Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
This week, parents and students are hopefully flooding teachers’ desks with notes, gift cards, and kitschy mugs. But what are the policies that teachers would really want to have in place for Teacher Appreciation Week? What could improve their classrooms?
A safe and healthy classroom environment seems to be on the top of the list. A national study of early-career teachers from the Center of American Progress found that the most commonly cited reason to leave the classroom was “working conditions.” Another national teacher survey conducted by Morning Consult found that 66 percent of teachers had their classrooms interrupted by student behavior outbursts somewhat to extremely frequently. As multiple school leaders have testified recently, Minnesota’s top-down, inflexible discipline mandates have contributed to chaotic classrooms. State legislators should consider giving more weight to school leaders’ voices. For their part, districts should pass classroom management policies that prioritize orderly and consistent discipline methods.
Teachers also don’t like “standards-based grading” or other new grading methods that bar participation grades and zeros, according to a study by the Fordham Institute. Teachers need (and want) strong administrative support when they do give poor grades to students who have earned them. Grades are an important communication tool between the teachers and parents, and teachers need to feel they can be fair, honest, and consistent.
What else might teachers want? A recent study from the Learning Policy Institute found that three factors highly associated with teacher turnover are teacher compensation, frustration with poor school leadership, and job and workplace satisfaction.
This is no surprise. Teaching needs to become a modernized profession to attract and retain stellar educators. Teachers need robust teacher training before they enter the job, and meaningful professional development and mentorship networks within schools. Research shows that strong preparation before entering the profession increases teacher retention, and teachers who participate in high-quality mentorship programs become better teachers quickly and stay in the profession for longer.
Teacher compensation reform, like Texas’ merit-based pay program TIA, also modernizes the profession by ensuring that good teachers get paid more. (Texas’ program lets a stellar teacher earn over six figures, no matter where they are in their career.)
For Teacher Appreciation Week, let’s modernize the profession and give these teachers what they really want!
It’s incredibly important to invest in local school communities and support teachers. Working on a school board or serving on a local district advisory committee can help ensure that quality policies protect teachers. Classroom donations, field trip volunteer work, or an encouraging email can also help these vital local communities.