The Importance of Educators 1

The Importance of Educators: Why They Need Our Help More Than Ever

Stephanie Adams

RC 2001: Introduction to Writing across the Curriculum, Appalachian State University

Author Note

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Stephanie Adams. Email:

adamss1@appstate.edu
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Abstract

For my research paper, I choose to specifically explore the issue of overworked and

underpaid teachers in America. It is clear that as a whole, our education system is being severely

overworked as well as underpaid. I hoped that through some in depth research on this topic, I’d

be able to come up with a policy or two that would help combat either the workload that teachers

face or the compensation they are forced to live off of. While this was an issue long before the

pandemic, I deliberately tried to set the paper’s focus on the last 3 years; specifically issues that

have been caused or exacerbated by Covid-19. My policy proposal will begin with raising

teachers' income in order to attract new educators and retain experienced ones. You see, as more

educators leave in order to seek a higher paying job or a less demanding career, the worse the

teaching crisis will continue to get. Hence why attracting new educators and retaining existing

teachers is the clear solution to both lightening the average workload of teachers and

guaranteeing proper compensation. Ultimately, by making the career more appealing to future

and current teachers, we can help lower the chances of educators being affected by burnout and

permanently leaving the profession. While my policy proposal may sound simple, it certainly is

not easily brought to fruition. It would take considerable help from taxpayers who already pay

high taxes as well as some time for our overworked education system to adjust to the influx of

new teachers that, theoretically, this new policy would bring in. This is an issue that desperately

needs some kind of solution and my hopes through this research paper are to convey the

importance of educators and to propose a policy that might be able to help.

Keywords: teacher salary, burnout, teacher retention, NEA, fair teacher compensation
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The Importance of Educators: Why They Need Our Help More Than Ever

As a student in the education field, when asked to choose a topic of my choice in regards

to my future career and find a possible solution to it, it was immediately known what topic was

critical enough for me to begin researching. The teaching crisis in America is affecting educators

all over the country, burning out both young and experienced teachers and driving them to leave

their classrooms for other professions. Throughout my initial research as to why our education

system was struggling, there were a number of articles written about the different struggles that

educators experience, all resulting in the same reaction; teachers leaving. What struck me

however, was that when you break down the struggles that each article highlighted, the true issue

is that teachers are either being overworked or underpaid, and in many cases, experience a

combination of both struggles. According to RAND, a research organization that helps develop

solutions to public policy challenges, a study conducted in early 2022 found that “Nearly 60

percent of teachers and 48 percent of principles in the United States report they have burned out

on their work…” Author Sarah D. Sparks writes in her article specifically about how studies

have shown that teachers who felt more pressure from their principles during Covid-19

experienced higher levels of emotional exhaustion, a key symptom of burnout (Sparks, 2022).

Another article, written by Brookings Institution, a non-profit organization that conducts

in-depth research, found that in March 2021, 42% of teachers declared they had considered or

planned on leaving their current positions in the last year. Of that 42% of teachers, more than

half said it was due to Covid-19. Mentioned in the same Brookings Instituition article, yet

another study conducted by RAND in early January of 2021 found that about “one-quarter of

teachers indicated a desire to leave their jobs at the end of the school year, compared with an

average national turnover rate of 16% pre-pandemic according to NCES data'' (Zamarro, Camp,
The Importance of Educators 4

Fuchsman., & Mcgee, 2022). Clearly, the research is showing a definite correlation between the

overwhelming stress that teachers are feeling and the sudden, demanding changes felt by the

education system due to the pandemic.

As we continue to move closer to 2023 and further away from the initial outbreak of

Covid-19, we can still feel in all parts of our society the effects of the pandemic, not just within

our education system. However, it is undeniable that our education system continues to struggle

and that a solution must be found quickly before our future generations begin to seriously suffer.

In a study conducted by the National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers

union, they claim that their study found that there were 389,000 fewer public school educators in

January 2022 than in February of 2020 (Walker, 2022). To clarify, the effects of even one

shortage of a qualified teacher are detrimental not only to a child's quality of education but as

well as adding to other educators workload and stress. While the workloads for teachers are

rising, compensation, unfortunately is not. Salaries for teachers will of course vary from state to

state, even from district to district. However, the average starting teaching salary was about

$41,770, a 4% decrease over the prior school year when adjusted for inflation. Many teachers

who are early in their careers are forced to hold second or even third jobs just to make ends meet.

The NEA also found that “teachers' aides, custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and others

earn an average of at least $10,000 below a basic living wage in all but one state across the

country.” (Walker, 2022). With almost every career in the education field being affected by

overwhelming workloads and unjust compensation, it is no surprise that we are watching our

country struggle to motivate young college students to work within our education system. As the

crisis continues to get worse, the real problem at hand is the way it is affecting our children and

young students as a whole. Teachers are unable to provide the one on one help they normally
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would be able to, thus overlooking the individual needs of students. Even just one year of bad

grades can greatly impact the trajectory of one's life both socially and educationally. From

missed school dances, events, and graduations to a lack of individual help and an inability to

access essential resources, these are just a few of the ways that the pandemic has already affected

students. It is an issue that desperately needs more attention and should be demanding more help

from policy makers, not only for our hardworking teachers and school staff, but for our students

as well.

Policy Proposal

What We Can Do To Help

As I stated at the beginning of this research paper, the initial step to solving the

teaching crisis is also going to be the most difficult. Raising the average salary of our teachers is

a necessary step that needs to be taken in order to help bring in new educators but retain existing

ones as well. Not only will a salary increase help teachers pay their day to day bills without

worry of needing to find a second job, the pay increase could also help those who have incurred

student loan debts while trying to obtain the high level of education required to become a

teacher. With financial stress out of the way, the likelihood of teachers or school staff feeling

burnt out is going to decrease all along the board. Once the issue of being short of staff has been

alleviated, the workload that each individual teacher holds should also decrease. Now, since it

seems that the solution for both issues is essentially raising education staff’s salary, then the real

question is how exactly does our society begin to go about it? Well we can begin to look toward

states that have begun small but necessary steps in the correct direction. For instance, back in

2019, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker raised the minimum salary for Illinois teachers to $40,000.

Maine’s Governor Janet T. Mills was also able to raise the minimum annual teaching salary by
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$40,000 in her 2020- 2021 budget. This means that change is going to have to begin by turning

to local governments and demanding not only the respect that the education system deserves, but

the compensation that should go along with it as well. This begins with voting for those in office

that value teachers and the work they do, donating to organizations that fight for fair teacher

compensation, and lastly supporting non-profits that are helping expose the very real and

important issues affecting our country everyday. I think that we can all agree, the research clearly

supports the idea that teachers are in need of more help from us and their surrounding

communities. I believe that by taking the steps I have just previously listed, it is a fool-proof way

to gaining the communal and financial support that those in any educational career desperately

need right now.

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Reference Page

Camp, A., Mcgee, J., Fuchsman, D., & Zamarro, G. (2021, September 8). How The Pandemic

Had Changed Teachers’ Commitment to Remaining in The Classroom. The Brookings

Instituition.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2021/09/08/how-the-pandemic

-has-changed-teachers-commitment-to-remaining-in-the-classroom/

Pankovitz, T. (2022, October). Autonomous Schools Can Help Solve the Problem Behind the

Teacher Shortage Problem. Progressive Policy Institute.

https://www.progressivepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/PPI_Teacher-shortages.p

df

Sparks, S. (2022, September 21). The Big Connection Between Teachers’ Burnout and Their

Principals. EducationWeek.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/the-big-connection-between-teachers-burnout-

and-their-principals/2022/09

Walker, T. (2022, April 26). Average Teacher Salary Lower Today Than Ten Years Ago, NEA

Report Finds. National Education Association.

https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/average-teacher-salary-lower-t

oday-ten-years-ago-nea-report-finds#:~:text=The%20average%20teacher%20salary%20i

s,the%202021%2D2022%20school%20year.

Walker, T. (2022, April 26). Beyond Burnout: What Must Be Done to Tackle the Educator

Shortage. National Education Association.

https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/beyond-burnout-what-must-be

-done-tackle-educator-shortage