School Improvement Network today released the results of a survey measuring educators’ opinions of their effectiveness, the role of parents in education and the health of public education in general. In the wake of the State of the Union address highlighting an ongoing focus on education, School Improvement Network devoted this installment of its survey series, “Voices of Education,” on four simple questions, receiving more than 2,100 responses from educators in all 50 states.
According to survey results, teachers believe they are effective, but a slight majority of respondents believe that education is failing, and 89 percent believe that parents are not doing enough to help their students.
Short and long form responses included the following information:
- Do you believe you are an effective educator? 96 percent of educators said yes; 4 percent of educators said no “While I do feel I am an effective teacher, I know there are areas I can and need to improve on. At the same time, I can only do so much; the students need to work harder to do better.”
- Do you believe your colleagues are effective educators? 89 percent of educators said yes; 11 percent of educators said no “Not all educators are effective, just like not every doctor has a good bedside manner. The better discussion is how do we make the profession such that good teachers want to get better?” “Teachers as a group are among the most caring and dedicated professionals we have. They are grossly underappreciated.”
- Do you believe the public education system is failing? 52 percent of educators said yes; 48 percent of educators said no “The system is suffering and needs help, but it is not failing. We are dedicated and motivated, but it is very easy to lose hope without support from the public and our legislators.” “The only real problem in public education is federal and state interference by people who have no clue about education, only what they think sounds good to voters.”
- Do you believe parents are doing enough to help their children be successful in school? 11 percent of educators said yes; 89 percent of educators said no “Teachers cannot teach everything. Parents have to do their part. Too much is put on teachers today and not enough accountability on the parents.” “The government expects miracles from educators, when parents play the most vital role in a child’s life and they are failing their children, our students.”
Full results of the surveys can be found here.
