NASHVILLE, Tenn (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Tennessee Department of Education and Tennessee Education Research Alliance at Vanderbilt University (TERA) have released the results from the 2019 Tennessee Educator Survey.

This is the ninth year that the survey has been conducted. Over 45,000 Tennessee educators completed this year’s survey, an all-time high response rate.

The primary purpose of the survey is to gather feedback and include teachers’ voices in department strategy, policy decisions, and goal setting. The Tennessee Educator Survey aims to measure and evaluate teacher perceptions as well as monitor school climates and culture across the state.

Some of the main takeaways from the 2019 survey include:

  • Seven in 10 teachers with more than three hours of weekly individual planning time agree that this time is sufficient.  Fewer than five in 10 teachers with less than three hours of time agree this time is sufficient.
  • Tennessee teachers feel positively about many aspects of their curricular materials, but still spend substantial time creating or sourcing their own.
    • 70 percent of teachers report spending more than four hours per week creating or sourcing instructional materials.
  • Seven in 10 first-year teachers report having a mentor, but one in three report that their mentors frequently engage with them in high-leverage coaching activities.
  • The percentage of educators who feel that evaluation is improving student learning has doubled since the annual evaluation began in 2012.
  • Overall employee satisfaction remains high among teachers in Tennessee, with nine in 10 teachers reporting that they are generally satisfied working as a teacher in their school.

The survey also highlighted differences between teachers in urban and rural areas of the state. Teachers in urban districts report that they have less individual planning time each week and are also less likely to report that time as sufficient. Urban teachers are also more likely to spend over 10 hours per week sourcing materials.

According to the Tennessee Department of Education and the TERA, these findings show that state, district, and school leaders must work together to support educators, which will align resources and maximize teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom.

These insights and more can be seen on the 2019 survey website.