Education Week - September 16, 2020 - 14

Teacher Morale and Student Enrollment
Declining Under COVID-19, Survey Shows
By Holly Kurtz

As the academic year begins, COVID-19 is causing declines in student enrollment and teacher morale, an
increased likelihood of teacher resignations, and growing concerns about a slowdown in student academic
progress.
With 60 percent of the nation's educators reporting that the 2020-21 academic year is underway and the
remainder to follow suit early this month, the EdWeek Research Center fielded a nationally-representative
online survey Aug. 26-28 to see what educators are thinking. Following are five key findings from the survey of
826 K-12 educators, which included 415 teachers, 149 principals, and 262 district-level administrators.

As Teacher Morale Declines,
Likelihood of Resignations Rises.

In August, teacher morale hit its lowest point
since the EdWeek Research Center started
asking about it in March. Thirty-one percent
of teachers and district leaders say that teacher
morale is "much lower" than it was prior to the
pandemic. That's up from 26 percent the last
time we asked about it on June 18, and nearly
double what it was on March 25.
In the meantime, 32 percent of teachers are
reporting that they are likely to leave their
jobs this year even though they would have
been unlikely to do so prior to the pandemic.
That's up from 26 percent July 23 and 12 percent May 28.
Morale appears to play a part: Fifty-nine percent of the teachers likely to resign as a result
of the coronavirus also say that overall teacher
morale is much lower now than it was prior to
the pandemic. By contrast, that figure is 16 percent for teachers who reported no plans to resign
either before or after the pandemic.
Health may also play a role. Compared with
their peers who have and had no plans to resign, those who say the pandemic makes them
likely to leave are more likely to have a physical
condition believed to make people more vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus (51 percent versus 32 percent) or to live with someone
who does (53 percent versus 33 percent).

Administrators Report COVID-19
Is Causing Enrollment Declines.

More than half of school and district leaders
say that the pandemic has led to declines in enrollment in preschool, kindergarten, and grades
1-5. Close to half say the same for the secondary grades. The trend is most pronounced in
preschool, where 1 in 5 educators say they're
seeing big declines, a finding that raises questions about the long-term impacts of children
missing out on this critical period of education.
Compared with their peers in lower-poverty
districts, leaders in higher-poverty districts are
significantly more likely to report enrollment
declines in the high school and elementary
grades during COVID-19. By contrast, leaders
in lower-poverty districts are more likely to report enrollment increases at those grade levels.

'Pandemic Pods' Appear to Be Rare.

"Pandemic pods" are groups of parents
who band together to hire teachers to instruct
their children at home. Given the expense
(hundreds or thousands of dollars per family
per month), the practice has understandably
raised equity-related concerns. Based on the
amount of news media coverage about this development, you might have assumed that pods
are a major educational trend and an impending threat to equity.

However, just 8 percent of teachers, principals,
and district leaders say they have personally interacted with even one parent in their district
who plans to take this approach. Only 5 percent
say they are at least somewhat concerned about
losing enrollment to pods. And just 1 percent
have applied for a pandemic pod educator job or
have been recruited to work in one.
In fact, more than 1 in 3 teachers, principals,
and district leaders say our survey was the first
time they were hearing of this new educational practice. And the same share report that
they had learned of the idea from the news
media and other sources of information, but
are unaware of any parents in their districts
who plan to participate in pods.
The educator survey results align with those
of a nationally representative survey of more
than 2,000 parents of K-12 students that the
EdWeek Research Center conducted Aug.
17-24. That survey found that just 1 percent of
parents planned to "share a privately paid instructor with at least one other family" this fall.
See Academic Progress During
4. Parents
the Pandemic. Educators Beg to Differ.
Compared with the parents of K-12 students
that the EdWeek Research Center surveyed Aug.
17-24, teachers, principals, and district leaders
are more than twice as likely to say that students
are making less progress in reading/English

language arts and in math since the pandemic
began. Roughly 1 in 4 parents say their children
are making more progress in these core academic subjects than prior to the pandemic. Less
than 5 percent of educators agree.

Support for In-Person Instruction
Increases.

The last time the EdWeek Research Center
surveyed educators about the coronavirus on
July 23, less than half of teachers, principals and
district leaders supported a return to full-time, inperson instruction in the fall and 50 percent said
that teachers should be required to participate
if in-person instruction does occur. In this most
recent survey, more than 60 percent of respondents support implementing full-time, in-person
instruction and requiring teachers to participate.
Even as support for in-person instruction has
grown, teachers have continued to express more
hesitance than administrators. In July, 41 percent of teachers supported full-time, in-person
instruction and 39 percent said teachers should
be required to participate. Although those percentages have since risen to 54 percent and 53
percent respectively, administrators continue
to support in-person instruction at higher rates.
Roughly three quarters of principals and district leaders say teachers should be required to
participate in full-time, in-person instruction
and more than 2 out of 3 favor full-time, in-person instruction.
Support for full-time, in-person instruction
is also stronger in rural areas and towns, where
more than 2 out of 3 teachers, principals, and
district leaders favor it, compared with roughly
50 percent for educators from urban and suburban communities.
Perhaps due to the disproportionate impact of
COVID-19 on communities of color, 49 percent
of nonwhite teachers, principals, and district
leaders say all instruction should be in-person,
compared with 63 percent of white educators.
(Because the educator population is more than
80 percent white, there were too few respondents of races other than white to provide further breakdowns.)

What is the likelihood that teachers will
leave their jobs?

Percentage of teachers and district leaders who say
teacher morale levels are much lower now.

Unlikely to leave both
before and after

28
24
20

55%

Likely to leave both before
and after

16%

Unlikely to leave before,
likely now
Likely to leave before
coronavirus, unlikely now

9
7

March 25,
2020

April 8,
2020

April 23,
2020

May 6,
2020

May 28,
2020

*Results show responses from teachers and district leaders.

June 18,
2020

Aug. 28,
2020

12
2

Aug. 28,
2020

July 23,
2020

May 28,
2020

*Results show responses from teachers. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

SOURCE: EdWeek Research Center survey, 2020

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