Earlier this year, a record-low 39% of teachers believed education was going in the right direction in their local school districts. Now, their optimism is on the rebound.
That’s according to new research from education reform nonprofit EdChoice, which surveyed more than 1,000 educators about their opinions on a range of topics, including:
- Levels of trust in decision-making around K12
- Motivations for becoming a teacher
- Accountability and school performance
- School choice
- Teacher absenteeism
- Measuring student success
As of the fall of this year, 49% of teachers say education is headed in the right direction at the local level, a 10-point increase since April. It’s a notable change that reflects parents’ attitudes on the topic.
Now, let’s get into more data that captures teachers’ feelings toward K12 education.
Accountability and trust
For the first time, the researchers asked their opinions on the government’s influence on K12 accountability systems. A staggering 81% of teachers at least somewhat agreed that the government has a role in K12’s accountability systems.
Another 52% signaled that local government should have the most influence, followed by state governments (32%).
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Teachers were also asked what schools themselves should be held accountable for. The majority said schools are responsible for student academic learning (79%) and engagement (70%). Educators were far less willing to say schools should be held accountable for parent engagement (43%) and satisfaction (35%).
Furthermore, 96% of teachers trust themselves to make “good decisions” about education. However, only 61% hold such levels of trust in their superintendents, state departments of education (54%), local school boards (53%) and state legislatures or governors (37%).
Teacher absenteeism
Student absenteeism has been a hot topic in education over the past few years. The researchers instead asked educators themselves how many whole days of school they missed in the previous year. Seventy percent of teachers said they missed less than five days last year, while 20% missed between six and 10 days. Only 7% of teachers missed more than 10 days in the previous school year.
When asked why they were absent from school, the most common responses were illness (67%) and appointments (52%). Other reasons included burnout (18%) and concern for their safety (2%).
The majority of teachers don’t think their schools handle safety adequately. Teachers’ concern about violent intruders entering their school has risen by four percentage points (38%) since the spring.
To read more about teachers’ attitudes toward K12 education, click here.
