Survey of America’s Educators on Teaching During and After the COVID-19 Outbreak

May 28 (New York) — Educators for Excellence (E4E), a teacher-led organization, released results today from Voices from the (Virtual) Classroom, a nationally representative survey of public school teachers exploring education during this crisis — what is working, what isn’t, what is needed now — and what teachers think the priorities should be when classrooms reopen.

“COVID-19 has disrupted learning across the country, particularly for students like mine, who come from low-income households,” said Christine Montera, a high school social studies teacher at East Bronx Academy and member of E4E-New York. “We need immediate policy changes to ensure our students can keep learning and lasting institutional changes so our most vulnerable students aren’t cheated out of the excellent education they deserve. Decision-makers must act now, not only to address learning loss due to the coronavirus, but to transform education for generations.”

“In these times of uncertainty, one thing is certain: we need to include teachers in the policy decisions to address this crisis,” said Evan Stone, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of E4E. “Teachers’ responses outline what they and their students need now and in the future, providing valuable guidance for decision-makers making hard choices in the months ahead as they reopen schools amidst budget shortfalls.”

“Distance learning participation rates are alarming across the board, but teachers predominantly serving students from low-income households are reporting particularly worrisome trends,” said Sydney Morris, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of E4E. “We knew this crisis was having a disparate impact on historically marginalized students, but educators’ experiences show that we will need to prioritize vulnerable students as we move forward.”

E4E published its second national teacher survey, Voices from the Classroom 2020, in January. Voices from the (Virtual) Classroom builds on these findings and provides critical insight into how the education landscape has transformed in a few, short months.

Below are key findings from the survey. Visit e4e.org/VirtualVoices for detailed results, including a closer look at the following subgroups: traditional and charter school teachers; early, middle and high school teachers; and teachers serving different levels of students from low-income households.

Distance learning is profoundly different from the classroom setting, particularly with regard to reduced instructional time and markedly low attendance and participation rates
Teachers and students lack fundamental resources and support right now
Students from vulnerable populations are far less likely to have what they need to successfully participate in distance learning
Teachers want the focus on teaching, support for their students’ wellbeing and preparation for future closures
Schools need to reopen safely and adopt creative ways to best serve all students
With looming budget challenges in states and districts, protecting effective teachers and the most vulnerable students is a priority

Distance learning is profoundly different from the classroom setting, particularly with regard to reduced instructional time and markedly low attendance and participation rates

Distance learning is currently nearly universal and predominantly conducted online.

​95% of teachers are facilitating distance learning with 80% of those practicing distance learning using mostly e-learning tools, while only 5% mostly use traditional tools such as worksheets and 15% are using both.

Student attendance and participation are alarmingly low.

​Teachers are monitoring student attendance in a variety of ways, including if students complete assignments (53%), if students log on to online learning platforms (48%), if they are able to communicate with students that day (38%) and if students attend class online (35%).

Yet teachers report that their students’ daily participation is abysmal. Nearly one-third (32%) report daily student participation of 50% or less, with only 9% reporting attendance above 90%.

In addition, two-thirds (67%) say assignment and homework completion is worse during distance learning, with 27% saying it is much worse.

Students are concerned about the impact of the coronavirus on their lives.

​Teachers report their students expressing a wide variety of concerns, but especially social (69%), emotional (62%) and academic (59%) concerns.

Teachers are spending their time differently compared to before distance learning.

​Teachers report they are now spending less time on academic instruction (53%), but more time on parental outreach (75%), student outreach (70%) and social-emotional support for students (46%).

Many teachers are using entirely new curricula.

​Less than half (45%) report they are using the same curriculum as before distance learning.

Only 30% say it is very accurate that the distance learning curricula they are using are accessible and appropriate for all learners and 51% believe it is very accurate that the curricula are aligned to state standards.

Teachers and students lack fundamental resources and support right now

Students do not have what they need to learn in the distance learning environment.

Only 3% report all of their students have a quiet place to study and/or attend virtual class.

Only 6% report all of their students have family members or guardians who are available to assist with their learning as needed.

Only 10% report all of their students have the age-appropriate skills to successfully navigate technology for distance learning.

Only 24% report all of their students have access to a computer or tablet to use for school work when they need it.

The coronavirus outbreak has upended teachers’ lives personally and professionally.

​A staggering 72% say their life has been disrupted a lot by the coronavirus.

The same amount say the challenge of balancing child and family care at home while teaching simultaneously is a serious obstacle, especially those caring for children under 18 (81%).

Many teachers lack previous e-learning training or experience.

​67% report their preparation program did not adequately prepare them to facilitate online learning.

47% say they had not much or no previous e-learning experience.

87% say the challenge of moving instruction from the classroom to online has been a very serious (44%) or somewhat serious (43%) obstacle.

Relevant professional development during the outbreak has been scarce.

​More than a third (36%) say they have not received professional development since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Of those that have, only 39% say the professional development has been very relevant to what they’re doing now.

Teachers lack critical guidance and support.

​While most teachers report a great deal of support from their colleagues (62%), 50% say this is true of their principal, and even fewer say this is true of their district or charter network (27%) and union (25%).

A sizable minority of teachers say they lack good guidance for how to conduct distance learning with regard to the amount of instruction they should be posting (34%), hours or schedule they should be working (30%), grading or providing feedback to students (36%) and how often and how to communicate with students and parents/guardians (25%).

Students from vulnerable populations are far less likely to have what they need to successfully participate in distance learning

Teachers say their schools are not often meeting the needs of vulnerable student populations. 

​Homeless students fare the worst, with 61% of teachers saying their needs are not often met, followed by students with learning disabilities (60%), students with physical disabilities (59%), English learners (58%), students from low-income households (53%) and students of color (46%).

Teachers who report that they predominantly serve low-income students (67% or more, identified below as “low-income”) report far greater challenges with distance learning than those who report that they serve the fewest low-income students (33% or less, identified below as “high-income”).

Teachers with more low-income students report lower participation in distance learning
Low-Income
High-Income

Daily student participation rates of 50% or less
49%
16%

Teachers with more low-income students report greater obstacles to distance learning
Low-Income
High-Income

My students’ lack of access to technological tools
85%
56%

My students’ lack of access to high-speed internet
88%
57%

My students’ lack of necessary technology skills
77%
53%

Teachers with more low-income students report they are less likely to have what they need to learn
Low-Income
High-Income

Most or all of my students have a quiet place to study and/or attend virtual class

15%
35%

Most or all of my students have family members or guardians available to assist with their learning as needed
21%
40%

Teachers want the focus on teaching, support for their students’ wellbeing and preparation for future closures

Ensure students move forward academically and help them cope.

​Of all their professional duties, teachers prioritized dedicating more time to  academic instruction (32%), social-emotional support for students (31%) and student outreach (23%).

Nearly two-thirds (63%) say during distance learning teachers should focus on new content, while about a third (37%) prefer reinforcing old content or addressing learning gaps.

Teachers are divided on how best to grade students during this crisis, with “as usual” garnering the most support (21%), but 79% supporting various alternatives to traditional grading.

Find ways to support students with special needs now, before schools reopen.

​65% say the federal government should prioritize guidance for districts to develop temporary substitutes for the obligatory supports for special needs students while students are out of school.

Pause formal teacher evaluations, but continue to provide feedback.

​While 72% want to pause formal evaluations, awarding of tenure, and/or bonuses for performance during distance learning, 64% say teachers should be offered informal feedback to support their distance learning efforts.

Plan ahead for future school closures.

​In the event of future closures, teachers say it is most important for districts or charter networks to have a plan in place to provide students with necessary learning tools, such as personal learning devices (52%).

Schools need to reopen safely and adopt creative ways to best serve all students

Learning loss, social-emotional health and unrealistic expectations are top concerns as schools reopen.

​When their students return to the classroom, teachers say they are most concerned about academic decline (39%) or social-emotional issues (33%).

When teachers return to the classroom, they are most concerned about unrealistic expectations for getting students back on track (45%). They are least concerned about receiving adequate professional development, physical health issues, and layoffs or budget cuts.

Prioritize health and safety as schools reopen.

​When schools reopen, teachers say the top two priorities are to take additional health and sanitation measures (52%) and create smaller class sizes with staggered schedules (51%).

Think creatively to get students back on track.

​When returning to the classroom, a majority of teachers report they would support grouping students by competency level, rather than by grade level (57%), and having teachers move with their students to the next grade level (i.e, “looping”) (54%).

Teachers prioritize in-school remediation strategies embedded in the school day (60%) and tutoring and/or afterschool programs (56%) to address learning loss in their district or charter network. Changes to the school day or to the school calendar and summer school garnered far less support.

42% of teachers would likely participate in additional learning opportunities to help students catch up academically, with an additional 34% saying they might, depending on the compensation and 14% might, depending on other factors than compensation.

With looming budget challenges in states and districts, protecting effective teachers and the most vulnerable students is a priority

Don’t use LIFO (last in, first out) to determine layoffs.

64% believe layoff decisions should be based on multiple factors, including both performance and seniority, as opposed to solely teacher performance (18%) or seniority (18%).

Prioritize cuts that harm students and teachers least.

​In the event of the need to reduce personnel costs, teachers prefer buy-outs be offered to those nearing retirement (78%), to lay off district or network staff before cutting teachers (50%), to avoid layoffs serving vulnerable student populations (47%) and to temporarily freeze district or charter network staff salaries (47%).

For detailed results, visit e4e.org/VirtualVoices

Survey Methodology:

The instrument was written and administered by Gotham Research Group, an independent research firm, and conducted online from May 2 through May 8, 2020, among a nationally representative sample of 600 full-time, public school teachers. The margin of error is ±4.0 percentage points for the full survey sample and higher among subgroups.

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