Two key factors affecting recruitment, retention, and how teachers feel about
the profession: Time and Class Size
The teachers’
strike in Denver Public Schools last year focused on money. But teachers in
Colorado and across the country have other concerns that actually might be even
more compelling reasons for their dissatisfaction and why they leave the
profession. More important than salary? I think so.
The first one I
address in this newsletter is Time. Why? Because that was the top
concern from the 2020 survey of Colorado teachers. The second concern is
closely related: put most simply as “class size,” but it’s a bit more
complicated than that. For secondary teachers, it is how many students we are
asked to teach.
I trust we all
care about attracting more good people to the teaching profession and about
improving teacher retention. I am less certain we know why a teacher says: I
have had enough; I can’t keep doing this.
**
I was fascinated
to read the state’s Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado (TLCC) Survey,
which showed that more than any other issue, our state’s teachers
expressed frustration over a lack of Time. Close to 32,000 teachers responded
to the survey in the spring of 2020. Most often three-quarters or more
responded positively to questions on a variety of issues pertaining to how they
see their job. But not when it came to Time.
Especially telling:
the remarkable contrast between how teachers struggle with Time and how
little school leaders appreciate the problem – a 32% gap on several
items. (The survey breaks down responses by subgroups. See next page.) Can principals
really be so blind to how their teachers see this issue?
**
To teach middle and high school English was the most fulfilling job I ever had. Throughout most of my 18 years in the classroom I found the job demanding but doable. If and when I could not sustain the commitment I was making, I left. As I often did. There was no plan. I did not see my time trying other pursuits as “a break” from teaching; I just felt a need for a change. After spending “time away,” I managed to stay a little longer in four teaching jobs: two years in my first teaching job in Massachusetts, three years in Vermont, four years in New York, and after 13 years away from the classroom, five years in one school here in Colorado. My chief enemy—other than myself at times—was Time. There was always the sense of Never Enough Time—to do a good job, and to have the Time I would have liked for myself.
A. TLCC Survey – 2020 - https://tlcc-2020-reports.cedu.io/
So I am not surprised to see Time come to the fore in our recent state survey. Many school leaders, however, must be stunned. They should take note. They can surely do more to address the problem.
From Summary - Lowest Rated
Constructs on Teaching and Learning Conditions
Time
·
Time remains the lowest rated construct of the
TLCC survey this year.
·
Inadequate time to prepare for instruction and
support students is still challenging for Colorado educators.
·
Only 5 out of 10 educators (52.6%) agree that
they have adequate time to support students’ social and emotional learning.
From - Table 4. State Level Scores (p.14) [on 11 categories pertaining to teaching
conditions; responses here are from entire “school-based staff: teachers and
building leadership.”]
|
“Teaching: Some Global Comparisons”[i] “Education at a Glance,” a 2017 study
of 50 industrialized countries by the Organization for Economic Development
and Cooperation, found that “U.S. teachers at all grade levels work longer
hours than their international counterparts.” … “‘In the U.S.,
teachers have quite a high teaching load compared to international
averages…’” |
Favorability 2020
Rankings
Instructional Practices and Support 83.8% 1
District Supports 82.7% 2
Overall Reflection 82.7% 3
Community Support and Involvement 82.1% 4
Facilities and Resources 80.9% 5
Teacher Leadership 79% 6
School Leadership 78.9% 7
Managing Student Conduct 77.5% 8
New Teacher Questions 73.1% 9
Professional Development 68.4% 10
Time 58.3% 11
From Section 3 – Preliminary Findings (p. 22)
“With the highest item scored 63.7%, and the lowest 52.6%,
it is challenging for many educators across the state in almost all aspects
that are under the Time construct.”
Breakdown of items on
Time – these four had the lowest scores:
|
Survey Item |
Score 2020 |
|
I have adequate time to prepare for instruction. |
57.2% |
|
I have adequate time to analyze and respond to
student assessment data. |
54.6% |
|
New initiatives (e.g. curriculum, assessments,
instructional approach) are given enough time to determine their
effectiveness. |
53.1% |
|
I have adequate time to support my students’ social
and emotional learning.* |
52.6% |
*NOTE:
Elsewhere in the Survey, in the section on Professional Development, to this
question: “Which of the following would be most beneficial for teachers in the
school to learn more about?” – the most popular item was “Social-emotional
learning of all students” (13.2%). Second on the list: “Teaching students with
trauma” (11.5%).
And about that huge gap between school leaders and
teachers
I
mentioned the most disturbing finding from the Survey: when it comes to the
issue of Time – obviously a struggle for almost half of the teachers who
responded – school leaders don’t see the problem. What can this mean? Do school
administrators even ask their teachers how real this issue is for them? Do
principals not understand what their teachers are experiencing? Can they really
be this out of touch?
Or
is it that they lack the authority to do much about it, and thus feel their
hands are tied? Perhaps the district is making decisions that school leaders
know full well will make it even tougher for their teachers.
|
Items with Greatest Subgroup Disagreement by Role –
Teachers vs. School Leaders |
|||
|
Survey Items |
Teacher* |
School Leader* |
Difference |
|
New initiatives (e.g. curriculum, assessments,
instructional approach) are given enough time to determine their
effectiveness. |
50.4% |
82% |
32% |
|
Teachers have adequate time to analyze and respond
to student assessment data. |
52.0% |
84.5% |
32% |
|
Teachers have adequate time to prepare for
instruction. |
54.5% |
86.7% |
32% |
|
Teachers’ time is protected from duties that take
time away from teaching. |
61.2% |
93.3% |
32% |
*See
the gap in scores in 6 districts: Aurora, Pueblo 60, District 27J, Mapleton,
Adams 14, & Englewood. Endnotes (1).
B. What is behind the concern about a
lack of Time for so many Colorado teachers?
So nearly half of the 32,000 teachers in Colorado who took part in the
TLCC Survey expressed real frustration about the lack of Time. But it will do
little good to blame Time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. What is the
chief cause of a lack of Time?
My answer is class size. Or, as a secondary
teacher, to be specific, the number of students we are asked to teach, to know
well, and to care about. Most teachers, I believe, would make this same
correlation. The Colorado Education Association's survey of over 700 Colorado teachers in 2018 would
support this: “74% of educators need smaller class sizes; 63% of educators need
more time for planning and professional collaboration.” (See Addendum A.)
How much time a teacher has for planning
and grading, and simply for being available to talk and listen to and know
students well, depends, in a million ways, on how many students he or she
teaches. In two private schools I never taught over 65 students; I do not
recall teaching more than four classes per semester. One “large” class had 18 students;
often there were 12 to 14. In three public schools the numbers were higher, but
better than the crazy numbers I see some secondary English teachers in Colorado
are expected to teach—sometimes 140 or more (28 students in 5 classes). In such
cases, of course time is the enemy.
The TLCC Survey
includes a question on class size under Facilities and Resources. I hope in the
future the Survey will give this issue greater prominence. Teachers unions in Colorado—unlike what we shall see in other states (Section D)—seldom put
the issue front and center. I hope they will. And in a school choice
environment, parents who check the web page for each school find nary a word
about the average class size. (See the Denver Choice and Enrollment pages - http://schoolchoice.dpsk12.org/.
Nothing on class size.) This ought to be readily available. Few parents,
I believe, would choose to send their first grader into a classroom of 35, if
they know of better options. But in DPS, it appears that 35 is not unusual.
“Gentrification Leading to Overcrowded DPS
Classrooms” (by Michael Roberts, Westword, Aug. 19, 2019) caught my
attention. My dismay at what I read inspired me, in part, to tackle this issue
in AV #214.
“Information
we've received from local teachers reveal that class sizes of more than
thirty students are commonplace at elementary schools throughout multiple
sections of the DPS system, and particularly in those neighborhoods that have
become favorite destinations for families priced out of their previous homes by
gentrification. (See “What DPS tells us on class size,” Addendum F.)
|
*The title of Theodore Sizer’s classic study of the American high school, Horace’s Compromise[ii], reveals the degree to which teachers feel compelled to do less than what they consider is best practice—in order to cope with the excessive demands of the job. No professional with integrity takes pride is such concessions. Sizer is careful to stress that Horace is being “realistic” in doing less than he “should”; it is not a compliment. (NOTE: Sizer’s school reform model survives; see Endnotes #3 for the low class size in the charter school he and his wife helped to create back in 1995.) |
As CEA’s survey suggests, if we ask teachers what would make the biggest
difference for them, a huge percentage might respond: give me a more reasonable
class size/a manageable teaching load, and I will be deeply grateful to
know that at last my voice on Time has been heard. I will be proud to be
able to teach in a way where I compromise* less, where I feel less overwhelmed,
and where I can imagine doing the job another 10 to 20 years.
The 2018 study of Colorado’s teacher shortage spoke to this issue as
well. Its Strategic Goals on increasing teacher retention included: “Provide
reduced teaching loads for novice teachers” and “for mentor teachers to work
more strategically with novice teachers.”[iii]
Good mentors make a profound difference in a young teacher’s experience, but
the classroom visits and coaching cannot happen without sufficient Time. (See Addendum
M – “Retention and Attrition of Teachers in Colorado.”)
Teacher strikes - What we heard in
other cities, but not in Denver
The 2019 teachers' strike in Denver was “all about the money.”
How else could you describe it?
“Denver
Public Schools, teachers remain $8 million apart in compensation talks as
strike vote looms,” by Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post, Jan.
18, 2019 - https://www.denverpost.com/2019/01/18/denver-public-schools-teacher-negotiations-strike/.
“How an all-night negotiation ended Denver’s
first teachers strike in 25 years,” The Denver Post, Feb. 16,
2019.
The deal … puts an additional $23.1
million toward teacher pay ($25.2 million with incentives), awards educators
average raises of 11.7 percent next year and establishes a new salary schedule
that starts at $45,800 a year and tops out at $100,000 annually. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/02/16/denver-teachers-strike-all-night-negotiations/
“One
year after Denver’s historic teacher strike, what did the walkout accomplish? -
Teachers earned raises that averaged about $9,000 year — pay increases
funded in part by administrative job cuts,” Elizabeth Hernandez, The
Denver Post, Feb. 9, 2020.
But a lack of Time is obviously a huge concern for many
Denver teachers. Endnotes (2) shows how 10 DPS schools responded on the
issue of Time in that TLCC survey. Is the teachers association aware of this?
That Denver Post article on
Jan. 18, 2019, did touch on more intangible matters than a paycheck. Superintendent
Susannah Cordova stressed “how completely dedicated I am to supporting
teachers.” Support can come in ways that directly impact a teacher’s working
conditions. As Aly Nutter suggested in that same article.
|
CDE hosted a discussion in Limon on the teacher
shortage in the summer of 2017. Several school leaders spoke of why few high
school students were not inclined to consider teaching as a career: “They
watch their teachers,” one said, “and their teachers are exhausted.” One
superintendent said, given all the expectations of teachers, “the job doesn’t
seem to be fair.” |
C. Exhaustion,
burnout
A Merrill Middle School teacher, Nutter “was so burned out
before the strike” that she was preparing the leave the profession. The Post
quoted her:
“I was seeing the people who were in it for so long, and they were exhausted and many of them didn’t seem happy anymore. I decided to leave because of the testing culture. Even though we did really well with the strike, and we won what we were negotiating for, we could only negotiate salaries. Yes, we do deserve to be paid as professionals, but there are way bigger problems than teacher pay.”
|
“Why do
so many teachers end up leaving the field of education? Some of the most
common answers are: Emotional exhaustion, stress, burnout; challenging work
conditions and long hours; low pay…”[iv] |
The Post asked Nutter to look ahead. Though she “isn’t
sure what her next career move will be, … she hopes the unity and power gained
by teachers during the strike continues to propel DPS in a direction that better
serves the students at the root of it all.”
What are those “bigger problems than teacher pay” she referred to? What are the conditions that enable teachers to “better serve the students”—and that address teachers’ overall well-being? Did the union’s strike in Colorado make such concerns a priority? As Section D will show, teacher strikes in other cities surely did. And for many of them, class size was a key item.
I wish Colorado unions, school boards, and policymakers (Addenda
C and L) also made class size a priority.
D. Class size issue front and center in
other strikes - LA, Oakland, Chicago
LOS ANGELES, CA
The Los Angeles Teacher Strike's Class Size Conundrum
All Things Considered, National
Public Radio, Jan. 17, 2019
(All bold mine)
Los Angeles science teacher Michele Levin knows she caught a break: She only has about 33 students in each of her classes at Daniel Webster Middle School — pretty small, by district standards. In most LA Unified School District middle schools, the largest core classes have 37 kids — with other classes sometimes as large as 46. That's compared to a national average of 26 to 28 students at similar middle schools. "We're at the whim of the district for class size," Levin said as she picketed on the first day of her union's strike against LAUSD.
|
Objective reporting on the class-size issue will point out the pros and cons that are debated about the benefits of smaller class size. This NPR piece from 2019 provided a range of perspectives. It also included this: “One last reason why this matters” “Setting aside the research and the question of costs and regulations: The ground truth is parents want small class size.” |
"For
me, that's the No. 1 reason I'm out here, because it's not fair to have so many kids in a
class."
Leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles have made class-size reduction a centerpiece of their negotiations with the district, a move that's galvanized the union's rank-and-file and won broad public support for the strike. Union leaders are demanding a complete rewrite of the district's class size rules, aiming to make current classes smaller and give the district less power to make them bigger.
To Levin,
the benefits are clear: A smaller class means each student gets more than
her fleeting attention. It means she can actually return parents' phone
calls. It means 150 papers to grade at home each night, instead of 200.
"Class size is a fundamental issue," union president Alex Caputo-Pearl said at a recent press conference. "That is about student learning conditions. That is about educator working conditions." https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/685116971/the-los-angeles-teacher-strikes-class-size-conundrum
**
OAKLAND, CA
Oakland Teachers Strike For Class Sizes and Student Supports
NEA
Today,
by Mary Ellen-Flannery, Feb. 21, 2019
Fed up
with unequal resources that starve their students of the schools they deserve,
the 3,000 members of the Oakland Education
Association (OEA) went on strike on
Thursday to demand smaller class sizes and increased access for students
to counselors, school nurses, librarians, and school psychologists.
In Oakland, educators are focused on what students need to succeed. And it’s much more than the current one counselor for every 600 students, or one nurse per 1,750 students. “This strike is as much about the structure of our school system and services for our students as it about a living wage for educators,” [OEA President Keith] Brown said. http://neatoday.org/2019/02/21/oakland-teachers-strike/
**
Strikes
in Los Angeles and Oakland have an impact on class size – but not in Denver
“Collective
bargaining and teacher strikes” -
National
Council on Teacher Quality, by Kency Nittler, March 28, 2019
In both Denver and Los Angeles,
teachers ended the strike with the same amount of money going towards raises as
was on the table before the strike. However, in both cases teachers won other
concessions from the district. In Denver how the new
salary money is distributed bent in the union's favor, with the
district reducing a bonus for teachers working in Title I schools, among other
changes to the compensation structure. In Los
Angeles, the union won a significantly larger investment in
support personnel and class size reduction.
In Oakland, teachers received
significant salary increases in comparison to previous district offers, ultimately winning an 11 percent increase over
three years compared to the pre-strike district offer of seven percent. In
addition, Oakland teachers won some minor concessions regarding restrictions on class size. https://www.nctq.org/blog/Collective-bargaining-and-teacher-strikes
“Low pay, large
classes, funding cuts: behind new wave of US teachers' strikes”
The Guardian, by Michael Sainata, Feb. 27, 2019
“Our work conditions are the students’
education conditions. We’re doing the best we can at an impossible job and
that’s not OK for our students and it’s not OK for our own dignity,” Tania Kappier said.
Kappier, a history teacher at Oakland Technical high school and board member of a teachers union in Oakland, explained classrooms in Oakland’s school district are too large, her history textbooks are outdated, schools in the district don’t have nurses, adequate staffing of counselors, no librarians, and music and art programs are non-existent at some schools in the district. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/feb/27/low-pay-large-classes-funding-cuts-behind-new-wave-of-us-teachers-strikes
**
CHICAGO, IL
WBEZ Chicago/National Public Radio, by Sarah Karp,
October 10, 2019
The press conference was held at Simeon High School on the South
Side, where students said they often feel lost and teachers said they feel
overwhelmed with large classes.
The teachers union has said that it won't make a deal with the
school district unless they get some movement on class sizes. Currently,
Chicago Public Schools has class size limits but they're advisory only.
The CTU wants to lower the limits and a way to be able to enforce them.
Parent Carmen Salamanca said her fifth grader at Shields Middle complains
about large classes. Her daughter struggles in math and she thinks she
would be doing better with fewer classmates.
Salamanca [sic – said?] other parents at the school back the
teachers union's [sic] on their class size demands. “The teachers
want to give them more personal attention,” she said. “It is something
that they want so they can be better teachers. It is not just for
themselves. It is for my child.”
Every year, there are
some extreme situations. Last year, for example, three kindergarten classes
and one third grade class had more than 40 students in February.
About a quarter of the core high school classes — English, math, science, social studies and world language — have more than 28 students. In high schools, overcrowded classrooms occur throughout the city, from selective enrollment high schools to neighborhood schools. https://www.npr.org/local/309/2019/10/10/768891230/how-class-size-demands-could-trigger-a-chicago-teachers-strike
“Chicago teachers, students return to
class Friday as 15-day strike ends”
ABC
Eyewitness News/ABC,
by Diane Pathieu and Sarah Schulte, Nov. 1, 2019
"This is an
unprecedented thing that happened, right, we have language in the contract
regarding class size, we have language in the contract regarding staffing
numbers and we've never, ever had that before [sic] this is a tremendous
victory," said CTU Financial Secretary Maria Moreno.
CTU reached an agreement with the city Thursday…. The contract itself is the first of its kind with an agreement to establish enforceable class size limits, puts nurses and social workers in every school. https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-strike-cps-teacher-protest/5663774/
ACROSS THE NATION
“Teacher Strikes: The Impact on Students & K-12 School Security”
Rave Mobile Safety, bTara Gibson, Dec. 26, 2019
Throughout
the past year the United States saw multiple large-scale teacher strikes across
California, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, West Virginia,
and more. Although there are several different motives for teachers to choose
to go on strike, typically the reasons range from salaries and benefits to
school infrastructure and class sizes.
Teachers
from this school district were not striking for just labor issues, but for the
future of public education in the area. Michael Schepps, who teaches 7th grade world history,
said, “I have
41 students, and in two of my classes it prevents me from doing things I want
to do, such as group work. I used to do plays in my classroom, with
costumes, and because of the numbers, I can no longer do that.” With such a
large class size, Schepps was unable to do the activities he wanted to, and
foster a positive learning environment for his students.
… Ileen DeVault, a professor of labor
history at Cornell University said to the New York Times, “I think more and more teachers
are going to be saying, ‘Gee, I have some of the same problems. Look what the
Chicago teachers, look what the L.A. teachers, look what all these other groups
of teachers got when they went on strike.’”
https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/blog/teacher-strikes-the-impact-on-students-k-12-school-security
Interested in more information on class size in Colorado? My Addenda to this newsletter, AV #214 - Teachers, Time, Class Size: Addenda- is here online at Another View. Perhaps one of these topics, below, will be of interest.
A. CEA and 2018 Teacher Survey: “Teacher
Voices: Teachers Know What Their Schools and Students Need.”
B. Must class size be a political issue?
C. One example of
how class size was lost inside a partisan debate: Amendment 73.
D.
How does Colorado compare to other
states? Answer: bigger classes than most.
F.
What Denver Public Schools tells us on
average class size. (Nothing.)
G.
The numbers our high schools tell us,
celebrating their success. (But not a word on class size.)
H. A parent’s struggle to find the
average class size of his/her child’s school.
I. On the other hand, what one Denver charter school
network will tell us on class size.
J.
Where class size information is
made public. (Take the quiz)
K. Six more examples from private schools announcing their average class size.
L. State law – Efforts to address class size - in other states and in Colorado.
M. Retention and Attrition of Teachers in Colorado– related to
Time and Class Size?
Endnotes
From the Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado survey - 2020
1) NOTE that the LOWEST SCORE IN THESE 7 DISTRICTS* is almost always in category for TIME.
NOTE ALSO THE REMARKABLE GAP – perceptions from teachers versus school leaders – on issues of TIME.
|
District |
Overall
Favorability Score on Issues of TIME |
Response
from Teachers on TIME |
Response
from School Leaders on TIME |
Difference |
|
60% |
57% |
91% |
34% |
|
|
Pueblo 60 |
59% |
57% |
86% |
29% |
|
District 27J |
59% |
55% |
89% |
34% |
|
Mapleton |
57% |
53% |
90% |
37% |
|
Englewood |
48% |
43% |
79% |
36% |
|
Adams 14 |
42% |
39% |
68% |
29% |
|
Sheridan |
41% |
34% |
Not
Available |
|
2)
NOTE the worry about Time that comes through loud and clear AT THESE 10
DENVER SCHOOLS.
Denver Public Schools – 10 schools - Favorability
rating on TIME – (State Average score – 59%)
|
School |
Overall
Favorability Score on Issues of TIME |
|
1.
Kaiser
Elementary |
41% |
|
2.
DCIS
Montbello |
39% |
|
3.
Hamilton
Middle |
34% |
|
4.
George
Washington High |
32% |
|
5.
Denver Montessori |
31% |
|
6.
South
High |
31% |
|
7.
Colfax
Elementary |
29% |
|
8.
Morey
Middle |
27% |
|
9.
Place
Bridge Academy |
27% |
|
10.
Dr.
Martin Luther King. Jr. Early College |
21% |
3) ONE SCHOOL - Knowing how
central the class size / teaching load was to Ted Sizer and his Coalition of
Essential Schools, I was curious to see how this principle is carried out in
the charter school he and his wife led back in 1998-99.
Francis W. Parker Charter
Essential School – in Devens, Massachusetts
400 students, grades 7-12 – now in
its 26th year.
In August, I spoke with the school’s director, Colleen L. Meaney.
In 7th and 8th
grade teachers team-teach—for example, one English teacher and one History
teacher in each classroom of 28 students. This is a double period called
Arts and Humanities. Then the two teachers do it again with another 28 students
later in the school day. 56 students to teach and know well.
Ditto for the two 7th/8th
grade math-science-technology teachers (MST block) working together with their
two classes of 28 each.
In grades 9-12, the teaching load
for teachers in these four core disciplines can get up to 70.
In grades 11-12, there are no
double blocks. Teachers in the core subjects are likely to have four one-period
classes, with between 14 and 18 students. Again, almost always teaching fewer
than 70 students.
The Spanish teachers sometimes have
classes by themselves of 28 students; these teachers can have a total of more
than 70 students in their classes.
See my next newsletter: teachers at Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School do have an ADDITIONAL ROLE as advisors to 10 students. This is how the school supports students without having a department of counselors.
[i] “Teaching: Some Global Comparisons,” by Sarah Sparks,
Education Week, Sept. 20, 2017.
[ii] From Horace’s Compromise – The Dilemma of the American
High School, by Theodore R. Sizer, Houghton Mifflin, 1984. Among the nine
principles Sizer articulated for the Coalition of Essential Schools:
“Personalization. Teaching and learning should
be personalized to the maximum feasible extent. Efforts should be directed toward
a goal so that no teacher have direct responsibility for more than eighty
students….” (Bold mine)
Sizer included several
questions raised about his proposals—and his response:
“The
teacher-pupil ratio–one to eighty. It’s impractical without greatly increased
expenditures. Get realistic!
“The work load of high school teachers will not
decline without new compromises—ones such as teaching two subjects to 80
students rather than one to 160. Or narrowing the curriculum. Or expecting a
larger percentage of the adults in a school building to teach students, and to
teach them well, than is now often the case. Yes, the load can be brought down
if people are willing to reconsider some of our cherished assumptions about the
structures of secondary schooling. (Afterword, p. 229)
[iii] “Colorado' s Teacher Shortages: Attracting and
Retaining Excellent Educators,” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED586422.pdf.
[iv] “Why Some States Have Higher Teacher Turnover Rates
Than Others,” https://www.thegraidenetwork.com/blog-all/teacher-turnover-rate-by-state.
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