dimensional, absent of purpose, and irrelevant to the lives of children and young adults.  From their perspective, this is why learning is “boring.”  Furthermore, children and young adults have no incentive to change their perspective because they understand they have been reduced from an individual into a test score. 

 

                Evidence of this understanding of being reduced to a test score was demonstrated in the number of administrators and teachers in districts across the country that were involved in testing scandals where students were directly led to choosing the right answers or incorrect answers where changed after the tests were completed are given back to the teacher.  The lesson learned by children and young adults from the testing scandal is that “your test score is more important than what you learned.”  Also evident of this the harsh belief is that “if you don’t test well, you will end up as nothing.”

 

                Children and young adults hear from administrators, teachers and parents about the consequences of not achieving the desired target score.  Based on the score, children and young adults take on the labels based on the score they receive.  The score also determines how children and young adults will be treated.  Children and young adults will begin to see a difference in the way instruction is provided by finding themselves in groups based on their scores.  For children and young adults with scores of basic or below basic, unfortunately, some may allow their score to define them.  These children and young adults embrace the label and disengage from school because “school has nothing for them.” 

 

                The reduction of children and young adults from individuals to test scores allows legislators to continue to justify their cult like conviction and gives administrators and teachers’ permission to provide instruction in a manner that is not in the best interest of what children and young adults learn, retain and recall.

 

If we ever hope to regain confidence in our educational system and re-engage children and young adults to embrace academic achievement, we can no longer reduce children to test scores and not care about what they actually learn, retain and recall. 

A New Year’s Resolution for Educators & Parents

                The onset of each New Year brings the opportunity to make resolutions for the New Year.  Resolutions are supposed to help us improve specific areas of our lives.  There are resolutions to lose weight, spend less money or stop smoking.  These are all noble resolutions.

However, if you are a teacher or a principal, some of your resolutions should seek to improve the academic achievement, student engagement or supporting struggling students.  Making resolutions that seek to improve students is necessary for any teacher or principal and should be considered equally as important as resolutions to lose weight, spend less money or stop smoking. 

 

                Parents  should also be making resolutions for their children that seek to improve academic achievement, engagement or a struggling child.  Parents should not only make resolutions to support their child in school, they should also share their resolutions with their child and encourage their child to make resolutions to improve academic achievement, engagement and areas where they are struggling. 

 

                Unfortunately many teachers, principals and parents do not make resolutions that seek to improve academic achievement, student engagement or support struggling children.  Yet we continue to wonder why our schools and students are underperforming.