Two New Surveys ask Teachers about Themselves and their Profession

Two new surveys of teachers were released last week, one from the National Center for Education Information and another from Education Next. Both surveys found that American teachers continue to favor tenure, unions, and higher pay. Despite the changing economy and the high-stakes public debates on these topics in many states, teachers’ opinions on these issues have remained consistent over the last five years.

When it comes to early-childhood learning, NCEI found that almost half of all Hispanic teachers teach the preschool and elementary grades, compared to 47 percent of white teachers and 38 percent of black teachers. And though the majority of all teachers still come from traditional teacher preparation programs, preschool and elementary school teachers are significantly less likely to come from an alternative preparation program than their secondary school peers. They are also much less likely to hold graduate degrees:

Source: National Center for Education Information

According to NCEI, teachers from alternative preparation programs were more likely than traditionally-trained teachers to be in favor of paying teachers more based on job performance, teaching in high-needs schools, or teaching high-demand subjects. Twenty-seven percent of alternative-certification teachers were in favor of nixing unions, compared to 19 percent of traditional teachers.

The Education Next survey found a gap between the public and teachers’ opinions on whether certification should even be a prerequisite to teaching. Education Next surveyed teachers, the public, and a sample of the affluent public, defined as “college graduates who are in the top income decile in their state.” Though the survey found that 42 percent of the public and 62 percent of the affluent public supported principals hiring college graduates without formal teaching credentials, only 28 percent of teachers were in support of the proposal. This could be for a variety of reasons: for example, teachers may feel that formal training helped them significantly in the classroom.

Though the groups surveyed by Education Next had diverse opinions on many topics, their thoughts on educational standards (ie. the Common Core) were similar: 72 percent of the public, 75 percent of the affluent, and 63 percent of teachers thought that states should adopt the same standards for math, science, and reading, as opposed to having state-by-state standards for these subjects or none at all. Both surveys offer interesting food for thought on where teachers are coming from and how they feel about today’s education debates.

8/17: This post has been updated with details from the Education Next survey.