Teacher Working Conditions

For virtually any business or organization, the conditions in which employees work drive their satisfaction and productivity. Yet while business often focuses on employee satisfaction, many schools struggle to address critical working conditions — isolating teachers in classrooms with closed doors, denying them basic materials to do their job, inundating them with nonessential duties, providing them with little input into the design and organization of schools, and offering little opportunity for career advancement and professional growth. Such conditions are closely related to teacher turnover and difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers.

Ensuring a qualified teacher for every student will not be enough to close the achievement gap. Teachers must have the resources and supports they need to serve all students well, and without comprehensive and sustained efforts to improve teacher working conditions, other school reform efforts will be shortchanged.

Read about What We’re Doing to improve teacher working conditions.