As HISD completes its second year under the state takeover, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, like an unwanted groundhog, has come out of his little hole in Austin and proclaimed two more years of disenfranchisement for the people of Houston. One of the most eye-popping stats from the takeover so far is the huge teacher turnover and influx of uncertified teachers.
In the first year of the takeover, HISD lost around 5,000 teachers. That’s about 45 percent of teachers in the district. So far this year, retention is a little better, but we are still losing far more teachers than we did pre-takeover. More than half of the replacement teachers are uncertified and inexperienced. If current trends continue, uncertified teachers will outnumber certified teachers by the time the takeover is over.
What’s driving the turnover?
Turnover in education is nothing new. Each year 8 percent of American teachers exit the profession. Burnout, stress, and low pay are the often-cited factors. In HISD, the pay is decent but the stress and burnout under the takeover are extreme.
On average, teachers work 53 hours a week compared to the national average of 46 hours for all professions. With all the superfluous meetings that HISD teachers are required to attend, that number is even higher. During this tumultuous takeover, teachers are assigned additional tasks and duties on an almost weekly basis.
All the extra hours combined with the extra duties and tasks that Miles’ New Education System expects of teachers is increasing stress precipitously and accelerating teachers to burnout.
Does it matter?
Study after study has found that teaching experience matters. Gains in teacher effectiveness are significant in the first five years but continue throughout a teacher’s career. Data shows that there is a positive correlation between a teacher’s years of experience and student achievement as well as student attendance rates.
There’s a saying often told to new educators. “Don’t worry, you won’t be teaching anything your first three years, just work on classroom management. And if you are still here after that, then you can worry about teaching.” I can tell you from experience, it’s true! New teachers are just trying to keep their head above water and keep order in their classroom. Are there individuals who are rockstar teachers their first year? Of course, but that’s the exception, not the rule.
Superintendent Miles has gone on record saying he’s not worried about the turnover. Well, it worries me. My kids are in school now, we don’t have three years for replacement teachers to get up to speed and at this rate, they won’t stick around that long anyways.
It’s also important to remember that a teacher’s work environment is our students’ learning environment. If the stress is rising for our teachers, the students are going to feel it as well. If teachers are feeling burnt out and fleeing the district, well, just look at enrollment numbers.
The high stress and burnout facilitated by Commissioner Morath’s takeover is detrimental to our students. While Governor Abbott plays politics with our district, our children lose out. Our community will continue to suffer until the takeover ends, and we are able to stabilize our teaching workforce.
Brad Wray is a teacher in HISD who currently serves as an elected member of the District Advisory Committee, and has children enrolled in HISD.