LA Educators, Seeking Drastic Changes to System, are the Focus of New Report About Teachers’ and Students’ Needs in the Classroom

Sofia Quintanar,  [email protected]

Tuesday, June 14, 2022 – LOS ANGELES – Educators for Excellence, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, today released the results of their Los Angeles focused survey of teachers which uncovered that the disruption in the education of thousands of students caused by the pandemic. The ripple effects of this disruption have been felt in the teaching profession, in the jobs that educators perform and students themselves. Retention and recruitment remains a challenge for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teachers of color, results which are in line with national results of BIPOC teachers. This is a national issue which continues to multiply as the number of students of color goes up in population. The release of this survey hopes to place a focus on this issue and convince local policy makers to meet these demands with real action.
 
“Teachers are supposed to just pick up and go on as normal as if nothing has happened,” said Dharini Dharamadasa, an Intervention Coordinator from Los Angeles. “Everybody else hasn’t had to do that. In every single sector, people have been given flexibility. Teachers have been asked to put that aside and work for the greater good, when the greater good is not really working for us.”
 
The “Great Resignation”- the continued voluntary mass exodus of teachers from the classroom – has affected many industries in the U.S. due to the pandemic’s effect on the American working conditions. The results from Voices from the Classroom 2022 have corroborated the shift and the shock that many educators and students have felt since the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. LA’s results largely mirror the national population results, with 86% of teachers would stay in their classrooms for their entire career. However, the national oversample of BIPOC teachers, which resulted in just 52% of teachers expressing similar satisfaction, is likely to also be true in LA.
 
“Before the last two years, it was rare to hear teachers counting down the years to retirement or considering leaving the profession. Now, it’s everywhere,” said Nadine Staine, a LAUSD teacher.
 
“These last two years have placed a strain on our teachers in unprecedented ways,” said Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Educators for Excellence, Evan Stone. “By providing an avenue for teachers to voice their concerns and needs, and additionally oversampling major cities, this survey is one of the most comprehensive of its kind to reach the public. Our hope, here at Educators for Excellence, is that by releasing these results we can reach those at the policy-making level so that the needs of our teachers and students are taken seriously and addressed.”
 
Highlights from the Survey:

86% of LA teachers report they are likely to stay for their entire career61% of LA teachers said that their students were academically behind where they were before the pandemic.55% of LA educators are excited about the possibility of changes under Superintendent Carvahlo, and identified increasing resources for high needs students and schools as the top priority for him moving forward.

How teachers address the racial reckoning in our current society has also caused major backlash from parents and school boards about what is and is not appropriate to teach in the classroom. According to Voices from the Classroom 2022- LA, the overwhelming majority of teachers agree that students should be learning about the issues of race, racism and the history of minority populations in the classroom. However, many teachers do not feel that they have the resources to teach these subjects and feel unprepared to have these difficult conversations with their students. 
Voices from the Classroom provides insight where solutions lie, with our teachers themselves.
 
Designed by teachers for teachers, the Voices from the Classroom was conducted with a sample of about 100 educators. The poll was taken during the height of the Omicron variant breakout of COVID-19. While teachers designed this survey, Gotham Research Group helped ensure it was valid and reliable.