Helping Teachers Help Students
Invest in our nation's future by supporting the people who nurture it.
When it comes to in-school factors affecting education quality, teacher quality is among the most important.1 But recruiting and retaining good educators is hard these days. Low pay, long hours, lack of access to resources, insufficient support, restricted agency, and challenging, even dangerous work environments make the profession a tough sell for folks with bachelor's degrees who've got other prospects.
The Problem
According to a recent study commissioned by Merrimack College and conducted by EdWeek Research Center, U.S. teachers work an average of 54 hours a week.2 At the same time, their weekly wages are a lot lower than those of other college graduates. "The average weekly wages of public school teachers (adjusted only for inflation) increased just $29 from 1996 to 2021, from $1,319 to $1,348 (in 2021 dollars). In contrast, inflation-adjusted weekly wages of other college graduates rose from $1,564 to $2,009 over the same period—a $445 increase," reported the Economic Policy Institute.3
In states such as the one from which I write, the teacher wage penalty is even worse. North Carolina ranks last in public education funding effort4 and 38th in teacher pay.5 Between the 1999-00 and 2020-21 school years, the average salary of an NC K-12 educator actually decreased by 11.5%, when adjusted for inflation.6 This reflects stagnant salaries and teacher turnover/attrition, which has skewed the workforce towards new and unlicensed professionals earning entry-level state-scale salaries.
Not only are teachers making far less money than their peers, but they're also paying out of pocket for classroom necessities. During the 2014-15 school year, 94% of public school educators spent their own money on supplies for their students—$478 on average.7 At the same time, the classrooms teachers are pouring everything (including personal funds) into have become more unsafe than ever. Between COVID-19 and an increase in school shootings, it's no wonder "more than four in 10 K-12 workers in the U.S. (44%) say they 'always' or 'very often' feel burned out at work, outpacing all other industries nationally," reports Gallup.8
Adding insult to injury is a general lack of respect for the profession. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that only 36% of U.S. teachers felt valued by society in 2018.9 Why? Legislators have continuously undermined their agency as professionals, budget cuts have placed critical resources and support out of their reach, and public faith in the education system has declined.10 On top of this, "teachers of color often face challenging work conditions, implicit bias, unrealistic expectations, even isolation," said Vincent Marigna, CEO of Breakthrough Collaborative, the largest pre-professional teacher training program in the country.
Droves of educators leave the profession each year in pursuit of something that won't take such a toll on their mental, physical, and financial wellbeing. Not enough new graduates are interested in replacing them, and that's left our nation with quite the teacher shortage. Researchers identified more than 36,000 public school vacancies and over 163,000 underqualified teachers working in 2022.11 As Marigna explained, this "disproportionately impacts students of color and students from low-income communities, further exacerbating educational inequality."
How You Can Help
Ever worked under a burned-out boss? How about for a company with a high employee churn rate? If so, I'm willing to bet it was hard for you to get anything done. Impossible, even. Now, imagine trying to handle those kinds of dysregulating, discombobulating environments as a kid. How can we expect students to learn when all their teachers are at the end of their ropes or leaving halfway through the year? A quality education requires the consistent presence of dedicated, high performing educators. But right now, many teachers' working conditions are so bad, simply making it through the day is a mammoth challenge.
Inspiringly, there are millions of professionals who care so much about our nation's youth and future that they go into the trenches—schools—anyway. While you can't personally raise their pay, hire more staff to support them, supply them all with the resources they need, or ensure their buildings are safe, you can still help them. Here's how:
1. Show teachers some grace.
At the end of the day, the people affected most by the state of our nation's public school system are kids. "Some haven't had a science teacher for a year, others don't have bus drivers. Parents have every right to be frustrated, but please don't take those frustrations out on teachers," says Sara Howell, NC Education Policy Fellowship Program Coordinator and Policy Manager for the Public School Forum of North Carolina.
Howell's organization is a nonpartisan think-and-do-tank that conducts research, spearheads advocacy efforts, and develops programs aimed at ensuring all NC students have access to a high quality public school education. Through her work, she's learned that "teachers and schools are truly doing the best they can," as she put it. Be mindful of this. Instead of blaming educators for the system’s shortcomings, thank them for what they're doing in spite of the obstacles they face.
Teachers don't receive much acknowledgement—financially or otherwise—for their efforts, so letting them know you appreciate their work is a small kindness that goes a long, long way. Make no mistake: This is NOT me suggesting you stay quiet about your dissatisfaction with our nation's public school system. This is me suggesting you direct your indignation towards folks with the power to turn things around.
2. Get educated on the issues.
Who are those people? The governing bodies who wield the most influence over our nation's education system are states, counties and cities/municipalities. Which means the folks shaping public school policy in your region are your state reps, your county/city leaders, and your local school board members. You can use this house.gov tool to find out who represents you in congress. And you can find your local leaders on your city/county government website. School board members will be listed on your school district's website.
Once you know who the key players are, take some time to understand their stances on the education-related issues in your state and region. If you get most of your information about public schools from the mainstream media, I recommend digging deeper. Education policy is complex and nuanced. The difference between an initiative and today's headlines can be the difference between the beginning and end of a game of telephone. Take some time to explore the resources and news available on your state's department of education website or on sites run by state-specific think tanks. Chances are, you’ll find there’s much more to education policy than what’s on your feeds.
The NC Public School Forum's is a wonderful place to go for information on North Carolina's public school issues. "We devote a lot of time to breaking down what legislation would actually do and mean for the future of our public education system in understandable terms," explained Howell. Love policy deep dives? Read through the organization's briefs, analysis, and research on their resources page. Don't have time for that? Visit their top issues page to stay up-to-date on the state's most pressing education developments. Want information to come to you? Sign up for one or more of the NC Public School Forum's newsletters.
No matter where you live, "you can learn more about local public schools and the issues affecting them by attending school board meetings. These meetings are generally open to the public and streamed online," commented Howell. You may have some reservations about doing this, given that schools have (very unfortunately) become culture war battlegrounds. But though it's possible you'll hear something you don't like at a school board meeting, "you'll also learn about some of the uplifting things happening in your district—the teachers who've gone above and beyond, the students who are doing amazing work, and more," Howell pointed out.
3. Advocate for your teachers.
Your K-12 teachers barely have time to use the bathroom during the workday, let alone send bunches of emails to their representatives. They need your help now more than ever, so once you know who you should contact and what you'll ask them to do, start reaching out. In your communications, make sure to:
Let decision-makers know you care about your state's students, teachers, and public schools.
Urge them to support policy aimed at compensating teachers fairly, i.e. on par with other college graduates, and improving their working conditions.
Administrators want to hear from their constituents. That’s why Marigna and a delegation from Breakthrough recently visited Capitol Hill to lift up issues impacting the teacher pipeline. “By providing resources to the field, incentives for joining the educator workforce, and high-quality pre-apprenticeship programs to attract and develop new cohorts of diverse aspiring teachers, policy makers at all levels can help alleviate the educator shortage ” Marigna explained.
This includes administrators operating locally. While state leaders set teacher salaries, city and county leaders have the ability to offer salary supplements. As an example: The cost of living in Asheville is high compared to the North Carolina average, so state-scale salaries are stretched extra thin there. To compensate, Asheville City Schools awards supplements to all its employees that range from an additional 9% of state scale pay in the first 4 years of employment to an additional 16.5% after 20 years of service.12 If your district doesn't give faculty and staff local salary supplements, consider asking your county or city leaders to change that.
4. Volunteer.
"There are endless ways you could help your local teachers as a volunteer, many of which might not be immediately obvious," commented Howell. "You could help your English language arts teachers grade papers, for example, or your drama teachers sew costumes. You could take over a teacher's lunch duty so they actually get a lunch break, or you could relieve them of traffic duty at the end of the day." To get started as a school volunteer, you can head to your school district's volunteer page or contact your local schools directly. If you happen to have a community school nearby, you can reach out to that school's coordinator. (If you're wondering what the heck a community school is, read our latest article.)
In an effort to offer young people the preparation and guidance they need to succeed as teachers, Breakthrough Collaborative offers a paid Teaching Fellowship that "engages more than 1,000 college students of all majors in a nine-week program where they receive a hands-on, immersive classroom experience," said Marigna. There are 24 Breakthrough affiliates across the country that offer a variety of volunteer opportunities, so if you're interested in supporting educators and students, visit their website to learn how to get involved with their work.
The wellbeing of our nation hinges on the wellbeing of our nation's public schools. And since that relies on the wellbeing of our nation's teachers, helping a local educator means making a significant investment in our country's future. So: Read a few policy briefs. Send a few emails. Volunteer a few hours. Any amount of good you do for a teacher is multiplied hundreds of times over through the good they can then do for students.
Experts Featured:
Vincent Marigna Chief Executive Officer at Breakthrough Collaborative, a national network creating empowering educational experiences for traditionally underrepresented students on their path to college and the largest pre-professional teacher training program in the country. Learn how to get involved with the work Breakthrough is doing here: breakthroughcollaborative.org/investtoday
Sara Howell is the Policy Program Manager for the Public School Forum, a nonpartisan think-and-do tank that conducts research, spearheads advocacy efforts, and develops programs aimed at ensuring all NC students have access to a high quality public school education. You can support this organization’s efforts here: ncforum.org/donate