For years, teachers continually heard the message that they were the root of problems in schools. But in a matter of months, the public narrative has shifted: The nation is increasingly concerned about teachers鈥� low salaries and challenging working conditions.
Teachers, it seems, are no longer bad actors ruining schools鈥攖hey鈥檙e victims of an unfair system, and the only hope for saving kids.
Before, 鈥渢here seemed to be a lot of teacher blaming going on,鈥� said David Labaree, a professor emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of 91制片厂视频. 鈥淵ou now see a surprising degree of growing sympathy for teachers.鈥�
Of course, the recent wave of teacher walkouts and protests, which were mainly driven at the grassroots level by individual teachers rather than unions, helped catalyze new feelings about the profession. But other factors played roles as well: Social media offered more visibility into teachers鈥� lives, from the second jobs some work to make ends meet to their out-of-pocket spending for classroom supplies. Evidence emerged that teacher-quality initiatives centered on student testing鈥攚hich had become unpopular鈥攈aven鈥檛 worked. Even the election of President Donald Trump, which spurred a growing wave of activism across the country, has had an impact.
And while many teachers are pleased to be seen in a more sympathetic light, some warn that martyrizing teachers is a blow to their professionalism.
鈥淲e鈥檇 rather just be paid well and treated well鈥� than deemed heroes, said David Cohen, a veteran high school teacher in Palo Alto, Calif.
The swing in public sentiment is illustrated nowhere more clearly than in the national media鈥檚 recent portrayal of teachers. Last month, three major news outlets鈥�The New York Times Magazine, the Guardian, and Time magazine鈥攑ublished features on the plight of the underpaid teacher.
Perhaps the most shocking was the Time cover featuring a teacher sitting at a classroom desk, solemnly staring at the camera. 鈥淚 have a master鈥檚 degree, 16 years of experience, work two extra jobs and donate blood plasma to pay the bills. I鈥檓 a teacher in America,鈥� the cover reads.
That message, one of three similar covers the magazine put out for the issue, stands in stark contrast to other teacher-related headlines from the past decade, which have focused more on weeding out bad teachers. Kathryn Chapman, a doctoral candidate at Arizona State University who is studying Time鈥檚 covers on education from 1983 to today, said teachers are often missing from education cover stories, but when they appear, they鈥檙e generally depicted as part of the problem.
鈥淚t seems like in the majority of pieces we saw, the schools are looked at as bad places: They鈥檙e failing parents, they鈥檙e failing kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ith these new covers, schools are still kind of looked at as bad places, but the teacher is the victim.鈥�
New data confirm that public opinion toward teachers and their pay has shifted sharply. Nearly half of people provided with information on average teacher salaries said the pay should increase, according to a recent poll from the journal 91制片厂视频 Next. That is 13 percent higher than last year, and the largest change in opinion that EdNext saw on any single policy from last year.
What鈥檚 Changed?
Starting in West Virginia, a wave of teacher activism rippled throughout the country this year. Teachers walked out of their classrooms in a half-dozen states to protest low wages, cuts to school funding, and other education policy changes.
Schools across the six states were shut down for as long as nine days, but remarkably, parents and communities supported the teachers.
鈥淣ormally, teacher walkouts generate a hostile public response,鈥� Labaree said. "[Parents tend to think], 鈥楾hey fancy their own interests at the expense of our children.鈥� 鈥�
But this time, teachers weren鈥檛 just asking for a pay raise. They were asking for better conditions for their students. In Oklahoma, for instance, teachers were given an average $6,100 pay raise before the work stoppage began. They still walked out to protest schools being underfunded.
And social media was a major factor in generating public support. Teachers posted pictures of crumbling classrooms and dated textbooks online, and shared how much they spent on school supplies or about their second jobs.
鈥淚t helped galvanize more than just teachers, it was students and it was parents,鈥� said Claudia Swisher, a retired teacher who participated in the Oklahoma walkout.
Swisher also walked out of her classroom in 1990鈥攖he last time there were statewide work stoppages in both Oklahoma and West Virginia. Teachers didn鈥檛 enjoy the same community support back then as they did this year, she said. This time, other groups, including pastors and female lawyers, demonstrated at the state Capitol. In 1990, non-educators weren鈥檛 as tuned into teachers鈥� activism, she said.
Also, the recent walkouts mostly occurred in right-to-work states with weaker teachers鈥� unions. The teacher activism was grassroots-driven, rather than union-led. Many of the teachers who protested didn鈥檛 even belong to a union.
Historically, the public has been skeptical of unions when teachers go on strikes, said Jonna Perrillo, an education historian and an associate professor of English education at the University of Texas at El Paso.
That stemmed from a New York City strike 50 years ago, in which teachers were out of the classroom for a total of 36 days over three separate periods. The union was pitted against parents and seen as aggressive and self-interested, Perrillo said. Public support for organized labor took a major hit.
鈥淥ne difference in public opinion [now] is frankly that unions have been taken out of the picture,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he public has never been comfortable with the idea of teachers鈥� unions. ... This is seen as a much more personal story in some ways. This just gives [teachers] a sort of ethos with the public.鈥�
鈥楢n Undefined Period鈥�
The teacher protests have taken place against a backdrop of changing priorities for education policy.
鈥淲e鈥檙e sort of in an undefined period where the ideas that were popular for the past 10 to 15 years seem like they haven鈥檛 worked that well, and it鈥檚 not entirely clear what鈥檚 going to come next,鈥� said Jal Mehta, an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of 91制片厂视频.
Identifying and weeding out low-performing teachers was the cornerstone of the Obama administration鈥檚 education agenda. The administration鈥檚 Race to the Top program offered states financial incentives to include student-test data in their teacher-evaluation systems.
Other policymakers and education philanthropists, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, picked up the cause of teacher accountability, too.
But this summer, the RAND Corporation and the American Institutes for Research released a damning assessment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation鈥檚 expensive effort aimed at making teachers more effective. Despite an investment of $575 million and six years, the teacher-evaluation reform yielded no significant gains for student achievement.
For years, policymakers thought 鈥渋f we attract, hire, and support the most effective teachers, that鈥檚 the answer to the problems of schooling,鈥� said Susan Moore Johnson, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of 91制片厂视频.
What researchers are learning, she said, is that teachers are not the sole determinant of student achievement. Other factors like poverty and family engagement matter, too.
Another shift: Lawmakers have taken steps to reduce the amount of standardized testing in schools, which is largely unpopular with both teachers and parents.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e in a period where the dominant testing-centric school reform seems like it hasn鈥檛 worked, and people are tired of that and think their kids should be tested less, that potentially makes them more open to the idea that teachers are underpaid and have been unfairly maligned,鈥� Mehta said.
While educators say the sudden shift in public opinion is a nice change in pace, some worry that the narrative will become overly sympathetic to the point where teachers aren鈥檛 viewed as professionals.
鈥淎 lot of us don鈥檛 have a particular desire to be held up as martyrs or superheroes,鈥� said Cohen, the Palo Alto teacher. 鈥淚 think a lot of teachers would just like to be treated as professionals and not imagined in the superheroic terms of Hollywood movies and certainly not thanked for our sacrifices.鈥�
Teachers on the Ballot
Experts question if the public support will translate into real policy change. Voters are often reluctant to pass tax increases that will fund teacher pay raises.
鈥淚鈥檓 wondering if it鈥檚 going to get beyond that 鈥榩oor dear鈥� sympathy stage to, 鈥榊eah, I鈥檓 willing to give my money to teachers because it鈥檚 in the public interest,鈥� 鈥� Stanford鈥檚 Labaree said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a much harder case to make.鈥�
(Arizona voters were poised to have to answer that question in November with a ballot initiative to raise taxes on the rich鈥攂ut the state鈥檚 highest court struck down the initiative.)
For some, the true test will be in November. 91制片厂视频 Week has identified about 160 current classroom teachers who are running for state legislative seats鈥攁bout 100 have made it past primary elections. How those candidates fare will be some indication of whether the pendulum has swung far enough to create real change.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something that happens overnight,鈥� said Alice Cain, the executive vice president of Teach Plus, a teacher-leadership initiative, who is running for Maryland鈥檚 House of Delegates. 鈥淭he trend lines are at least moving in the right direction. ... [As teachers are] really building and elevating and creating the profession they want it to be, as they keep advocating very visibly for what their students need, ... people who are paying attention are only going to have more respect.鈥�
