Education Week - January 6, 2016 - 28

PRESIDENT & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Virginia B. Edwards
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Gregory Chronister

| READERS REACT ON EDWEEK.ORG |

Is There a Cure for Teacher Burnout?

The movement on teacher
leadership is one to be embraced,
but is often just dismissed. It is time
we talk about how to create a way
to keep teachers in the classroom,
while allowing them to influence the
profession.
MJC14075
In the end, it's what teachers choose
to think about themselves, their

Burnout is the result of too much
time on the job. More time away
from students and with colleagues
(as is the case in countries like
Finland) is needed to maintain
sanity and freshness.
AEPRIESTER

COMMENTARY EDITOR Elizabeth Rich

ONLINE NEWS EDITOR Stacey Decker

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Karen Diegmueller, M. Sandra Reeves

WEB DESIGNER Sumita Bannerjee

ASSISTANT EDITORS Liana Heitin, Alyson Klein,
Christina A. Samuels, Sarah D. Sparks, Andrew Ujifusa
ASSISTANT COMMENTARY EDITOR
Mary Hendrie
STAFF WRITERS Evie Blad, Daarel Burnette II,
Benjamin Herold, Corey Mitchell, Michele Molnar,
Arianna Prothero, Denisa R. Superville
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Caralee Adams,
Kathryn Baron, Ross Brenneman,
Michelle R. Davis, Jackie Mader, Lillian Mongeau,
Bryan Toporek, Mark Walsh, Jaclyn Zubrzycki

Getty

Teacher training can prevent
burnout and teacher attrition.

DFELDON

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Swikar Patel

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Sean Cavanagh,
Catherine Gewertz, Stephen Sawchuk

To read the full Commentary and readers' reactions,
please visit: www.edweek.org/go/Sterling

performance, the kids they work
with, the people they work with,
and what happens on the job that
determines ... whether they stay or
not.
RAY MATHIS

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Charles Borst

Lesli A. Maxwell, Anthony Rebora, Debra Viadero

A recent Commentary by former educator Scott Sterling on
teacher burnout hit home for many readers. In the essay,
Sterling offers steps school leaders can take to help reduce
frustration and boredom among classroom educators,
including "flipping" staff meetings to focus on collaborative
tasks, rather than minutiae which, he argues, are better
reserved for email.
Most commenters agreed that teachers' dwindling job
satisfaction is a result of current education policies,
overloaded scheduling, and poor school leadership. Many
readers contributed their own thoughts on how leadership
can help discontented teachers reverse course.
Reader comments have been edited for length and clarity.

There is no systemic vision, not
much flexibility in the teacher role.
And too much success is predicated
on the tax base of communities
rather than on the needs of students
and teachers.
DR. CONDE

MANAGING EDITOR Kathleen Kennedy Manzo
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS
Mark W. Bomster, Kevin C. Bushweller,

It is the interaction of teachers and
poor leaders that sets the spark for
teacher burnout.
INMATHED
To help prevent burnout, allow
teachers to remove disruptive
students from their classes, and that
decision must be final.
DRSPECTOR
Our current accountability
procedures seem almost customdesigned to make teachers feel
helpless, and thus get depressed
and burned out.

KARL WHEATLEY

-COMPILED BY MARGARET YAP

EDITORIAL INTERNS Leo Doran, Alex Lenkei,

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING,
LIVE AND VIRTUAL EVENTS Matthew Cibellis

A new Education
Week Teacher blog,
Teacher-Leader
Voices, launched in
December. Past and
present state and national
teachers of the year weigh in on
pressing K-12 education issues and
share instructional insights.

iStockphoto

www.edweek.org/go/
TeacherLeadervoices

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Ross Brenneman
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Did you miss anything during
Education Week's print publishing
break? Catch up online with Web-only
opinion essays and opinion blogs.
www.edweek.org/go/
Commentary

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VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Christopher B. Swanson

DIRECTOR, EDUCATION WEEK
RESEARCH CENTER Holly Yettick

The primary impact of charter schools has been the
resegregation of America's public schools."
- Rich, responding to the Prove It: Math and Education Policy opinionblog post "What It Means to Be Public, and Why It Matters"

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COMMENTARY

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DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
Stefanie Hemmingson

Following recent acts of domestic and
international terror, what role do educators
have in helping students process such
high-profile traumatic events? Four
educators join OpEducation to discuss.
www.edweek.org/go/OpEd_Trauma

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CORRESPONDENT John Tulenko

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Education Week - January 6, 2016

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