Teacher Appreciation Week: Let’s Listen to Texas Teachers

During Teacher Appreciation Week, Raise Your Hand Texas hosted a special after school webinar to listen to Texas teachers. Appreciating our Texas teachers starts with hearing what they have to say about Texas classrooms and the solutions that would improve student learning. Raise Your Hand Texas Teacher Specialist, JoLisa Hoover , said, “It is important to appreciate teachers and elevate their voices, recognize them as experts, and respect the teaching profession. Every day, teachers see how legislation impacts their students and their insights are incredibly valuable to policymakers.”

The conversation was moderated by Raise Your Hand Texas Legislative Director Max Rombado and featured Ernie Moran, a Spanish high school teacher from Fort Worth, Laura Marder , a high school biology teacher from Mineola, Audrey Mayo, a 1st grade teacher from Killeen, and LaToya Ballard , a behavior services K-5 teacher from Channelview.

Setting the stage Max Rombado shared the current state of our Texas teacher workforce.?

• According to the Charles Butt Teacher Poll, 77% of Texas teachers have seriously considered leaving the teaching profession and overwhelmingly support a teacher pay raise as a retention strategy.??
• That same poll shared that 52% of Texas teachers work a second job and 89% of those jobs are during the school year.
• Citing the research from the Economic Policy Institute, Texas Teachers are paid 23.4% less than other comparable college-educated workers.

During this dynamic conversation, panelists shared their insights about the current state of teaching. Although the pandemic may no longer dominate the headlines, its impact on classroom learning hasn’t disappeared and still impacts students. Laura Marder explains, ”Teaching post-Covid is 100% different than teaching pre-Covid. And unless you were in the classroom, it's kind of hard to grasp what that looks and feels like.” Additionally, with schools facing the end of ESSER money , the additional federal funding provided to help with learning loss, Texas school budgets are still impacted by unfunded mandates such as the accelerated instruction requirements outlined in HB4545 . Panelists highlighted the importantance of financial resources to help students, and the need for more support and resources to continue to address learning loss. LaToya Ballard explained, “Students need way more interventions and supports in schools. And [...], unfortunately, many of those positions, the intervention and support positions, are being deleted. They're going out the window.”??

The panelists also discussed how to assess whether students are on-, below- or above-grade level and the many tools they use throughout the year to assess students, including STAAR testing. Discussing the complexity of assessing and overcoming learning loss, Ernie Moran asked, “when you say at grade level [...] by whose standard and under what rationale?”? As a teacher of students whose first language is not English, he sees the complexity of determining what it means to be on grade level and the necessity to use more measures than only the STAAR test.

Panelists then shared why teachers are leaving the profession and what the state could do to address the crisis. Teachers described the stress of working in schools that are not fully staffed and need additional funding. LaToya shared policymakers need to hear teachers and support them through legislation, but to understand that everything they do affects them and their community. Laura Marder said, “I think the biggest thing that we're seeing is just the lack of compensation for teachers. Inflation is crippling everybody, but schools in particular.” Ernie Moran said, “The failure to pass teacher pay raises and school funding in this last session is a failure that we are seeing the effects of every single day. It's that time of year. I'm watching colleagues head out the door. Good quality teachers headed out the door.” The panel agreed the best way to attract teachers and keep teachers in the profession is to fund our schools and give all teachers a living wage.??

Key takeaways from Texas teachers:

• COVID is still impacting schools, especially students with learning loss;
• Determining if a student is on grade level is more complex than a single STAAR test;
• Teachers are leaving because the pay is inadequate;
• Schools need more resources to address the issues of learning loss; and,
• Our public schools need support from the legislature, specifically increasing funding so districts can address learning loss and raise teacher salaries. ?

When asked to think ahead to next year, Ernie Moran quoted Fran?ois de La Rochefoucauld, saying, “Hope is the last thing that dies in man”, Ernie said, “ If we weren't hopeful we'd quit, [but] that's what keeps us coming back. I'm hopeful.” Audrey Mayo also said, “I'm running tired right now…This is my eighteenth year, and I feel like this is maybe one of the most stressed out years I've had. …This has been just a tough year but always at the end of the year there's always the hope for the next year.”? ?

The conversation illustrates how our teachers are experts, and how policy impacts their classrooms. To our teachers, we respect you and it was our pleasure to listen to these teachers today. You can listen at: https://go.ryht.org/3ymjDw2