Education Sector Trending Toward Reform

7/31/2019 Education Sector Trending Toward Reform

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education sector reports

www.educationsector.org

By Sarah Rosenberg and Elena Silvawith the FDR Group

Trending Toward Reform:Teachers Speak on Unions and theFuture o the Proession
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ii

Introduction 1

A Changing Role or Unions? 2

The Big Three: Evaluation, Pay, and Tenure 4

What Unions Do Best 8

Conclusion 11

Appendix A: Dividing Lines 14

Appendix B: Methodology 17

Appendix C: Questionnaire 19


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the Farkas Duett Research Group

The FDR Group designed the study, moderated the ocus

groups, crated the questionnaire, and analyzed the data In

particular, we would like to thank Ann Duett whose expert

knowledge and thoughtul insight ensured that our reportreects the views o the 1,101 teachers surveyed Thanks

also to Jennie Herriot-Hatfeld, who provided valuable

research assistance, and to Susan Headden and Robin

Smiles or their careul editing and infnite patience Finally,

we would like to thank all o the teachers who participated in

the ocus groups and completed the survey

The Joyce Foundation provided unding or this project The

fndings and conclusions are those o the authors alone and

do not necessarily represent the opinions o the oundation

ABOUT THE AUTHORSSARAH ROSENBERG is a policy analyst at Education

Sector She can be reached at srosenberg@educationsector

org

ELENA SILVA is a senior policy analyst at Education Sector

She can be reached at esilva@educationsectororg

ABOUT EDUCATION SECTOR

Education Sector is an independent think tank that

challenges conventional thinking in education policy We are

a nonproft, nonpartisan organization committed to achieving

measurable impact in education, both by improving existing

reorm initiatives and by developing new, innovative solutions

to our nations most pressing education problems

Copyright 2012 Education Sector

Education Sector encourages the ree use, reproduction, and dis-tribution o our ideas, perspectives, and analyses. Our CreativeCommons licensing allows or the noncommercial use o allEducation Sector authored or commissioned materials. We require

attribution or all use. For more inormation and instructions on thecommercial use o our materials, please visit our website, wwweducationsectororg.

1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 850, Washington, D.C. 20036202.552.2840 wwweducationsectororg

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1 Education Sector Reports: Trending Toward Reorm July 2012 wwweducationsectororg

Teachers are the presumed agents o all o this

change They ace not only a new slate o bold

reorms, but also a long list o budget cuts likely to

have an even bigger and more immediate impact

on their schools, classrooms, jobs, and paychecks2

How these two trends adding on and cutting

back will intersect is a question making teachers

understandably anxious about their individual work

and the uture o their proession According to

the most recent MetLie Survey o the American

Teacher, teachers are reporting the lowest levels o

job satisaction since 1989, with just 44 percent orespondents describing themselves as very satisfed

with their classroom careers, down rom 62 percent

just three years ago3

To understand how and why teachers opinions

may be changing, Education Sector worked with

the Farkas Duett Research Group to conduct our

ocus groups and a nationally representative survey

o K-12 public school teachers4 The survey, which

gathered responses rom 1,101 teachers, repeated

questions rom a 2007 Education Sector survey

and a 2003 Public Agenda survey about a variety oteacher-centered reorms, including new approaches

to evaluation, pay, and tenure, and the role o unions

in pushing or or against these reorms5 Accordingly,

this report examines changes in teacher opinion rom

2007 to 2011 and, as with the 2007 report, looks

closely at dierences between new teachers (less than

fve years) and veterans (more than 20 years)

The fndings show strong continued support among

teachers or unions Despite plenty o teacher angst

about union membership we shouldnt have to join,

dues are too high, work rules are too rigid teachers

still believe that unions play an important role in

protecting teachers jobs Union members roughly

three-quarters o the nations teachers are more

likely than our years ago to report involvement in

local union activities and more likely to associate their

membership with eelings o pride and solidarity (See

Figure 1)

That is not to say teachers dont want to see change

both in the proession and in the role o the union

We can do better, oers an elementary teacher

The volume and pace of teacher-related reforms in America

are nothing short of remarkable. All at once, state and district

policymakers, largely in response to federal grant incentives,

are trying to create new teacher evaluation systems, overhaulprofessional development, revise tenure laws, and rethink hiring,

compensation, and dismissal policies.1 They are doing it all with

stunning speed and alongside a host of other reforms, including the

implementation of common standards and new student assessments.

Tight deadlines, some as early as next year, reinforce the familiar

mantra: we must do more, and we must do it now.

Figure 1. Increases in Unin Pride and Invlvement

Percent o union members who say: 2011 2007

n=838 n=936

Te nn pres eens pre n

srt, n tn t te prctc enets41% 31%

n=835 n=949

Te re er r smewt ne n

ene n te c nn38% 24%

Note: Percentages in fgures may not total to 100 percent due to rounding oromission o answer categories. Question wording may be edited or space.Complete question wording and data are available in the appendix. Smalldiscrepancies between percentages in the text, in the fgures, and in theappendix are due to rounding.
http://www.educationsector.org/http://www.educationsector.org/


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Some argue it cant Stanord political scientist Terry

Moe says its impossible or the union to ever be a

true partner in reorm because it is wed to the interest

o its members8 In todays climate, those interests are

ocused more than ever on job security The MetLieSurvey o the American Teacheround two-thirds o

teachers report that their schools have experienced

layos o teachers or other sta in the last year This

same survey ound that more than a third (34 percent)

o teachers do not eel that their job is secure Thats

our times as many than just fve years ago9

It should not be surprising, then, that teachers are

seeking security and turning to the one place they

know they can fnd it The union, teachers believe, is

a source o protection, an insurance policy, without

which they would be ar worse o More than three-quarters o teachers today (including more than

70 percent o new teachers) say that, absent the

union, their working conditions and salaries would

suer Majorities also agree that they would be more

vulnerable to school politics, and would have nowhere

to turn in the ace o unair charges by parents or

students (See Figure 2)

With more than three-ourths o public school

teachers nationwide belonging to a union or

association, it might seem that teacher attitudes

toward unions could be explained simply by theirmembership numbers10 Teachers unions do enjoy

an enormous membership base, ar larger than

other labor unions, and certainly play a strong role in

inuencing the opinions o teachers But more than

hal o teachers who are not members o a union or

association agree that the union protects the working

conditions and salaries o all teachers and that

teachers would be more vulnerable without a union

in Illinois, as an entire proession and as individual

teachers6 Some teachers have even begun their

own movements to transorm their proession, rom

the Boston-based TeachPlus, which now supports

a reorm network o more than 5,000 teachers in

six cities, to the teacher-led EdVisions schools in

Minnesota And according to this survey, there is agrowing sense among teachers that certain elements

o teaching are improving Teachers are more likely (in

2011 compared to 2003) to see evaluation and tenure

as meaningul They are also more likely to support

particular reorm proposals, like paying teachers more

to teach hard-to-sta subjects and in low-perorming

schools

The union role in reorm, according to teachers, is also

changing Or at least they think it should Teachers

today are more likely to say they want unions to help

with and even lead reorms, including some prettycontroversial ones Most teachers, or example, say

their local union doesnt lead any eorts to identiy

or retrain ineective teachers, or help guide them out

o teaching But majorities o these teachers say the

union should do exactly that

A Changing Role or Unions?

The nations frst teachers unions were established to

ensure decent wages, hours, and working conditions

or the teacher workorce, or what original Americanlabor leader Samuel Gompers called bread and

butter basics By their very nature, teachers unions,

primarily through collective bargaining that began in

the 1960s, hold the line to protect these standards

and resist whatever changes may threaten them

Teachers have traditionally viewed unions accordingly,

or job and wage security and or protection rom

administrator bias and avoritism

The idea that teachers unions would actively support

education reorm, working with rather than against

district and school management, is relatively newFirst pushed to the oreront o the union agenda in

the 1980s, new unionism ocused less on restrictive

work rules and more on creating cooperative

relationships among labor and management leaders7

Whether it works is still controversial How could a

union, or example, oer job protection to its members

and, at the same time, negotiate dismissal policies

that threaten those protections?

We can do better, as an entire

proession and as individualteachers.


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So whats a union to do? Is it possible to both protect

and reorm a workorce at the same time? Is the

result another round o new unionism, this time in

the context o unprecedented ederal unding or and

ocus on teacher-centered reorms?

The nations two largest teachers unions are bettingon it Both the National Education Association and

the American Federation o Teachers announced

plans last year to push or previously untouchable

reorms, including changes to hiring and evaluation

policies The two unions, along with several national

philanthropic oundations and the US Department o

Education, are supporting eorts to promote labor-

management collaboration One such eort is the

Teacher Urban Reorm Network, led by TURN ounder

and AFT Vice President Adam Urbanski, which aims

to restructure local unions to be ull partners in reorm

Its not easy work; labor-management relations have

long been defned by an entrenched and adversarial

us versus them mentality But most teachers

support the idea o more labor involvement in reorm

More than hal 62 percent say local unions would

be helpul partners in improving low-perorming

schools, with only 14 percent saying that local union

involvement would be an obstacle to reorm

While the challenges o labor-management

partnership are many, and dont always result in

measurable changes in policy or practice, there are

some notable successes12 In Illinois, or example,

the states teachers unions helped to develop and

More Than Bread and Butter

Todays teachers want more than just bread and

butter basics rom their unions They expect that

unions will not only protect them, but also will engage

in some o the reorms aimed at transorming their

proession The proportion o teachers saying unions

should ocus more on improving teacher quality is

growing, rom 32 percent in 2007 to 43 percent today

(See Figure 3) And this growth is most notable among

veteran teachers, whose jump in support is nearly

double that o newer teachers (17 points versus 9

points)11 Still, or some teachers, the unions role

should be to stand against the rising tide o reorm Itheyre raising requirements, because theyre always

raising requirements on what teachers have to do,

somebodys job needs to be no, argues a high

school math teacher rom Washington, DC That

could be seen as a roadblock to teacher quality but

its an appropriate role or a union Somebody has to

say no

Figure 2. Unins as Prtectrs

Percent saying they strongly or somewhat agree with

each o the ollowing:2011n=1,101

Wtt nn, tecers w e nere t

sc ptcs r mnstrtrs w se ter

pwer81%

Tecers cn nr cres rm prents r

stents w e nwere t trn wtt te nn77%

Wtt cecte rnn, te wrkn cntns

n sres tecers w e mc wrse77%

Figure 3. Mve t Rerm

Generally speaking, do you think that teachers

unions or associations should:2011 2007n=1,101 n=1,010

Pt mre cs tn te crrent n

sses sc s mprn tecer qt n

stent ceement43% 32%

Mst stck t trtn nn sses sc s

prtectn tecers sres, enets, n s42% 52%

I theyre raising requirements,

because theyre always raising

requirements on what teachers

have to do, somebodys job needs

to be no. That could be seen as

a roadblock to teacher quality

but its an appropriate role or a

union. Somebody has to say no.


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It would be air to ask whether union leaders have

actually changed their minds about evaluation

measures, or whether they are strategically positioning

themselves to be players in what is proving to be

the most important and potentially meaningul

teacher reorm in decades To be sure, neither union

is enthusiastic about the use o test scores or

evaluation And there is still major disagreement inthe broader feld o education among educators,

policymakers, and researchers over how reliable

student test scores are as a measure o teacher

perormance Evaluation reorms that use growth

models, or example, which use test scores to show

a teachers eect on student growth rom one year

to the next, have only increased the ervor on both

sides Value-added models, the most sophisticated

o test-based growth models, are unstable and

unreliable, critics say, as well as impossible to

understand Others disagree and say value-added

data oer additional and important signals o teacher

eectiveness

Teachers fnd themselves caught in the middle o

this conict, understandably nervous about how

they will be measured, and to what end And some

teachers are concerned that their career is in their

students hands Kids now understand that were

being evaluated on their scores, worries a 12-year

pass an ambitious slate o reorm legislation that ties

teacher pay and tenure to student learning outcomes

Close to hal o teachers say their local union and

district have a good relationship, one characterized

by cooperation and trust, although this number has

remained virtually unchanged since 2007 (See Figure

4) Notably, teachers who say union-district relationsare mostly cooperative are more likely than those

who report conict to report that their school made

adequate yearly progress in the last year (68 percent

compared to 56 percent)

The Big Three: Evalution, Pay,and Tenure

While teachers show consistent support or traditional

union concerns such as more planning time and small

class size, their opinions about evaluation, pay, and

tenure reorms seem to be changing

Teacher Evaluation

Teacher evaluation is, without question, the astest-

moving and most controversial area o reorm in

education today With plenty o evidence that current

evaluation systems are seriously awed, the push or

an evaluation overhaul makes sense But it has, rom

the start, been raught with debate Introduced in

districts and states as a means to measure teaching

eectiveness, the move to new teacher evaluation

systems has been branded as an accountability

reorm, seen as a way to distinguish the good rom

the bad At the core o the controversy is the question

o how teacher eectiveness, or ineectiveness, is

best measured

While using students standardized test scores is

perhaps the simplest way to quantiy an individual

teachers eect, and to compare teachers within and

across schools, is it an accurate measure? Is it air?

For years, teachers unions have led the resistance

to the use o student test scores as an evaluationmeasure, pointing to the poor quality o tests overall,

the inaccuracy o using standardized tests to

assess an individual teachers perormance, and the

unairness o using tests to compare teachers But,

in just the last two years, both national unions have

revised their positions on teacher evaluation and no

longer categorically oppose the use o test scores or

evaluation13

Figure 4. Mre Cperatin Than Cnfict inUnin-District Relatinship

Today in your district, how would you describe

the relationship between the teachers union

or association and the district leadership? Is it

mostly about:2011 2007n=1,074 n=971

Cnfct n strst 29% 28%

Cpertn n trst 45% 44%

Tere s n nn r ssctn 4% 4%

Nt sre 22% 24%


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Since teachers at schools with a high percentage

o low-income students are more likely to have their

students standardized test scores included in their

evaluation than teachers at schools with wealthier

students (25 percent compared to 9 percent), they are

also more likely to avor measuring student progress

over time (58 percent to 48 percent) Teachers in

schools with mostly low-income students may

also recognize the potential or their students to

demonstrate signifcant improvement on standardizedtests, compared to teachers o wealthier, and already

high-scoring, students

Overall, teachers are eeling better about evaluation

(See Sidebar, Feeling Good About Evaluation on

page 5) Teachers give their most recent ormal

evaluations high marks More than three-quarters

say their evaluations were done careully and taken

veteran who teaches eighth-grade English in West

Los Angeles Ive heard kids saying, Were going to

test-bomb this one teacher because we want to get

him fred

Despite these anxieties, teachers are more likely now

than in 2007, albeit by only a small margin, to agree

that measuring student progress over time (the theory

behind growth models) is a good or excellent way

to measure teacher eectiveness (rom 49 percent

to 54 percent) But they still dont trust test scores

Only about 1 in 3 teachers are open to rewarding

teachers whose students routinely score higher on

standardized tests (See Figure 5)

Teachers, however, whose evaluations include test

scores as a measure (most did not) are substantially

more likely to avor a growth approach (72 percent)

A Teachers in low-income schools (75 percent

or more ree/reduced lunch, compared to

those in schools with less than 25 percent

ree/reduced lunch) are more likely to have

positive eelings about their recent evaluation

By a 13-point dierence (66 percent and 53

percent), these teachers are more likely to

report that the eedback was meaningul and

helped improve teaching These teachers, who

by and large teach students with many social

and economic needs, may seek more eedback

and support and thus appreciate any eort to

meet it Or, better eedback may be the result

o administrators who are more ocused on

evaluation, possibly because their schools areunder greater scrutiny

A Newer teachers are more likely than veterans (78

percent to 58 percent) to say the eedback rom

their most recent evaluation was meaningul and

helped to improve their teaching This may not

be surprising given that inexperienced teachers

ace a steep learning curve and may rely on

evaluations more than their experienced peers

Administrators, recognizing this, may be more

ocused on evaluating newer teachers This

might explain why newer teachers are also more

likely (89 percent compared to 78 percent) to

say that their evaluation was done careully and

taken seriously

A Teachers who say that the union-district

relationship in their district is characterized by

cooperation and trust (compared to those who

say the relationship is characterized by conict)

are more likely to report positive eelings

about their most recent evaluation Are better

evaluations a result o good labor-management

relations? Or do labor and management simply

get along better in places where evaluation

systems are already strong? Either way, the

pattern is notable In districts with union-district

cooperation, teachers are 15 points more likelyto say their most recent ormal evaluation

was done careully and taken seriously by the

administration (84 percent compared to 69

percent), and to say that the rubric and criteria

used or the evaluation were air and relevant (82

percent compared to 67 percent) They were

16 points more likely to say the eedback rom

the evaluation was meaningul and helpul to

improve their teaching (69 percent compared to

53 percent)

Feeling Good About Evaluation


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describe their most recent ormal evaluation as

well-intentioned but not particularly helpul to

their teaching practice (See video or more on

what teachers had to say about their most recent

evaluations)

Pay Proposals

Do teachers support pay reorm? It depends

Overall, teachers are not convinced that they should

be paid based on perormance With evaluation

measures not well-established or understood, and

teachers anxious about the use o test scores as a

measure, its not surprising that just over a third o

teachers think it makes sense to pay more to those

whose students routinely score better on standardized

tests a number that has stayed the same since

2007 (35 percent in 2011; 34 percent in 2007) Someteachers question whether test scores can measure

their students progress, especially i their students

are low-income or English language learners My

school has 90 percent poverty with 18 dierent

languages, responds one teacher to the survey I

love working with these children but i my salary or

job was based upon test scores I would be crazy

to continue with this teaching assignment Instead,

seriously by administration and that the criteria used

or evaluation were air and relevant And the quality

and outcomes o teacher evaluations appear to

be on an upward course more than six in 10 (62

percent) report that the eedback they receive rom

the evaluation was meaningul and helped to improvetheir teaching (See Figure 6)14

And this is a trend Teachers opinions o their most

recent evaluations have been improving Compared to

2007, teachers are more likely to say their evaluation

was useul and eective and less likely to say it

was just a ormality Still, one in three continue to

Figure 6. Careul, Meaningul, Fair Evaluatins

Think about your most recent ormal evaluation. How

close does each statement come to describing your

own experience? Percent saying item comes very or

somewhat close:2011n=1,101

Te etn ws ne cre n tken sers

mnstrtn78%

Te rrc/crter se r etn were r n

reent 76%

Te eeck rm te etn ws menn n

epe me mpre m tecn62%

M stents stnrze test scres were nce

s prt te etn (mte se n=914)16%

Figure 5. N t Test Scres, Warming t Grwth?

Percent saying they: 2011 2007 2003n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

Strn r smewt r nnc

ncentes r tecers wse ks

rtne scre er tn smrstents n stnrze tests

35

%

34

%

38

%

Strn r smewt r nnc

rewrn tecers wse stents

mke mre cemc prress

n terms mpre ren

ees, tecer etns, n

cssrm tests wen cmpre

t smr stents tt ter

tecers

46% 44% 47%

Rte s eceent r mesrn

tecer eecteness ssessn

stents sks n knwee wen

te rst cme t tecer n n

wen stents ee t see wt

prress ws me

54% 49% 48%

Kids now understand that were

being evaluated on their scores.Ive heard kids saying, Were

going to test-bomb this one

teacher because we want to get

him fred.
http://www.educationsector.org/http://www.educationsector.org/video/trending-toward-reform-evaluations?utm_source=Survey%2BReport%2BPDF&utm_medium=Whiteboard%2BVideo%2BLinks&utm_content=Evaluations&utm_campaign=TeacherSurveyhttp://www.educationsector.org/video/trending-toward-reform-evaluations?utm_source=Survey%2BReport%2BPDF&utm_medium=Whiteboard%2BVideo%2BLinks&utm_content=Evaluations&utm_campaign=TeacherSurveyhttp://www.educationsector.org/


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Compared to teachers who are members o unions

or associations, non-union teachers are more likely

to support more pay or teachers who work in low-

perorming schools (87 percent vs 82 percent),

or teachers who consistently receive outstanding

evaluations rom principals (69 percent vs 53

percent), and or teachers whose students score

higher on standardized tests (48 percent vs 30

percent) Regional dierences support this same

pattern, with teachers in the mostly non-union South

more supportive o pay reorm than those in union-

heavy Northeast and Midwest (See video to learn

more about what fnancial incentives teachers avor or

oppose)

The Meaning of Tenure

In Latin, tenure (tenere) means to hold or to keep

Ironically, tenure is among the policies that many

policymakers are hoping to get rid o, or at least

change Nineteen states have amended their tenure

laws or K-12 teachers in the last year alone17

The move to reorm tenure is driven primarily bythe belie that tenure laws make it too difcult to

fre ineective teachers Indeed, tenure laws do

impose a lengthy and costly process or dismissal,

one which in many states involves multiple hearings

and appeals And while tenure is not a guarantee o

lietime employment, it is true that very ew tenured

teachers are dismissed or poor perormance18 Even

Randi Weingarten, the head o the AFT, agrees that

a much larger proportion (57 percent in 2011; 58

percent in 2007) support higher pay or teachers who

consistently receive outstanding evaluations by their

principal

University o Washington proessor Dan Goldhaber

and his colleagues at the Center or Education Dataand Research, who have studied teacher attitudes

about pay reorm, suggest that teachers may be more

supportive o pay reorms that are based on actors

over which teachers have more personal control, such

as what subject and in what school they teach15 I this

is true, the less control teachers eel they have over

perormance measures, like student test scores, the

less likely they will be to support proposals that tie

pay to perormance

Most teachers are supportive o proposals to pay

more to teachers who have more challengingassignments, specifcally those who work in tough

neighborhoods with low-perorming schools16 Most

also like the idea o giving teachers who work or and

receive national accreditation and who specialize in

hard-to-fll subjects like science or math a bump in

pay Support or these proposals has increased since

2003, rom 70 percent to 83 percent or teaching in

tough neighborhoods, rom 57 percent to 66 percent

or earning accreditation, and, in the largest jump,

rom 42 percent to 58 percent or compensation or

teaching hard-to-fll subjects

Among all teachers:

A 83 percent support paying more to teachers who

work in tough neighborhoods with low-perorming

schools (a steadily increasing trend rom 70

percent in 2003 and 80 percent in 2007)


receive accreditation rom the National Board

or Proessional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) (a

steadily increasing trend rom 57 percent in 2003

and 64 percent in 2007)


specialize in hard-to-fll subjects like science or

math (a steadily increasing trend rom 42 percent

in 2003 and 53 percent in 2007)

A 35 percent support paying more to teachers

whose students score higher than similar students

on standardized tests (not a signifcant change

rom 38 percent in 2003 or 34 percent in 2007)

My school has 90 percent

poverty with 18 dierent

languages. I love working

with these children but i my

salary or job was based upon

test scores I would be crazy

to continue with this teaching

assignment.
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11/31


Union-district relationships also appear to aect how

teachers view tenure Teachers who work in districts

with an antagonistic relationship with the union are

more likely to characterize tenure as a ormality

compared with teachers where the union-districtrelationship is characterized by trust and cooperation

(71 percent vs 58 percent) In contrast, teachers

who work in districts with a cooperative union-

management relationship are more likely to view

tenure as a proven measure o teacher eectiveness

than their peers in conict-ridden districts (35 percent

vs 23 percent)

What Unions Do Best

Teachers want their unions to protect their jobs and

to negotiate good salaries and benefts Overall,

teachers say their unions are ulflling this role airly

well But teachers also increasingly want unions to be

involved in improving their work, and in supporting

certain reorms So ar, teachers see ar less evidence

that this is happening Teachers report ar less union

involvement in eorts to mentor or train teachers or to

provide instructional help or career ladders, and even

less union participation in pushing or evaluation and

dismissal reorms

Teachers report continued strong involvement by their

unions on bread and butter issues Fully 84 percent

say their union protects teachers through due

process and grievance procedures, with 71 percent

o those teachers giving excellent or good ratings

These numbers have held steady since the questions

were frst asked in 2007

Along the same lines, seven in 10 teachers (70

percent) say that their union eectively negotiates

tenure should not be a barrier to fring ineective

teachers Make sure tenure is about airness, she

recently said, and make sure its not a shield or

incompetence19 Teachers, or the most part, agree

Only a third o teachers say they would actually

consider trading tenure, or example or a $5,000 pay

bonus (those without tenure are, not surprisingly, morelikely to trade it)

But they are ready and willing to make changes to

tenure-related dismissal policies Teachers pay the

greatest price or incompetent teachers, responds

one teacher in the survey Year ater year, [other

teachers] pick up the slack And teachers think the

union should play a role in simpliying the process

o removing ineective teachers instead o leaving it

to the district and school administration Compared

with teachers in 2007, teachers today are more likely

to avor the union doing this: rom 63 percent in 2007to 75 percent in 2011 Veterans, the teachers most

likely to avor strong job protections, have increased

their support or unions taking on this unction rom

60 percent in 2007 to 75 percent in 2011 Newcomers

show even stronger support, rom 62 percent in 2007

to 91 percent in 2011 With last-in, frst-out policies

still the rule in most places and layos looming, this

may reect newer teachers rustration that their jobs

are at risk (See video or more on what teachers think

about the unions role in removing ineective teachers

Tenure also seems to be a more meaningul signal

o teacher eectiveness than it was just a ew years

ago In 2007, only 23 percent o teachers said that

awarding tenure meant that a teacher has proven

to be very good at what s/he does as opposed to

just a ormality; in 2011, the number increased

to 28 percent a small increase, but a statistically

signifcant one (See Figure 7)

Teachers pay the greatest price

or incompetent teachers. Year

ater year, [other teachers] pick

up the slack.

Figure 7. Tenure Still a Frmality, But Getting Better

When you hear that a teacher at your school

has been awarded tenure, which would be

more likely to cross your mind?2011 2007

n=989 n=972

Tt te tecer s pren t e er t

wt s/e es 28%

23%

Tt ts st rmt t s er tte t

wt weter tecer s r nt63% 69%
http://www.educationsector.org/http://www.educationsector.org/video/trending-toward-reform-tenure?utm_source=Survey%2BReport%2BPDF&utm_medium=Whiteboard%2BVideo%2BLinks&utm_content=Tenure&utm_campaign=TeacherSurveyhttp://www.educationsector.org/video/trending-toward-reform-tenure?utm_source=Survey%2BReport%2BPDF&utm_medium=Whiteboard%2BVideo%2BLinks&utm_content=Tenure&utm_campaign=TeacherSurveyhttp://www.educationsector.org/


12/31


contracts, salary, and benefts, and the vast majority

o these teachers (69 percent) say their union is doing

an excellent or good job Still, 18 percent thats

about one in six teachers and an increase rom 13

percent in 2007 report that their union does not

currently do this, an indication that a sizeable number

o teachers are not beneftting rom what is ostensiblyone o the unions most essential unctions Perhaps

this increase is due to a literal interpretation o the

word eectively: teachers today so oten talk about

eeling under attack and vulnerable, its possible that

while their own union does negotiate their contracts,

salary, and benefts, the perception among teachers is

that unions are not eectivelydoing so

Class size is another issue in which teachers indicate

their union could be serving them better Just over hal

o teachers (52 percent) say their union works on their

behal to keep class size down, but among theseonly about hal (51 percent) say the union is doing

an excellent or good job Among the 32 percent o

teachers who say that their union doesnt currently

negotiate class size, the vast majority 83 percent

would strongly or somewhat avor it doing so,

suggesting that many teachers view class size as an

issue ripe or union intercession Theres been virtually

no change in these numbers between 2007 and 2011

(See Figure 8)

On each o these three items protecting teachers

through due process, negotiating contracts, andnegotiating to keep class size down there are

interesting and notable dierences within the teacher

population Teachers in schools that are classifed as

in need o improvement are more likely to say their

union currently perorms these unctions, compared

with teachers in schools that made adequately

yearly progress under the ederal No Child Let

Behind Act And the same is true when comparing

veteran teachers with newcomers or each, veterans

are more likely than newcomers to say their union

currently plays these roles (See sidebar, Dividing

Lines on page 12)

Are unions as involved in oering supports or

instruction and career development? Not so much

Only 38 percent o teachers say their union updates

teachers on new instructional methods and curriculum

(46 percent say it does not), and 35 percent say the

union oers high-quality training and proessional

development (47 percent say it does not) Forty

Figure 8. Unin as Bread and Butter Prtectr

Protect teachers through due process andgreivance procedures

71%

84%

79%

4%UNIoNDoES ITUNIoNDoESNTDo IT

ExCEllENT/good job

STRoNgly/SoMEWhaTavoR uNioNdoiNg

51

%

52%

83

%


ExCEllENT/

good job

STRoNgly/SoMEWhaT

avoR uNioNdoiNg

Negotiate to keep class size down in the district

69%

70%

68%


ExCEllENT/good job


Eectively negotiate contracts, salary, and benefts

on behal o teachers

Note: See appendix or individual base or each i tem

percent report that the union provides mentoring to

new teachers (just as many, 40 percent, say the union

does not do this)


13/31


Figure 9. Unin as Supprters Instructin and Career Develpment

61%

40%

74%


ExCEllENT/good job


Provide support and mentoring to new teachers

59%

35%

65%


ExCEllENT/good job


Provide teachers with high quality training and

proessional development

Note: See appendix or individual base or each item

Keep teachers updated on new instructionalmethods and curriculum

58%

38%

61%


ExCEllENT/good job


46%

23%

68%


ExCEllENT/good job


Expand the career ladder or teachers by negotiating

new and dierentiated roles and responsibilities

Expanding the career ladder, oten lauded as a way

to advance the proession by oering more diverse

job options and pathways or teachers, does not

seem to be the bailiwick o teachers unions Hal o

respondents (49 percent) say their union does not

currently do this, and only 23 percent o teachers say

their union does, down rom 33 percent who said so

back in 2007 (See Figure 9)

Given the traditional position o unions on evaluationand dismissal, it is not surprising that teachers would

say unions are not a part o negotiating these reorms

But there is evidence that unions, at least rom a

teachers perspective, may be getting better at it

Take or example guiding ineective teachers out

o the proession While just 10 percent o teachers

say this is a responsibility that their union carries out,

37 percent o these teachers say their union is doing

an excellent or good job o it and thats more than

double the 18 percent who said the same in 2007

And o the 11 percent who say their union leads

eorts to identiy ineective teachers and retrain

them, the percentage saying that the union does an

excellent or good job has increased rom 26 percent

to 41 percent since 2007

Similarly, teachers arent necessarily witnessing more

union involvement in negotiating teacher evaluation,but there are signs that the union is doing a better job

than it was several years ago The number o teachers

who said their union negotiates new ways to evaluate

teachers in 2007 is roughly the same today (41

percent in 2007 and 39 percent in 2011) But among

those teachers who say the union is playing this role,

more rate the union as excellent or good today than

in 2007 (a jump rom 45 percent to 52 percent) And


14/31


Note: See appendix or individual base or each item

Figure 10. Unin as Rermers n Evaluatin,Dismissal

Negotiate new ways to more meaningully andeectively evaluate teachers

52%

39%

75%


ExCEllENT/good job


Lead eorts to identiy ineective teachers andretrain them

41%

11%

67%


ExCEllENT/good job

STRoNgly/SoMEWhaTavoR uNioN

doiNg

Guide ineective teachers out o the proession

37%

10%

68%


ExCEllENT/good job


among those teachers who say their union doesnot

currently negotiate evaluation, three-quarters say

the union should play this role (See Figure 10) Are

teachers more supportive o union involvement in

evaluation because they view it as important and in

need o an overhaul? Perhaps Or it could be that

teachers want unions more involved in the negotiationprocess because they are increasingly uneasy with

the seemingly inevitable changes that are coming to

teacher evaluation

Conclusion

The union is, by no means, in the clear rom the

teachers perspective While the vast majority o

teachers say unions are either essential (46 percent)

or important (40 percent), these numbers have shited

some over the years, with a notable decrease in thenumber who say unions are absolutely essential

(down rom 54 percent in 2007) Some complain

about union dues I pay hundreds o dollars a year

or something I dont want and dont need, explains

one teacher Others resent the rigid work rules that

unions saeguard Theres a dierence, says another,

between saeguarding my job and regulating my

work

But teachers arent giving up on their unions: only 12

percent say they could do without unions altogether,

a number thats held steady rom 2007 The economicinsecurity o the nation, and the resulting job

insecurity o educators, may explain some o this

But, like a amily member who rustrates, or even

disgraces, the union continues to be a welcome part

o most teachers work lives Teachers eel aligned

with the union, and anxious about the idea o losing it

and its associated protections

Over the last ew years, education reorm has moved

at a erocious pace, with teachers eeling let out

and let behind Fully seven in 10 (71 percent) say

that despite having the strength o their unionsbehind them, rank-and-fle teachers usually have

very little control over what goes on in their schools

Every year theres just more out o our control thats

expected to be within our control, says one Virginia

teacher Whats expected o us has become almost

unreasonable without any kind o compensation or

those extra expectations


15/31


Every year theres just more out

o our control thats expected

to be within our control. Whats

expected o us has become

almost unreasonable without any

kind o compensation or those

extra expectations.

Still, the power o unions to block reorm has never

been more evident to the public than in the last ew

years, as the nation watched teachers unions mountmassive campaigns to stop legislation in multiple

states that would limit collective bargaining At the

same time, union leaders have altered their positions

in unprecedented ways, endorsing major changes

and gaining the support and praise o national

policymakers and leaders You have elevated the

proession, US Secretary o Education Arne Duncan

recently said o NEA and AFT presidents Dennis VanRoekel and Randi Weingarten Have they? Or are

they promising more than they can deliver, to both

protect the current structure o teachers work as they

simultaneously work to transorm it?

Whether unions really can provide bread and butter

protections or teachers and also advance dramatic

reorms to the teaching proession remains an open

question I they can, now is the time to do it In

the coming years, the viability o the union will be

determined by whether teachers perceive them as

being part o the problem or part o the solution orpublic education

Dividing Lines

O course, not all teachers are the same A

comparison o new teachers (less than 5 years on

the job) and veteran teachers (more than 20 years)

fnds agreement on many points, including common

resistance to using student test scores as an

evaluation measure and shared support or certain

recruitment reorms over others But it also showsnewer teachers to be more in avor o alternative pay

proposals and less supportive, overall, o unions

Veterans are less likely, now than in 2007, to support

easing state certifcation requirements (45 percent to

34 percent in 2011), or making it easier to come and

go without losing retirement benefts

Most groups understandably all in line behind their

own sel-interest: veterans 92 percent o whom

are tenured overwhelming disagree (72 percent)

with the statement that teachers would have moreprestige i collective bargaining and lietime tenure

were eliminated while only 47 percent o newcomers

do Similarly, alternatively certifed teachers oten

transitioning rom another career are more likely

than traditionally certifed teachers to think that

actively recruiting and training second-career

candidates is an excellent or good idea (72 percent

compared to 41 percent)

Alternatively certifed teachers are also more likely

to support fnancial incentives or teachers whospecialize in hard-to-fll subjects than traditionally

certifed teachers (74 percent to 55 percent) This

fnding makes sense considering that alternatively

certifed teachers are also more likely to teach in

high-demand subjects such as math, science,

special education, and bilingual education 1

While their support or several dierentiated pay

proposals exceeds that o traditionally certifed

teachers, alternatively certifed teachers want

the union involved: they are more likely than

traditionally certifed teachers to support the

union taking the lead on negotiating a way to addteacher perormance as a consideration when

deciding an individual teachers salary (69 percent

to 46 percent) (See Appendix A on page 14)

1. National Center or Education Inormation, Profle o Teachers in the U.S., 2011, pg. 17.


16/31


Notes

1. Following the 2009 Race to the Top ederal grantcompetition, which totaled more than $4.3 billion, moststates moved quickly on key education reorms. Since 2009,or example, 32 states and the District o Columbia havemade changes to their state teacher evaluation policy. http://

www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOTheStates.pd

2. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,37 states are providing less unding per student to localschool districts this year than last. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?a=view&id=3569. Through the American Recoveryand Reinvestment Act and the Education Jobs Fund, theederal government provided $50 billion to states in orderto save or create jobs in education. Nevertheless, the samestudy by CBPP shows that, by September 2011, local schooldistricts had cut 278,000 jobs nationally compared with2008.

3. MetLie Survey o the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents

and the Economy, March 2012. http://www.metlie.com/

assets/cao/contributions/oundation/american-teacher/MetLie-Teacher-Survey-2011.pd

4. Four ocus groups were conducted in the summer o2011 in Frisco, Texas; Chicago, Ill.; Los Angeles, Cali.;and Alexandria, Va. (including teachers rom the District oColumbia, Virginia, and Maryland).

5. Ann Duett, Steve Farkas, Andrew Rotherham, and ElenaSilva, Waiting to Be Won Over: Teachers Speak on theProession, Unions, and Reorm (Washington, DC: EducationSector, 2008). 2003 comparisons are based on Public

Agenda, Stand By Me: What Teachers Really Think AboutUnions, Merit Pay, and Other Proessional Matters (New York,NY: Public Agenda, 2003).

6. Quotes are rom ocus groups conducted as part o the

research or this project, as well as rom open-endedresponses to survey questions.

7. For more on new unionism see Charles Taylor Kerchner,Julia E. Koppich, and Joseph G. Weeres, United MindWorkers: Unions and Teaching in the Knowledge Society(Jossey-Bass, 1997); Jane Hannaway and Andrew J.Rotherham, eds., Collective Bargaining in Education:Negotiating Change in Todays Schools (Cambridge, MA:Harvard Press, 2006); Tom Loveless, Conficting Missions?Teachers Unions and Educational Reorm (Washington, DC:Brookings Institution Press, 2006).

8. Terry Moe, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and AmericasPublic Schools (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press,2011).

9. MetLie Survey o the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents

and the Economy, March 2012.

10. As o 2007-08, most recent available data, U.S. Departmento Education School and Stafng Survey, http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_043_t1s.asp. The Bureau oLabor Statistics provides up-to-date data on union afliationby occupation and industry, 2012: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htm. Education remains one o the mostheavily unionized occupations.

11. For this survey, newer teachers are defned as having ewerthan fve years o teaching, veterans having more than 20.

12. For example see case studies o union-district partnershipeorts: Susan Headden and Elena Silva, Unlikely Allies:Unions and Districts in the Battle or School Reorm(Washington, DC: Education Sector, 2011); Sean Hamill,Forging a New Partnership: The Story o Teacher Union and

School District Collaboration in Pittsburgh (Washington, DC:Aspen Institute, 2011); Jonathan Eckert, et al. Local LaborManagement Relationships as a Vehicle to Advance Reorm:

Findings rom the U.S. Department o Educations LaborManagement Conerence (Washington, DC: U.S. Departmento Education, 2011).

13. The AFT switched its position more switly and dramatically

than the NEA, which last summer stated its support or theuse o standardized test scores i and only i the tests meet ademanding set o high-quality criteria.

14. The 2011 survey includes a trend question rom 2007 onteachers overall impression o their most recent ormalevaluation. Figure 6 shows data rom a new, more detailed,battery o questions on evaluation in the 2011 survey.

15. Dan Goldhaber, Michael DeArmond, and ScottDeBurgomaster, Teacher Attitudes about CompensationReorm: Implications or Reorm Implementation, CALDERWorking Paper, 2010.

16. Among pay proposals, this is the only one that teachersavored strongly rather than somewhat.

17. Kathy Christie and Jennier Dounay Zinth, Teacher Tenureor Continuing Contract Laws (Denver, CO: EducationCommission o the States, August 2011). States include:

Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine,Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire,North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wisconsin andWyoming. Louisiana passed tenure reorm in August 2011.

Virginia and Minnesota attempted but ailed to pass tenurereorm, and Connecticut and New Jersey reorm bills arecurrently in the legislative process.

18. Daniel Weisburg, Susan Sexton, Jennier Mulhern, and DavidKeeling, The Widget Eect, Education Digest, 75(2): 31-35(2009).

19. Lyndsey Layton, Democratic mayors challenge teachers

unions in urban political shit, Washington Post, March 30,2012.
http://www.educationsector.org/http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOfTheStates.pdfhttp://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOfTheStates.pdfhttp://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOfTheStates.pdfhttp://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3569http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3569http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2011.pdfhttp://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2011.pdfhttp://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2011.pdfhttp://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_043_t1s.asphttp://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_043_t1s.asphttp://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htmhttp://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htmhttp://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htmhttp://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htmhttp://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_043_t1s.asphttp://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_043_t1s.asphttp://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2011.pdfhttp://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2011.pdfhttp://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2011.pdfhttp://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3569http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3569http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOfTheStates.pdfhttp://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOfTheStates.pdfhttp://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOfTheStates.pdfhttp://www.educationsector.org/


17/31


Appendix A: Dividing Lines

Note: statistically signifcantdierences are in bold

NEWCOMERS(20 yrs)

2011 2011

n=98 n=356

Percent saying they havetenure or equivalent

28 92

Attracting Teachers t

the PressinPercent saying each o the ollowing is an excellent or

good idea or attracting and retaining high-quality teachers:

Giving teachers more timeduring the school day or classpreparation and planning

77 85

Making it ar easier to leaveand return to teaching without

losing retirement benefts

66 69

Actively recruiting and trainingsecond-career candidates romother felds and sectors o theeconomy

49 44

Easing state certifcationrequirements while intensiyingin-class supervision,observation, and mentoring

40 34

Oering new teacherssubstantially higher startingsalaries in exchange or smallerpensions when they retire

33 21

Teacher PayPercent saying they stronglyor somewhat support uniontaking lead on negotiating away to add perormance whendeciding an individual teacherssalary

57 46

Percent saying they strongly or somewhat avor each othe ollowing:

Teachers who work in toughneighborhoods with low-perorming schools

88 81

Teachers who receiveaccreditation rom NBPTS 76 60

Teachers who consistentlyreceive outstanding evaluationsby their principals

74 49

Teachers who specialize inhard-to-fll subjects such asscience or math

59 53

Teachers whose kids routinelyscore higher than similarstudents on standardized tests

37 32


NEWCOMERS(20 yrs)

2011 2011

n=98 n=356

EvaluatinPercent saying they stronglyor somewhat support theunion taking a lead on waysto simpliy the process orremoving clearly ineectiveteachers

91 75

Percent saying each o the ollowing comes very orsomewhat close to describing their most recent ormalevaluation:

It was done careully and takenseriously by administration

89 78

Rubric/criteria used were airand relevant

83 73

Feedback was meaningul andhelped improve my teaching

78 58

Students standardized testscores were included

18 12

Percent saying their most recent ormal evaluation:

Was well intentioned but notparticularly helpul to yourteaching practice

46 36

Was useul and eective interms o helping you be abetter teacher

38 29

Was just a ormality 15 34

Using Student Test Scres T Measure

Teacher EectivenessPercent saying they stronglyor somewhat avor fnanciallyrewarding teachers whosestudents make more academicprogress (reading levels,teacher evaluations, classroomtests) when compared tosimilar students taught by other

teachers

58 44

Percent saying it is an excellentor good idea to measureteacher eectiveness byassessing students skillsand knowledge when theyfrst come to a teacher andto measure them again whenstudents leave to see whatprogress was made

56 50


18/31



NEWCOMERS(20 yrs)

2011 2011

n=98 n=356

Percent o union memberssaying they are very or

somewhat involved in the localunion

20 46

Percent o union memberssaying being a union memberprovides eelings o prideand solidarity, in addition topractical benefts

22 49

Unin RespnsibilitiesPercent saying union in their district currently does each othe ollowing:

Protect teachers throughdue process and grievance

procedures

75 87

Eectively negotiate contracts,salary, and benefts on behalo teachers

65 74

Negotiate to keep class sizedown in the district

45 55

Negotiate new ways to moremeaningully and eectivelyevaluate teachers

39 42

Keep teachers updated onnew instructional methods andcurriculum

34 43

Provide support and mentoring

to new teachers34 45

Provide teachers withhigh-quality training andproessional development

32 38

Expand the career ladder orteachers by negotiating newand dierentiated roles andresponsibilities

25 22

Lead eorts to identiyineective teachers and retrainthem

14 13

Guide ineective teachers outo the proession

9 13

Percent who strongly orsomewhat support districtmoving in direction o matchingteachers with schools whereany teacher, regardlesso seniority, has an equalopportunity to fll a vacancy

59 47


NEWCOMERS(20 yrs)

2011 2011

n=98 n=356

Percent saying their studentsstandardized test scores were

included as part o their mostrecent ormal evaluation

18 12

Attitudes Abut UninsPercent saying unions areabsolutely essential

35 52

Generally speaking, do you think that teachers unions orassociations should:

Put more ocus than theycurrently do on issues such asimproving teacher quality andstudent achievement

38 49

Mostly stick to traditional unionissues such as protectingteachers salaries, benefts,and jobs

46 40

Percent saying they strongly or somewhat agree with eacho the ollowing statements:

Without a union, teacherswould be vulnerable to schoolpolitics or administrators whoabuse their power

76 85

Teachers acing unair chargesrom parents or students wouldhave nowhere to turn withoutthe union

72 81

Without collective bargaining,the working conditions andsalaries o teachers would bemuch worse

71 81

Despite having the strength otheir unions behind them, rank-and-fle teachers usually havevery little control over whatgoes on in their own schools

71 73

The union charges ar higherdues than are warranted bywhat it does or teachers

58 52

The union sometimes fghtsto protect teachers who really

should be out o the classroom

54 53

Teachers would have moreprestige i collective bargainingand lietime tenure wereeliminated

30 17

The union regularly providesinormation and opportunitiesto help me be a better teacher

36 53


19/31


Note: statisticallysignifcant dierences arein bold

ALTERNATIVECERTIFICATION

TRADITIONALCERTIFICATION

(n=131) (n=922)

Percent who rate activelyrecruiting and training

second-career candidatesrom other felds andsectors o the economy asan excellent or good ideaor attracting and retaininghigh quality teachers tothe proession

72 41

Note: statisticallysignifcant dierences arein bold

ALTERNATIVECERTIFICATION

TRADITIONALCERTIFICATION

(n=131) (n=922)

Percent who strongly orsomewhat avor giving

fnancial incentives toteachers who specialize inhard-to-fll subjects suchas science or math

74 55

Percent saying theystrongly or somewhatsupport union taking leadon negotiating a way toadd perormance whendeciding an individualteachers salary

69 46


20/31


They also received a telephone call alerting them

to expect the Priority Mail The letter was posted

November 2, 2011, and the last completed

questionnaire to be accepted arrived beore

November 29 Priority Mail is more expensive than

First Class, but it has the advantage o a special

envelope large, thick stock paper, and coloredred, white, and blue so it is more likely to be

noticed by its recipient Also, it is guaranteed to

arrive at its destination within two to three business

days A total o 1,900 Priority Mail letters were sent,

and 346 completed paper surveys were received

and data entered

3) In an eort to reach a sample size o 1,100 K-12

public school teachers, an additional attempt

was employed using the original list o 16,500

teachers who were originally asked to participate

via e-mail All records or complete, incomplete,or ineligible interviews were removed rom the list,

and then 5,000 teachers names were randomly

drawn These teachers were sent, via First Class

Mail, a cover letter describing the survey, the

questionnaire, and a postage-paid envelope The

letter was posted November 29, 2011, and the last

completed questionnaire to be accepted arrived by

January 3, 2012 A total o 276 completed surveys

were received and data entered

Teachers in urban districts were oversampled to

insure the survey netted a sufcient number o urbanschool teachers; out o 18,400 records, 2,900 were

part o the urban oversample, and 144 interviews

were completed rom the oversample The results are

weighted to reect the actual distribution o urban

teachers in the teacher population

As with all surveys, the risk o non-response is that

the pool o survey respondents could dier rom the

true population o teachers, decreasing the ability to

draw inerences rom the data A comparison o the

demographic profle o respondents to that o the

overall population o teachers shows they are similaron key demographic variables Results also can be

aected by non-sampling sources o bias, such as

question wording Steps were taken to minimize

these, including pre-testing o the survey instrument

All surveys were programmed, felded, and

tabulated by Clark Research, o Sioux Falls, SD

The questionnaire was crated by the FDR Group

Appendix B: Methodology

This report is based on a nationally representative

random sample o 1,101 K-12 public school teachers

conducted between November 2011 and January

2012 The margin o error or the overall sample is

plus or minus 3 percentage points; it is higher whencomparing percentages across sub-groups Many o

the survey questions were frst asked in Education

Sectors May 2008 Waiting to Be Won Over: Teachers

Speak on the Proession, Unions, and Reorm; still

others trend back to a 2003 Public Agenda report

entitled Stand By Me: What Teachers Really Think

About Unions, Merit Pay, and Other Proessional

Matters The survey was preceded by our ocus

groups The survey and the ocus groups were

conducted by the Farkas Duett Research Group

(FDR Group) or Education Sector

The Survey

Names were randomly drawn rom a comprehensive

database o current K-12 public school teachers

maintained by Agile Education Marketing in Denver

A multi-mode approach was used; the survey

instrument was designed, tested, and tailored or use

both online and on paper (sent via either US Priority

or First Class Mail) Potential respondents were invited

to participate in one o three ways:

1) Teachers with e-mail addresses were sent

invitations explaining the research and asked to

complete the survey online; a link to the survey was

embedded in the invitation An original message

was sent on November 1, 2011, and a ollow-up

to non-respondents was sent on November 3

On November 16, a third message was sent to

teachers who had started the survey but had not

completed it; the message encouraged them to

fnish A total o 16,500 e-mail messages were

sent O these, 14,157 were delivered; 2,225 were

opened; and in 949 cases the survey link wasclicked In total, 479 completed interviews were

obtained rom this approach

2) Teachers with mailing addresses only (that is, no

e-mail address was available) were sent letters via

US Priority Mail explaining the research and asked

to complete a paper version o the questionnaire

and return it in an enclosed postage-paid envelope


21/31


Population vs. Sample Comparison (by percent)

and Education Sector; the two organizations are

responsible or all interpretation and analysis o

the data contained within this report The two

organizations also collaborated on the 2008

publication Waiting to Be Won Over, and many o the

survey questions rom that report provide a baseline

or trend comparisons with the current survey

Focus Groups

To help develop the questionnaire, our ocus groups

with public school teachers were conducted, one

each in Caliornia, Illinois, Texas, and Virginia The

purpose o the ocus groups was to gain frsthand

understanding o the views o public school teachers,

to develop new hypotheses based on their input,

and to design the survey items using language and

terms that teachers are comortable with Participants

were recruited to ensure an appropriate demographic

mix o teachers by grade, socio-economic statuso schools, and urbanicity Most o the quotes rom

teachers used throughout the report originated in

ocus group conversations; some also came rom

handwritten comments on the paper questionnaires in

response to open-ended questions All ocus groups

were moderated by the FDR Group

(n=1,101) PopulationSample

WeightedSample

Unweighted

Type o School

Elementary 63 47 47

Middle 20 19

High*Secondary

3231 32

Somethingelse

*Combined 5 2 2

Source: US Dept o Education, National Center orEducation Statistics, Schools and Stafng Survey (SASS),Public School Teacher, Private School Teacher, and BIESchool Teacher Data Files, 2007-08 SASS combinesmiddle and elementary

Urbanicity

Urban 26 26 33

Suburban/Small Town

49 49 34

Rural 25 25 34

Source: US Dept o Education, National Center orEducation Statistics, Schools and Stafng Survey (SASS),Public School Teacher, Private School Teacher, and BIE

School Teacher Data Files, 2007-08

(n=1,101) PopulationSample

WeightedSample

Unweighted

Region

Northeast 20 16 15

South 38 37 37

West 19 21 21

Midwest 23 26 27

Source: US Dept o Education, National Center orEducation Statistics, Schools and Stafng Survey (SASS),Public School Teacher Data File, 2007-08

%Free Lunch (Teacher Estimates)

0-49% 60 47 42

50-74% 21 26 28

75-100% 17 27 30

2% dont participate

Source: US Dept o Education, National Center orEducation Statistics, Schools and Stafng Survey (SASS),Public School Teacher, Private School Teacher, and BIESchool Teacher Data Files, 2007-08

Gender

Female 76 79 79

Male 24 21 21

Source: US Dept o Education, National Center orEducation Statistics, Schools and Stafng Survey (SASS),Public School Teacher, Private School Teacher, and BIESchool Teacher Data Files, 2007-08


22/31


The current survey is based on a national random sample o 1,101 K-12 public school teachers It was

conducted by mail and online in all 2011 The margin o error is plus or minus 3 percentage points Numbers

may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding An asterisk indicates less than one percent, and a dash

indicates zero See Methodology or a complete description o how the survey was conducted The dataor year 2007 come rom Waiting to Be Won Over: Teachers Speak on the Proession, Unions, and Reorm;

or year 2003 the data come rom Stand By Me: What Teachers Really Think About Unions, Merit Pay and

Other Proessional Matters.

Appendix C: Questionnaire

2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

1.Are you:

Female 79 79 78

Male 21 21 22

2. Do you currently teach at:

Elementary School 47 51 55

Middle School or Junior High 20 21 19

High School 31 27 23

Something else 2 1 3

3. For how many years have you been a PUBLIC schoolteacher?

Less than one year * -

1-4 years 8 11

5-9 years 19 2010-20 years 40 33

21 years or more 33 37

4. What subject or subjects do you primarily teach?

All subjects 32 31

Art, Music, or Fine Arts 8 8

Computer Science 2 3

English and/or Reading 24 22

Foreign Language 4 2

Mathematics 22 19

Physical Education or Health 2 9

Science 16 14

Social Studies or SocialSciences

17 16

Something else 9 7

Special Ed/Gited 4 7

2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

How would you rate each o the ollowing ideas orattracting and retaining high-quality teachers to theteaching proession? [Q5-9]

5. Actively recruit and train second-career candidatesrom other felds and sectors o the economy

Excellent 13 17

Good 32 37

Fair 32 30

Poor 19 13

Not sure 5 4

6. Ease state certifcation requirements while intensiyingin-class supervision, observation, and mentoring

Excellent 13 14

Good 26 29

Fair 27 26

Poor 32 29

Not sure 3 3

7. Give teachers more time during the school day orclass preparation and planning

Excellent 55 57

Good 29 28

Fair 9 11

Poor 7 4

Not sure * *


23/31


2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

13. Teachers who specialize in hard-to-fll subjects suchas science or mathematics

Strongly avor 23 17 14

Somewhat avor 35 37 28Somewhat oppose 21 23 22

Strongly oppose 17 20 30

Not sure 4 4 6

14. Teachers who work in tough neighborhoods with low-perorming schools


Somewhat avor 43 46 41

Somewhat oppose 8 11 12


Not sure 2 3 5

15. Suppose that in your district the students o someteachers make more academic progress in termso improved reading levels, teacher evaluations, andclassroom tests when compared to similar studentstaught by other teachers. How much would you avor oroppose fnancially rewarding those teachers?





Not sure 4 5 8

16. Some suggest that the best way to measure teachereectiveness is to assess students skills and knowledgewhen they frst come to a teacher and to measure them

again when students leave to see what progress wasmade. How would you rate this as a way o measuringteacher eectiveness?

Excellent 22 15 13

Good 32 34 36

Fair 24 29 29

Poor 19 20 18

Not sure 2 2 5

2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

8. Make it ar easier to leave and return to teachingwithout losing retirement benefts

Excellent 35 44

Good 34 34Fair 17 14

Poor 9 6

Not sure 5 3

9. Oer new teachers substantially higher starting salariesin exchange or smaller pensions when they retire

Excellent 9 7

Good 15 15

Fair 24 23

Poor 42 48

Not sure 10 7

How much would you avor or oppose giving fnancialincentives to each o the ollowing: [Q10-14]

10. Teachers who consistently receive outstandingevaluations by their principals





Not sure 3 3 6

11. Teachers whose kids routinely score higher thansimilar students on standardized tests





Not sure 2 3 6

12. Teachers who receive accreditation rom the NationalBoard or Proessional Teaching Standards





Not sure 6 4 10


24/31


2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

It was well intentioned butnot particularly helpul to yourteaching practice

35 32

It was just a ormality 32 41

Not sure 1 2

The next ew questions are about tenure. Althoughtenure policies vary rom state to state, or thepurposes o this survey please think o a tenuredteacher as one who has been awarded job protectionsand due process rights ater successully completing aprobationary period, typically 2 to 4 years in length.

22. Are you currently a tenured teacher, or not?

Yes, a tenured teacher 63 64

Yes, its not called tenure, butI have job protections & dueprocess rights

17 15

No, not a tenured teacher 8 14

No, there is no tenure at myschool

10 6

Not sure 2 2

23. In general, when you hear that a teacher at yourschool has been awarded tenure, which o these twothoughts would be more likely to cross your mind?

Base: School has tenure n=989 n=972

That the teacher has proven tobe very good at what s/he does

28 23

That its just a ormality it hasvery little to do with whether ateacher is good or not

63 69

Not sure 9 8

24. I you had the choice, would you personally be willingto trade tenure or a pay increase (e.g., $5,000 per year), orwould the pay increase have to be A LOT higher, or would

you rather hold on to tenure?

Would trade tenure or a payincrease

30 28 31

Would have to be A LOT higher 31 27 26

Would rather hold on to tenure 25 26 29

Not sure 15 19 14

2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

Think about your most recent ormal evaluation. Howclose does each statement come to describing yourown experience? [Q17-20]

17. The evaluation was done careully and taken seriouslyby administration

Very close 48

Somewhat close 30

Not too close 11

Not close at all 10

Not sure 1

18. The eedback rom the evaluation was meaninguland helped me improve my teaching

Very close 28

Somewhat close 34

Not too close 20

Not close at all 17

Not sure 1

19. The rubric/criteria used or evaluation were air andrelevant

Very close 37

Somewhat close 40

Not too close 13

Not close at all 8

Not sure 2

20. My students standardized test scores were includedas part o the evaluation

Limited Base: n=914

Very close 6

Somewhat close 10

Not too close 12

Not close at all 62

Not sure 11

21. Which statement would come closest to describingyour most recent ormal evaluation?

It was useul and eective interms o helping you be a betterteacher

33 26


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2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

Mostly stick to traditional unionissues such as protectingteachers salaries, benefts, and

jobs

42 52

Not sure 15 16

29. Today in your district, how would you describe therelationship between the teachers union or associationand the district leadership? Is it mostly about:

Conict and distrust 29 28

Cooperation and trust 45 44

There is no union or association 4 4

Not sure 22 24

How much do you agree or disagree with the ollowing

statements? [Q30-37]

30. Teachers would have more prestige i collectivebargaining and lietime tenure were eliminated

Strongly agree 5 4

Somewhat agree 17 17

Somewhat disagree 21 23

Strongly disagree 43 38

Not sure 15 19

31. Despite having the strength o their unions behindthem, rank-and-fle teachers usually have very little controlover what goes on in their own schools

Strongly agree 32 32

Somewhat agree 39 42

Somewhat disagree 16 16

Strongly disagree 6 4

Not sure 7 7

32. The union charges ar higher dues than are warrantedby what it does or teachers

Strongly agree 23 21 23

Somewhat agree 30 33 33

Somewhat disagree 20 19 16

Strongly disagree 17 15 19

Not sure 10 12 9

2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

25. I you had the choice, would you personally bewilling to trade tenure or more autonomy and control overdecisions aecting your school, would it have to be A LOT

more autonomy and control, or would you rather hold on

to tenure?Would trade tenure or moreautonomy and control

15 12

Would have to be A LOT moreautonomy and control

22 18

Would rather hold on to tenure 42 47

Not sure 21 23

26. Check the statement that best describes your currentstatus:

I am a member o a teachersunion or association that

engages in collective bargaining

60 67

I am a member o a proessionalassociation that provides suchthings as liability insurance, butnot collective bargaining

20 15

I am not a member o a teachersunion or association

17 16

There is no teachers union orassociation to join in my district

1 1

Not sure 1 1

Whether or not you are currently a member o a union

or association, or whether collective bargaining existsin your district, please answer the remaining questionsto the best o your knowledge. As a public schoolteacher, your opinion counts. I you eel a particularitem is not applicable to you, please skip it and moveon to the next one.

27. Do you think o teachers unions or associations as:

Absolutely essential 46 54 46

Important but not essential 40 31 38

Something you could do without 12 11 12

Not sure 3 4 4

28. Generally speaking, do you think that teachers unionsor associations should:

Put more ocus than theycurrently do on issues such asimproving teacher quality andstudent achievement

43 32


26/31


2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

The next questions are about responsibilities thatteachers unions or associations might take on. Foreach, please indicate whether the union or associationin your district currently does it or not. Then, answerthe corresponding I Yes or I No questions.[Q38-47]

Base: School has union/association

38. Eectively negotiate contracts, salary, and benefts onbehal o teachers

a. Please indicate whether the union or association inyour district currently does this or not.

Yes 70 76

No 18 13

b. IF YES: How good a job is it doing?

n=766 n=755

Excellent 28 26

Good 41 42

Fair 23 25

Poor 8 6

Not sure 1 2

c. IF NO: Would you avor or oppose the union taking onthis unction?

n=180 n=142

Strongly avor 43 29

Somewhat avor 25 28

Somewhat oppose 13 12

Strongly oppose 9 13

Not sure 11 19

39. Keep teachers updated on new instructional methodsand curriculum

a. Please indicate whether the union or association inyour district currently does this or not.

Yes 38 41

No 46 46

b. IF YES: How good a job is it doing?n=417 n=410

Excellent 14 13

Good 44 39

Fair 32 33

Poor 7 10

Not sure 3 5

2011 2007 2003

n=1,101 n=1,010 n=1,345

33. The union regularly provides inormation andopportunities to help me be a better teacher

Strongly agree 14 9 12Somewhat agree 32 32 38



Not sure 12 13 6

34. The union sometimes fghts to protect teachers whoreally should be out o the classroom




Strongly disagree 12 10 12Not sure 18 24 24

35. Teachers acing unair charges rom parents orstudents would have nowhere to turn without the union





Not sure 5 9 7

36. Without collective bargaining, the working conditionsand salaries o teachers would be much worse





Not sure 11 15 10

37. Without a union, teachers would be vulnerable toschool politics or administrators who abuse their power





Not sure 7 10 7
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