Hot Off the Press

Scholastic Inc. and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation just released a study titled: Primary Sources: America's Teachers on America's Schools. This study surveyed more than 40,000 public school teachers and their thoughts on education reform.

Scholastic recognized that teachers are "on the frontline of delivering education in the classroom, the reform movement will not succeed without their active support. Primary Sources is a step in ensuring that teachers' voices are part of this important conversation." says Margery Mayer, President of Scholastic Education.

Following are some of the major findings of the study:

* While higher salaries are important, teachers say they are less important than a supportive leader. Fewer than half of teachers (45%) say higher salaries are absolutely essential for retaining good teachers. More teachers say it is absolutely essential to have supportive leadership (68%), time to collaborate (54%), and quality curriculum (49%).

* Teachers aren't opposed to standardized tests as one way to measure student performance. More than 80 percent of teachers say district-required tests are at least a somewhat important measure of student performance (84%). Overall, teachers value multiple measures, including formative assessments, performance on class assignments and class participation along with standardized tests.

* Tenure doesn't make a good teacher. Only 10 percent of teachers say that tenure is a very accurate measure of teacher performance while 42 percent say it is not at all accurate. Student engagement and year over year progress of students are by far viewed as the most accurate indicators of teacher performance measures (60% and 55%, respectively, rate as very accurate) but are not frequently used to evaluate teachers.

* Textbooks aren't the answer. Only 12 percent of teachers say traditional textbooks help improve student academic achievement and a mere 6 percent say textbooks engage students in learning. Teachers overwhelmingly say (81%) that up-to-date information-based technology is very important or absolutely essential to improve student achievement.

* A teacher's job doesn't end at 3 p.m. Seven in ten teachers attend their students' after school and weekend events. More than half (51%) of elementary school teachers are willing to have parent teacher conferences at students' homes -- indicating their understanding of time-strapped parents and their belief in the importance of helping every child have a strong home-school connection.

To download the full report and view a presentation of the findings, please visit www.mediaroom.scholastic.com/.