The Tennessee Campaign for Achievement Now on Wednesday released the 2022 results of its annual statewide surveys of K-12 district leaders and school leaders, revealing opinions and views about state, district, school and classroom-level issues affecting the state’s students.
The survey results are presented as statewide percentages and may not reflect the opinions and situations of local school districts, however these responses help to give residents a snapshot view of educational conditions across the state.
According to the survey, 82% of district leaders report tight budgets and many say that staffing shortages continue to be the leading limitations hindering the focus on improving student outcomes.
When given an opportunity to elaborate, 60% of surveyed district leaders reported extreme difficulty in recruiting new teachers — especially in response to the teacher shortage — and in retaining high-quality teachers.
“Tennessee’s classrooms are not immune to the impacts of rising inflation and the nationwide labor shortage,” said Erika Berry, senior director of policy at TennesseeCAN. “District and school leaders are hopeful that additional funding under (the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act) will help them combat the current climate, and allow for the consideration of merit-based bonuses, helping districts and schools to better recruit, hire, and retain the best educators.”
When asked about school funding under the TISA Act, some district leaders are looking for additional clarification and assurance TISA funding will be more equitable than the Basic Education Plan.
“Tennessee’s historic school funding reform comes just in time to send additional resources to classrooms across the state,” said Victor Evans, TennesseeCAN executive director. “We encourage educators across Tennessee to attend the TISA trainings hosted by the Tennessee Department of Education so they can quickly put these new dollars to work for students.”
Of the 141 school districts surveyed, all respondents reported they plan to attend the scheduled TISA trainings hosted by the Tennessee Department of Education on how to use dollars to impact student achievement. Eighty-four percent of district leaders said they would also be sending their school finance officers, 37% reported sending principals or other school-level leaders, and 32% reported sending their school board members to learn more about TISA.
The 2022 annual surveys also included questions relevant to nationwide trends and how schools continue to adapt in response.
When asked which strategies would be most impactful to combat learning loss, 46% of school building leaders believe high-dosage tutoring to be the most effective. Similarly, the number of district-level leaders supporting tutoring as an effective intervention increased by 33% over the past year.
Among school leaders, multiple respondents suggested the most impactful way to combat learning loss is to pay teachers more for the additional time and interventions or hire additional interventionists who can take those responsibilities from teachers.
Overall, 58% of school leader respondents perceive the state of education in their school district to be excellent or good. More than 55% think the same to be true of the current state of education in Tennessee.
TennesseeCAN’s hope is that these and other insights from the surveys will be helpful in informing the public, policymakers and education leaders about new or improved education policies needed at the state and local levels.
To learn more about TennesseeCAN and its work, visit https://tn-can.org.
