Our schools are quickly descending into crisis mode. Teacher complaints grow exponentially each day. Teacher complaints have gone beyond simple public pronouncements, and Tik-Tok and Instagram posts, to formal union votes of no-confidence against administrators and superintendents. Chief among teacher complaints is a lack of time to accomplish all of the tasks that are now called for in teaching such as data collection, and professional learning. Another major complaint is student behavior and engagement. Teachers feel that they have lost control of classrooms and are being asked to teach in environments that are disruptive and sometimes dangerous. To provide a fair examination of these problems, as well as their causes and possible solutions, it is necessary to go back in time to look at how the landscape of education has changed since the 1990’s. There have been major shifts in requirements, expectations, and students since that time that in many ways have created confusion and frustration.

The number of teachers leaving the profession, or asking to switch schools, is alarming. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, eight percent of teachers left the profession between 2020 and 2022. An additional eight percent moved to another school during that period. In 2023 twenty-three percent of teachers either left their schools, retired, or left the profession. Thirty percent of first-year teachers either left the profession or moved to another school. These numbers are growing and alarming in the face of an projected forty-eight percent of teachers scheduled to retire by the year 2030.

Many schools are already facing major shortages. Many are not able ensure a full-time, certified teacher in every classroom when the school year begins. Last year there were many schools that were forced to close for the day due to a lack of adequate teacher coverage. With more and more teachers leaving the classroom, and many more slated to retire in the next five years, this is a growing crisis of epic proportions. The teacher shortage perpetuates itself by putting additional stress on the remaining teachers who often have to cover for missing colleagues.

To better understand the emerging crisis, one needs to know something about the evolution of public education in this country. Prior to World War II the nature of public schools was very different. Many students left schooling when they were old enough to find work. These students were usually from financially struggling families who needed the extra income. Many of these students did not see a future that required an education. Many were able to secure jobs in factories or trades that eventually might allow them to survive and feed their families. Post World War II, the economy began to expand and there was a greater migration from rural areas to newly developing suburbs. The job and career market began to diversify providing many new jobs that required more education. The new economy was bolstered by the GI Bill with many veterans choosing to pursue some form of higher education. Most blue-collar jobs began to require a high school diploma.

The new job and career landscape began to push for students to stay in school to get a diploma. Those students who would have previously chosen early work over education were forced to stay in school. This presented a new challenge for teachers. They were faced with a wider range of skill levels and interests with regard to their students. The prevailing notion in too many classrooms was to move ahead with instruction in the same manner and expect all the students to keep up or perish. The result of this approach was a sizeable disparity between the students who could keep up, and had the motivation to do so, and those who either needed a different approach, or a means of motivation to do so. It is necessary to point out that, just as in any profession, there were many great teachers who accepted the challenge to try to inspire and lift up as many students as possible. It is also true that many held onto the philosophy that it was the responsibility of each student to come to the learning self-motivated to succeed. The disparity in skills and motivation among students became an increasing frustration for many teachers.

Needless to say, teacher salaries are a major factor adding to disillusionment and teacher burnout. I do not believe that salaries are the primary cause of teacher exodus in Connecticut, but salaries are a contributing factor and a major roadblock in building the profession to withstand the crushing teacher shortage that is upon us and will be worsening each year. Low salaries are also a much more significant issue in other states as well.

It is important to note that although teachers have always been underpaid for the work that is expected of them, the gap between teacher salaries and spending power has grown over the years. In the 1960s and 70s the average teacher yearly salary was between $4,000 and $6,000 a year. The average home price in 1970 was $17,000. That meant that a teacher making $6,000 a year made thirty-five percent of the total home price in one year. In 1984, I made $18,000 a year as a teacher. The average home price in 1984 was $73,000. My purchase power had been reduced by eleven percent to twenty-four percent of the average home price. Teachers during this period were clearly not entering the profession to secure wealth. You either became a teacher because you had a calling, or you became a teacher because it was a fairly steady job in which you could use the skills and knowledge that you had acquired through your education.

A review of the table below illustrates the difference in teacher salaries in some states and how those salaries compare to average home prices in those states.
Highest State Teacher Salaries
State Starting Salary Top Salary Avg Home Price
California 55k 95k 798k
New York 49k 92k 478k
Massachusetts 51k 92k 624k
Connecticut 48k 83k 409k
Lowest State Teacher Salaries
State Starting Salary Top Salary Avg Home Price
West Virgina 40k 52k 173k
Florida 47k 53k 395k
South Dakota 42k 53k 318k
Mississippi 42k 53k 183k

The difference between starting salaries and top salaries is also impacted by the number of years (steps) it takes to reach maximum salary, and the requirements in most states for teachers to continue with their own education to stay in the profession. In a breakdown of all fifty states, the top salary in seventeen states was above $70,000, seventeen states were between $60,000 and $70,000, and the remaining sixteen states had top salaries below $60,000. When compared to average home prices in all of the states one can understand why teachers in many states feel it necessary to have a second job or an additional source of income to survive. Expecting overworked and underpaid teachers to perform one of the most complex and stressful jobs, while also expecting world-class results, tell us all we need to know about our country’s commitment to educating children. It is obviously not considered a priority. The future of an educated populace is endangered as the overall wage-gap in this country becomes wider and wider, and the growing number of billionaires gobble up more and more of the money, while many of our teachers have to work second jobs to survive.

Despite the continuing low salaries for teachers, the requirements and expectations for teachers have increased in the last twenty-five years. Up to the year 2000 teacher certification was not a requirement at the high school level. Many teachers were hired to teach who had not been certified, with many lacking any teacher preparation courses or experience. The lack of preparation did not necessarily preclude these teachers from having teaching skills. Teaching is both an art and a science. Some individuals are simply born teachers. And some are not. Those who are not born with an innate ability to teach are perfectly capable of learning the science of teaching while they develop the sense of its art. The key factor in this balance between art and science is one’s attitude about working with young people. Liking and caring about young people is as close to a prerequisite for success in teaching as any other quality.

In the mid-80s there began a more serious review of American schools and their focus. What we were teaching our students, and how we were teaching them, was more closely examined. It had become apparent that American students as a whole were lagging behind the rest of the world in basic skills. High schools were characterized as being more focused on athletics, and meeting minimum requirements of seat time and credits, than the learning of complex concepts and skills. Requirements for graduation were minimal with more and more students graduating without basic reading and math literacy.

School reform initiatives began to spring up from many corners of the education landscape with few actually taking hold. Education from grades four through twelve was, and remains, clearly driven by the accumulation of credits and reliance on textbooks with little diversification or differentiation of ideas or strategies despite the diverse skills and learning styles of students. Two major cataclysmic actions have occurred since this period that have provided the impetus for change, while also creating difficulty, confusion and stress for teachers and educational systems.
The first was the reauthorization of the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EHA) which had been passed in 1970. The new authorization was called The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which was passed in 1990 and revised in 2004. The 1990 and 2004 revisions changed the nature of schools and classrooms. Teachers were now being required to teach in classrooms that included more and more students with disabilities ranging from intellectual and learning disabilities, to emotional disabilities such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Students with physical disabilities such as vision and hearing impairment were also included. In 1970, only one in five students with disabilities were serviced in schools. In 2023, sixty-six percent of students with disabilities were included in general education classrooms at least eighty percent of the day.

The other major event that has shaped the focus of education for the last twenty-five years is No Child Left Behind. This legislation was one of the first legislative initiatives of the George W. Bush administration passed in 2002. The act delineated new standards and goals for the nation’s schools. A significant feature of the act was yearly testing for all students with tough corrective measures for schools that did not meet the requirements of adequate yearly progress. Measures could include reconstituting the staff and administration of a school and ultimately potential closure. The act also called for a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. No longer could schools hire or retain teachers who lacked certification. The process of gaining certification also changed. Prospective teachers and administrators not only had to complete requisite course work but also pass exams to be eligible for certification. Non-certified teachers were given a period of time to establish certification. Those who did not would be let go.

As both a classroom a teacher for twenty years, and an administrator for close to another twenty, I recognize how these two events created a much different environment in schools and classrooms. I also recognize that both actions were sorely needed to improve the overall education of American students. All of our students. Despite the importance and necessity of both IDEA and NCLB, I also have seen firsthand the difficulty in implementing these changes at the district, school and classroom levels. This was the breaking point that has led to our present crisis.

As previously stated, there a several major catalysts for the pressure and stress that teachers are facing in today’s schools. A primary concern is the changing nature of the students themselves. The inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education classrooms without adequate support staff to assist with teaching and management, has placed an additional burden on teachers. Teachers need skilled and trained assistance to work with students who present difficult and unique challenges in the classroom setting. This is not to suggest that these students do not belong in the classroom, or do not benefit being in a regular education setting. The point is that there should be adequate supports that ensure that instruction is effective for all students.

Other key factors providing major challenges in terms of classroom management and instruction are changing parental attitudes and behaviors, and the increased impact of, and reliance on, social media. Parental attitudes and behaviors associated with child-rearing have changed dramatically beginning with the millennials who were raised by late era baby-boomers. Most children raised before 1980 were essentially free-range children. They were allowed to play independently using their own imaginations and creativity. They were allowed the freedom to take some limited risks and to fail occasionally without major fallout. If they experienced minor problems, they were encouraged to figure out a solution on their own. This resulted in more independent and emotionally sturdy individuals who did not collapse and crawl into the fetal position at the first sign of trouble. I am sure that anyone over the age of fifty remembers spending summer days rambling through the neighborhood, or beyond, without seeing a parent again until the streetlights came on.

Somehow that all changed. Suddenly children were bubble-wrapped needing to be protected from anything and everything. No longer were they allowed to explore and discover independently. They were not allowed to make mistakes. Their entire existence had to be programmed and scheduled. I cannot recall my mother ever uttering the words, “play date”. Friends and playing did not have to be scheduled and planned only to include children that were the “right” children with whom to play.
Also, the lack of independent experiences, and possible triumphs and failures, created a self-esteem vacuum. The key word is self. Recognizing your value is more effective and lasting when you discover it within yourself. Without these opportunities for discovery, parents felt that it was their job, and the job of all the other adults encountered by their children, to heap praise and platitudes on them to build their self-esteem, hence the participation trophy. No matter that you hardly ever came to practice and never learned to throw or catch – you get a trophy.

An extension of this new parental attitude was to allow children to believe that they were almost equals and had a voice in all interactions with adults. Even though older generations were allowed the freedom to explore and discover, and gain agency, we also knew that the adults were in charge. You may have been allowed to roam all day, but when the streetlights came on, you had better be in the house or else. There was no explanation wanted or allowed.

The new parenting has allowed for reasons and explanations, and likely little or no consequences. This attitude has morphed into a staunch defense of children whenever the teacher calls to say that the child has done something wrong. There must have been a reason. Of course, that behavior has never been seen at home; therefore, it probably did not happen at school. More importantly, it is not possible that a child earned a C in math, even if he did not do homework and failed a number of quizzes. This is not to suggest that teachers never make mistakes or treat students unfairly. Speaking from experience they sometimes do. This is the exception, not the norm. When the teacher calls and reports poor behavior or a lack of effort, the question is too often about what the teacher did or did not do that caused little Johnny to behave poorly or refuse to work.
Gather generations of children with fragile self-confidence, and a need for constant stroking, and introduce the poison that is social media. Social media has negatively impacted students and classrooms in a number of ways. First, the addiction of social media, which has instilled a need to check your Instagram or Snapchat every minute to accumulate positive feedback, has taken away what little attention that students may have had while teachers are teaching. Students are disengaged from the learning environment forcing teachers to send more of their time monitoring screen time and making students get off their phones.

Equally important, is the impact of social media on student mental health, and the ability of schools to provide a safe and productive environment. Bullying and harassment have skyrocketed in schools, but it is not old-fashioned bullying that could be met head on, and somewhat restricted and controlled within the school environment. Social media bullying is a twenty-four-hour, seven day a week proposition which encourages hidden participants and is much harder to isolate. The constant need to compare ones-self to an unrealistic standard portrayed on social media, and the constant onslaught of detractors, creates tension and conflict which often bubbles up in the school environment and calls on teachers and administrators to spend valuable time managing the fallout.

Another major source of teacher and administrator stress is the pressure to consistently examine teaching practices, and the professional learning required to effectively implement those practices. Although the push to implement many of these researched-based practices is absolutely necessary to improve student outcomes, and to meet the required and appropriate standards, too often school districts attempt to do too much in the shortest amount of time feeling the pressure to make changes. This is especially true in schools with high levels of student living in poverty, English language learners and students with special needs where improvements are sorely and crucially needed. Not only are teachers asked to adopt too many initiatives at the same time, but there is too little in way of effective follow-up or embedded coaching to allow teachers to effectively utilize the strategies.

It is important to note that as one who has felt the pressure to fast-track initiatives and strategies, especially in high needs schools, the torrent of change experienced by teachers is not the only reason for a lack of change. It must be acknowledged that there too many teachers who resist any change, and are more comfortable sticking with what they know and do, even if those strategies are ineffective and do not bring about results. This resistance is another factor adding to the stress and disillusionment of too many teachers.

Teacher evaluation has become a major stressor for teachers. Along with new standards and teaching practices, teachers are now being asked to establish student learning objectives and to track student outcomes which are being used to evaluate practice. There has been significant resistance to the new evaluation procedures by teachers and their unions. The most significant reaction has been to the part of the new evaluation that could possibly lead to a teacher being dismissed for a lack of adequate performance even following the implementation of an improvement plan. Teachers have resisted this new format for evaluation despite the fact that it is far more objective than previous methods which relied solely on the somewhat subjective judgement of an administrator. Teachers are concerned about being evaluated on the basis of whether their students are learning. This understandable concern seems to ignore the fact that the teacher’s actions and other mitigating factors are taken into account in the evaluation process, and more importantly, the goal in teaching is for students to learn.

It is clear that being a teacher or administrator in today’s schools is a much different proposition than it was prior to the year 2000. Students and parents are much different, and the demands and expectations of the profession are far more difficult to achieve, especially with dwindling reward. If we have any hope of saving public education and being able to ensure satisfied and effective teachers to teach our children, some major changes will have to be made. Many of these changes will require both economic and political remedies that will be very hard to accomplish.
The first and most important action must be to finally recognize teaching as a true profession. This will require many changes. The first should be to create a salary structure that induces some of the best and brightest students to choose teaching as a profession. This must start with states and local communities making the hard choice to ensure professional salaries for teachers which will likely call for additional tax revenue. It may also involve getting business and industry, who will need an increasingly educated workforce in the future, to subsidize the increase in teacher salaries either directly or through higher taxes.

Recognizing the profession goes beyond higher salaries. There must be adequate supports for teachers in the classroom to effectively work with all students. This means additional professional staff who are trained to work with students with special needs and English language learners. It is also crucially important to have additional professional staff to allow for a restructuring of the school day for the professionals to allow time for data collection and review, instructional planning, and professional learning. These are actions that take place during the school day regularly in many of the countries where learning outcomes exceed the outcomes in the United States.

Teacher preparation programs must also improve to produce well-trained new professionals entering the profession. Programs should not only provide classroom instruction involving the newest and most effective strategies, but significant time with existing professionals and significant classroom experience. Beginning teachers should be required to participate in five-year Masters programs in order to enter the profession.
Simply paying teachers more, attracting the best and brightest of our young people to choose teaching as a profession, and proving adequate coaching and supports is a good beginning, but it is only the first steps in solving the problem. It is equally important to carefully examine the customers in this effort and alter the educational setting to allow for a more successful and rewarding environment.

Schools have been understandably hyper-focused on academic improvements over the last twenty-five years. The major emphasis has been on teaching strategies, testing and evaluation. There is no argument about the importance of having high standards and ensuring that they are achieved. What is too often lost in this equation are the actual schools, the people in them on a daily basis, and those they serve. There are many who believe that unless we are addressing the social-emotional needs of students and their families in a systemic way, learning will suffer. The term school climate is thrown about as being important, but little is actually accomplished in actually examining and changing the climate in schools to provide the safe and motivating environments needed for improved learning.

Improving school climate has to be a systemic approach. Schools have to examine many of their practices including attitudes about student motivation and engagement, and communication practices that allow not only for clear expectations for behavior, but also clear expectations for respectful communications for everyone in the school building and parents as well.

One of the recent explorations in terms of managing student behavior has been the use of restorative justice. The concept is basically to hold students responsible for the harm they have done and decide how they can make it right. The idea is very effective when successfully implemented. The goal is to change poor behaviors. Punitive discipline is only effective in changing the behavior of those who are generally compliant in nature. For those who are generally non-compliant punitive measures are basically effective in creating a desire to hide poor behavior, not to change it. Restorative justice makes the offender examine who they have hurt, how they hurt them and what they can do to restore trust. Theoretically, restorative justice works well in changing behaviors. Unfortunately, trying to implement restorative justice in a social setting that lacks mutual respect is doomed to failure. Creating a safe and respectful school climate must come first and it takes a great deal of commitment and work on the part of everyone in the school community.

One of the major concepts that has a significant impact on student performance, and has been studied for some time, is trauma. Many have been examining the impact of trauma on students and families and how it impacts both student learning and the interactions between schools and families. Brain research indicates that students who are experiencing trauma are unable to activate the brain for learning because the brain is functioning in survival mode. No matter if you are utilizing the most effective teaching strategies, students who are suffering from trauma will not learn. In addition, not only does experiencing trauma hinder learning, it also leads to many of the behavioral issues experienced by classroom teachers.

Students experiencing trauma are more prevalent in high needs schools but are not limited to those schools. There are several factors that can create trauma for students including abuse, violence, loss, disaster, homelessness, poverty, racism, family dysfunction and social interaction. Although students living in poverty are more likely to experience trauma, students living in better economic conditions can clearly experience trauma as well. If schools and teachers desire to have students who behave well and are engaged, it is not enough to simply take away the cell phones and establish more punitive measures for poor behavior. It is imperative that schools understand the role that trauma plays in the daily lives of their students and families and put steps and school policies in place to both recognize trauma and establish practices that can mitigate its effects.

There is probably nothing in this examination of schools that has not been studied and attempted in most schools and districts throughout the country. It will take all of us to recognize the problems that have led to the present crisis and demand that there be a comprehensive approach to changing our attitudes and practices with regard to educating the next generation. Unless this occurs, there will be drastic consequences for our country and its people.