Survey Says: Despite the disruptions and disrespect, most teachers here say they like the job

According to a local survey, school days for many teachers regularly include back talk, foul language, disrespect and verbal interruptions.

In the Forsyth County Association of Educators 2009 Climate Survey, 56 percent of the teachers who responded said that they dealt with persistent verbal interruptions daily or almost daily. Twenty-four percent heard foul language daily or almost daily, and 35 percent dealt with back talk or lack of respect daily or almost daily.

Such disruptions as tardiness, unexcused absences and missing or incomplete assignments were also a problem. Fifty-four percent dealt with tardiness daily or almost daily and 33 percent dealt with unexcused absences daily or almost daily. And 56 percent dealt with missing or incomplete assignments daily or almost daily.

Overall, 63 percent of teachers reported that disruptive behavior is problem. For 47 percent of them, it's a moderate problem, and, for 16 percent, it's a major problem.

The school system has about 4,300 teachers, and about 3,000 of them participated in the survey. Overall, most find their job satisfying. Twenty-seven percent rated their job satisfaction as "excellent;" 43 percent rated it as "good;" and 21 percent rated it as "average."

Although the survey was done soon after the state announced a 10-hour furlough for teachers, the results were only slightly off from 2007, the last year for the local survey, when 29 percent said "excellent," 42 percent said "good," and 20 percent said "average."

The association does the survey every other year -- on the off years for a similar survey done on a state level. The survey also covered such topics as job satisfaction, leadership at the schools and bullying. For instance, 37 percent of teachers consider bullying a problem at their school.

Jeannie Metcalf, a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education, said that she finds both the state and local surveys valuable. Teachers can be reluctant to talk frankly about the situation at their schools, she said, and the survey gives them a chance to say what is going on.

"It's an anonymous picture of a school that gives you so much information," Metcalf said.

With the state survey, the results are posted online by school. So, when someone from another system applies for a job as a principal here, it provides a way to find out more about how the applicant is perceived.

"That tool has proved invaluable," she said.

Superintendent Don Martin said that the survey also provides a good way to keep track of differences at local schools when administrators change.

"It's an important tool," he said.

The survey was also open to administrators, teacher assistants and licensed support personnel -- an additional 1,500 people in those categories took it. With most questions, the percentages weren't markedly different.

That wasn't the case, though, when it came to the relationship between the principal and teachers.

A total of about 20 percent of teachers didn't feel appreciated by their principal. Six percent "strongly disagree" with the statement that principals appreciate and commend the work of staff members, and 14 percent "tend to disagree" with that statement. When it comes to the relationship between the principal and staff, 24 percent said that there was "little communication."

Among administrators, though, only 3 percent of administrators thought that there was "little communication," and a total of 96 percent thought that they appreciated the work of staff members.

Despite the differences in perceptions, most teachers reported that the relationship between the principal and staff was a good one. Sixty-six percent said there is a sense of "trust and commitment."

"Overall, it makes most of our administrators look good," said Ron McKinney, the Forsyth County field representative for the N.C. Association of Educators. "There are a whole lot more good principals than principals that need improvement."

Good working conditions for teachers are important for students, McKinney said, because studies have shown that there is a high correlation between teacher working conditions and student performance.

"It behooves us to work on working conditions," McKinney said.

Board member Jill Tackaberry said that she thinks that the survey could be particularly useful at the individual school level. McKinney said that, when teachers and administrators talk about the issues brought up by the surveys, satisfaction levels tend to go up in subsequent surveys.

■ Kim Underwood can be reached at 727-7389 or at kunderwood@wsjournal.com.

■ The 2008 statewide survey results are available online at www.ncteachingconditions.org.

Journal Graphic by Richard Boyd II - Click to enlarge