Keeping on with a recent post about retention of teachers, I think it's interesting to bring light to some concerns a small focus group came up with about what they are concerned about and think would improve the retention rate of teachers: support from the school community. Read: support from the school administration and support staff.
The data speaks for itself, if teachers are willing to stay, they are more likely going to stay at the school they are currently at. If teachers are leaving, about 76% of teachers say that they are either extremely dissatisfied with their or mostly dissatisfied. When the same group of teachers (stayers and movers) were asked what would contribute to teachers staying for a longer time, the overall view was for a better administration.
I wonder, with the implementation of student surveys to assist with teacher evaluations, why not implement the same for administrators? Teacher surveys on the effectiveness of an administration in support or encouragement? I think that SER visits (that come around every couple of years) could possibly be an attempt at this, but an ineffective one. At schools across the district I am confident that similar things are happening: we have meetings during our collaborative planning periods to talk about what the SER team is expecting to see from their teachers. While the principal insists that nothing should change in our own instruction, we of course are reviewing what effective teachers should be doing, hint hint ;)
When the questions turn to what kind of culture is experienced from our administration, our teachers struggle. The administrator that is helping to facilitate the meeting encourages teachers to be truthful about weaknesses. Do they really want us to mention that teachers who have been placed on Performance Improvement Plans actually do not meet on a regular basis with the administrator they are required to work with? Do they really want us to mention that teachers are publicly ridiculed about data that is too low, while teachers who have achieved a 75% pass rate for other district tests are ignored? Do they really want us to mention that administrators admonish teachers in front of support staff, students and parents, showing them a lack of support during a meeting about extreme disrespect and bullying? For some reason, I think that this would rather be kept under wraps and a positive spin be put on all of the inappropriate comments, emails and utter disrespect shown towards our educators.
What do we do to increase the retention rates of our teachers? Improve the effectiveness of our administrators in Baltimore City.
The data speaks for itself, if teachers are willing to stay, they are more likely going to stay at the school they are currently at. If teachers are leaving, about 76% of teachers say that they are either extremely dissatisfied with their or mostly dissatisfied. When the same group of teachers (stayers and movers) were asked what would contribute to teachers staying for a longer time, the overall view was for a better administration.
I wonder, with the implementation of student surveys to assist with teacher evaluations, why not implement the same for administrators? Teacher surveys on the effectiveness of an administration in support or encouragement? I think that SER visits (that come around every couple of years) could possibly be an attempt at this, but an ineffective one. At schools across the district I am confident that similar things are happening: we have meetings during our collaborative planning periods to talk about what the SER team is expecting to see from their teachers. While the principal insists that nothing should change in our own instruction, we of course are reviewing what effective teachers should be doing, hint hint ;)
When the questions turn to what kind of culture is experienced from our administration, our teachers struggle. The administrator that is helping to facilitate the meeting encourages teachers to be truthful about weaknesses. Do they really want us to mention that teachers who have been placed on Performance Improvement Plans actually do not meet on a regular basis with the administrator they are required to work with? Do they really want us to mention that teachers are publicly ridiculed about data that is too low, while teachers who have achieved a 75% pass rate for other district tests are ignored? Do they really want us to mention that administrators admonish teachers in front of support staff, students and parents, showing them a lack of support during a meeting about extreme disrespect and bullying? For some reason, I think that this would rather be kept under wraps and a positive spin be put on all of the inappropriate comments, emails and utter disrespect shown towards our educators.
What do we do to increase the retention rates of our teachers? Improve the effectiveness of our administrators in Baltimore City.
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