THE MISSION OF STAND

1 THE MISSION OF STAND for Children Oklahoma is to ensure all children, regardless of background, graduate high school prepared for, and with access to, college and career training. We make that happen by advocating for policy changes at the state and local level and ensuring the policies for which we advocate actually reach classrooms and help students. We also empower parents to demand excellent schools, and we work to elect courageous leaders who will STAND up for these our policy efforts, we ve watched lawmakers in Oklahoma work diligently to pass laws in recent years geared toward raising academic achievement - laws that strengthened Oklahoma s focus on accountability of schools and educators, placed greater emphasis on grade-level reading and directed the State Board of Education to create new academic standards aimed at fostering critical thinking skills to ensure college and career readiness for every Oklahoma student. At times, pushback on many of these changes has been fierce, leading to an environment that seems to reinforce an us vs.

2 Them mentality between supporters of these policies and their critics. Understanding the impact this kind of divisiveness can have on our shared goal of ensuring every child in Oklahoma receives a world-class education, STAND for Children Oklahoma wanted to better understand the perspective of Oklahoma teachers to all these changes. After all, at a time of great change for both educators and students alike, support for and understanding of the very people tasked with implementing these policies couldn t be more important. So in February of this year, we embarked on an ambitious project called Oklahoma Teachers matter : Listening Tour. We scheduled and conducted eight focus groups across the state in both urban and rural settings. We developed a discussion guide that resulted in teachers giving us 16 hours of direct, honest, and respectful feedback on issues regarding job satisfaction, principal leadership, professional development and support, standards and assessments, and how decisions on education investments impact their classrooms.

3 Our findings are included in the following report. We hope you find the report to be as insightful as we did, and we hope this report leads to a greater understanding of the barriers Oklahoma teachers face on a daily basis. Most importantly, we hope this report gives a voice to teachers who feel as if they have often been report is reflective of the many differing opinions of Oklahoma teachers. They may not all be shared entirely by STAND for Children, but to exclude differing opinions from this report would not give a true picture of what teachers face on a daily basis. Nor would it reflect the immense value we place in direct and respectful communication between all are grateful to the Oklahoma teachers who gave us their time, opinions, and expertise that made this project so worthwhile and valuable in our MISSION to ensure every child gets a quality education in this state. We know there is one issue about which no one disagrees; teachers matter greatly to the education of a child, and their impact lasts a lifetime.

4 This project only further highlights that teachers voices need to be heard and the teaching profession elevated as we collectively work to make Oklahoma the greatest state to live, work, and raise a , Amber England, Executive DirectorStand for Children OklahomaOKLAHOMAOBJECTIVESThe overall purpose of the focus groups was to gather ideas and perceptions from teachers regarding the barriers they face in their classrooms within Oklahoma s current public education system, possible solutions, and how recently adopted legislation is affecting teachers and the of the topics discussed within the groups were as follows: barriers to success, educational standards, professional development and preparation, standardized testing, and teacher and administrative evaluation. Other topics of discussion included political engagement and solutions to creating a more effective educational environment and improving education overall throughout the state of Oklahoma and teachers views on how education funding levels impact their project was commissioned by STAND for Children of , Oklahoma s premier market research firm, was commissioned to organize focus groups consisting of public school teachers throughout the state of Oklahoma.

5 The focus groups were held February 9th through February 12th in both urban and rural locations. The groups consisted of a total of eighty-one (81) public school teachers from Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Woodward, and Ada areas. Every group consisted of teachers from a variety of surrounding communities and schools within each of the four areas beyond the major school districts in those areas, such as Seiling, Fort Supply, Moore, Choctaw, Arnett, Bixby, Sand Springs, Konawa, Byng, Pauls Valley, and the Putnam City School District in Oklahoma groups also had a variety of teachers who taught different grades, different subject matters, and were a mix of union and non-union members. The focus groups lasted approximately two hours, and the teachers were compensated for their time. OKLAHOMA TEACHERS matter LISTENING TOUR REPORT 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYTEACHER MORALE IS LOW. Teachers in Oklahoma feel unappreciated, over-scrutinized, and required to operate in a classroom environment that is full of in-flexible state and federal mandates, mandates that have not included their input or consultation.

6 Coupled with the lack of parental involvement and adequate staffing, ever-changing standards, and overcrowded classrooms, it is no wonder teacher morale is low. In the end this low morale is pushing good teachers either to take their teaching skills to another state or into other professional , THE LOW PAY OF TEACHERS IN OKLAHOMA WAS RARELY MENTIONED in the focus groups unless prompted by the moderator, which is not to say teachers believed they are adequately paid. While they knew going into teaching the pay was not high, all teachers in the groups expressed their love and passion for teaching as the sole reason for first entering the field. However, all of the teachers, when asked, expressed the extreme positive impact an increase in teacher pay would have on addressing low ARE NOT BEING INCLUDED IN THE CRAFTING OF EDUCATION PUBLIC POLICY IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA. Teachers believe many of the reforms being implemented lack the perspective of teachers and, therefore, ultimately struggle from a lack of practical implementation know-how.

7 For example, there were stark differences between urban and rural school environments as expressed by teachers in our groups, but reforms written from a one size fits all approach teachers believe ultimately doom any practical implementation. This exclusion has led teachers to believe they do not have a voice in education CLASSROOM HAS BECOME AN IN-FLEXIBLE ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE EXPECTATIONS OF PARENTS, LEGISLATORS, AND THE PUBLIC AS A WHOLE HAVE BECOME NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO MEET. Teachers understand the expectations and want, very much so, to meet those expectations, but a loss of their autonomy and the flexibility to teach their own students has resulted in these unmet expectations and created a barrier to maintaining a love of teaching and fostering a love of learning in IN-FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM HAS ALSO BROUGHT WITH IT A LEVEL OF IMMEDIATE POLITICAL EXPECTATION WHERE THE TEACHERS, THE STUDENTS, AND THE CLASSROOM CANNOT KEEP UP. Teachers told us that sweeping reforms from the legislature often demand quick results, which become impossible to attain, and then even newer reforms are crafted and expected to be immediately implemented.

8 One good example is the development of academic standards where four different sets of standards will have changed in just the last five TEACHERS matter LISTENING TOUR REPORT 4 Schools are a microcosm of society, so all of the problems that exist outside of schools end up in schools. And teachers aren t trained to fix all of those problems. Morale is so low that we re on the brink of losing a lot of great teachers. The biggest barrier for me is not having enough instruction time. So much time has been consumed with testing, over testing, to the point kids have lost all motivation for the test that really matters. A lot of kids are just in survival mode. They re not thinking about their future. They re just trying to get through the day. School has become their safe haven. It takes them away from everything. What incentive is there? It will cost me $20k out-of-pocket to get a , and my paycheck would only be affected by $50 a month.

9 I ve been teaching for 27 teaching used to be fun. Now it s a bear. OKLAHOMA TEACHERS matter LISTENING TOUR REPORT 5 TESTINGT esting was, by far, the issue of greatest concern for teachers from Tulsa to Woodward and Ada to Oklahoma majority of teachers were not opposed to testing or being held accountable for what they are teaching in their classroom. However, teachers do believe the current testing environment needs improvement because it is NOT driving instruction or giving parents an accurate reflection of how their children are performing. While teachers see and understand the needs of testing, they see the current testing structure as ineffective and unreliable. Teachers see a need to adopt better tests that more accurately reflect the value and true purpose of WE HEARD Teachers want tests to be better aligned to individual student learning. The one size fits all approach is not applicable in urban schools, suburban schools, or rural schools.

10 Much in education has become more individualized to reflect improved methods of instruction, yet many standardized tests have moved in the opposite direction with a one size fits all approach. The number of standardized tests throughout the school year has become a huge issue. Far too many benchmark tests take away from meaningful instruction time. Students are often taken out of classes for make-up testing which causes a loss of instruction time from other teachers. The actual focus has become on students taking and passing standardized tests instead of actually learning the material and subject matter . Students often become disengaged with the learning process when they are only taught how to take tests. Teachers questioned if class size, demographics of student population, and size of district impact test results and seemed genuinely concerned about how to fairly measure these variables in regards to student achievement.