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posted by martyb on Friday April 07 2017, @02:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the stifling-curiosity dept.

As teacher resignation letters increasingly go public -- and viral -- new research indicates teachers are not leaving solely due to low pay and retirement, but also because of what they see as a broken education system.

In a trio of studies, Michigan State University education expert Alyssa Hadley Dunn and colleagues examined the relatively new phenomenon of teachers posting their resignation letters online. Their findings, which come as many teachers are signing next year's contacts, suggest educators at all grade and experience levels are frustrated and disheartened by a nationwide focus on standardized tests, scripted curriculum and punitive teacher-evaluation systems.

Teacher turnover costs more than $2.2 billion in the U.S. each year and has been shown to decrease student achievement in the form of reading and math test scores.

"The reasons teachers are leaving the profession has little to do with the reasons most frequently touted by education reformers, such as pay or student behavior," said Dunn, assistant professor of teacher education. "Rather, teachers are leaving largely because oppressive policies and practices are affecting their working conditions and beliefs about themselves and education."

The study quoted a teacher in Boston: "I did not feel I was leaving my job. I felt then and feel now that my job left me."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:44PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:44PM (#490343)

    Did they note all the "I'm leaving this job because I'm moving" letters that went viral too? Are we to assume that the kind of people who feel the need to resign in a fashion where they want to air their grievances by posting their letters online is a fair representation of teachers to quit their jobs? Listen all you STEM bashers on this site: this is EXACTLY why we need STEM education, because you CANNOT trust social "scientists" to know WTF they're doing!

    Me, personally, I like to write generalized articles on the economy based upon all the 1-star reviews I read on Amazon.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday April 08 2017, @05:34PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday April 08 2017, @05:34PM (#490911) Journal

    STEM will come when STEM gets to set the rules.