The recently completed Mississippi Teachers Working Conditions Survey conducted by Center for Teaching Quality (sponsor of this website and my blog) provides a glimpse of the serious discord between teachers and administrators over the reality of teacher’s professional lives in our schools.

The report highlights that teachers in Mississippi do not have as much control over our working conditions as we should have in order to provide effective instruction. More disturbing, however, is the apparent deafness or indifference of building level administrators to how big a problem teacher working conditions really are.

“School leadership and teacher empowerment are critical to retaining teachers” (7)  “…teachers believe that the quality of leadership in their schools is the most critical influence on their future career plans” (19) [i.e., whether to stay at a school or leave] There’s a growing body of research that lack of teacher control over significant aspects of our work directly impacts the quality of instruction students receive. If teacher empowerment is not a reality, then real teacher accountability can not be

The problem in MS: “Administrators believe that teachers are central to decision-making and that they are empowered on many fronts, but teachers disagree. In fact, the gap between administrator and teacher perceptions of all working conditions is very large” (5)

The survey reveals some startling cacophonies:

89% of the principals said teachers are respected as professionals but only 57% of the teachers agreed.

84%  of the principals assert that teachers are centrally involved in decision making about educational issues, but  63% of teachers said, “Not

95% of the principals believe teachers are trusted to make sound professional decisions about instruction, while only 63% of their teachers said that was so.

There was closer agreement on whether the faculty is committed to helping every student learn –95% of principals said, “Sure they are.” But only  83% of teachers agreed that their colleagues had that same commitment.

95%  of the principals are convinced their teachers feel comfortable raising issues and concerns that are important to the faculty, but 46% of their teachers reported being slightly to totally uncomfortable doing so.

99%  of the school leadership in the survey say they consistently support teachers when needed, only 64% their teachers agreed.

“…more than one-quarter (27 percent) of all teachers report playing no role in the selection of the professional development opportunities available to them, and more than half (58 percent) say they play no more than a small role. Additionally, teachers are not engaged in school improvement planning (60 percent play no more than a small role) or in determining how Education Enhancement Funds [state funds raised by a special tax and earmarked for classroom supplies] will be spent (over 40 percent report playing no role at all)” (21).”

The report continues, “Research suggests that participation in decision-making of this kind is often associated with keeping teachers in the profession [Ingersoll, R.M. 2003 Who controls teachers’ work: Power and accountability in America’s schools], yet teachers in Mississippi appear to have limited involvement in many of these decision-making arenas. Indeed, many teachers want to play a role in school decisions to ensure that they can be effective with their students, but it appears that a large number of teachers in Mississippi are not playing a significant role in many decisions that ultimately impact their schools” (21).

What does this huge range in perceptions say about the working relationship between teachers and their instructional leaders?

I suspect many of these well-intentioned administrators believe that what they refer to as “teacher input” is sufficient for saying teachers are involved in the decision-making process of their schools. This is not just semantics. Professional educators need the power to make decisions related to curriculum, instruction, assessment, their own professional development, as well as larger issues of school reform and management.

The findings from Mississippi are consistent with those heard around the country as highlighted in EdWeek’s Quality Counts 2008.  In a Jan. 10, 2008 article, "Working Conditions Trump Pay,"  Debra Viadero summarizes the findings that distress over working conditions, not pay, is the primary reason for teachers leaving schools or refusing to teach in certain settings. The working condition cited most often  in the exit surveys of departing teachers, according to the Mississippi Department of Education, is the lack of administrative support. That finding has been confirmed by working condition surveys conducted by CTQ in other states as well (Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and Nevada).

CTQ tactfully suggests: “The state should encourage and help its administrators to assess their leadership and empowerment practices, along with their interactions with teachers, in order to move toward improvement in these areas and toward establishing stable faculty communities” (9). For more on the research

Thankfully, the state now has a Blue Ribbon Commission examining how to improve the quantity and quality of school administrators, including changes in the preparation and on-going training of principals. We’re hopeful this will start to bring some much needed harmony between  teachers and administrators on to best serve our students.