CEA Advisor_December 2022-January 2023 issue_web

ADVOCATING

DECEMBER 2022 – JANUARY 2023 CEA ADVISOR 7

How To Attract And Retain Educators

SCHOOL CRISIS: 74% OF EDUCATORS CONSIDER CALLING IT QUITS CEA survey reveals underpinnings of teacher shortage

A growing crisis in Connecticut’s public schools has brought CEA leaders and elected officials together to focus on solutions ahead of the 2023 legislative session. “Three-quarters of our teaching workforce is looking to do something else,” CEA President Kate Dias told reporters at a November 22 news conference at the Legislative Office Building. “I don’t know how much more of a siren we need to wail to get a sense of urgency around this issue. We cannot wait until a hundred percent of our educators are looking to leave before we decide to act.” Dias was referring to results of a CEA survey, conducted this fall, in which 74 % of educators reported they are more likely now, compared to a few years ago, to exit the profession early. That’s up from 55 % of teachers surveyed by NEA in

near the districts where they teach. “That’s a real statement,” said

Dias. “We value you, but please don’t live here.” She added, “These are problems that can be solved. If you know a teacher, then you know somebody who has a solution to the shortage problem. If you know a teacher, you know somebody with immediate ideas. But you’ve got to listen to them.” Education allies Joining CEA at the news conference and in the push to address the crisis were Representative-elect Kevin Brown—himself a CEA member—along with Representatives Kate Farrar, Jillian Gilchrest, Kathleen Kennedy, Jennifer Leeper, Kathleen McCarty, Anthony Nolan, and

YOUR UNION, YOUR VOICE CEA advances teacher priorities at the Capitol, before Congress CEA made important legislative gains in 2022 on everything from mandating 30-minute, duty-free lunch breaks for educators to improving school indoor air quality and prohibiting dual instruction. Heading into the 2023 legislative session, your union is prepared to build on those successes and ensure that teachers, students, and public schools are fully supported in every way. Teachers’ priorities for 2023 center on addressing educator shortages, improving the classroom experience, ensuring equitable and secure retirement, requiring safe air quality and temperature controls, and more. Higher teacher salaries, commensurate with comparable professions, through a Teaching Enhancement Fund Teacher retirement equity and security, including COVID-19 retirement credit, full retirement benefits at 35 years of service, and repeal of the federal Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision, which preclude public school teachers from receiving Social Security benefits they have earned School temperature, humidity, and air quality standards and long-term funding, oversight, and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with those standards Continued ban on dual instruction so that teachers are not delivering in-person and online instruction at the same time Standardized testing limits and alternatives Play-based learning that allows more time for undirected play and physical activity in the early grades Reduced class sizes through school district incentives Teacher prep time that is self-directed and duty-free College tuition credit for students who complete teaching degrees and educators who complete master’s degrees Tax credits for early career educators Children’s mental health supports, including more resources, counselors, and social workers Kindergarten start age of five years by September 1 of the school year Improved mentoring for new teachers Meaningful teacher evaluation that replaces a ranking system with a collaborative process focused on professional growth Reforms that ensure fairness in binding arbitration in negotiations and due process in termination proceedings creative experience for teachers and students.” According to CEA’s survey, teachers’ priorities to strengthen and diversify the profession include • Salaries commensurate with comparable professions • Pandemic pension credit • Streamlined teacher evaluation • Reduced standardized test burden • Increased opportunities for play-based learning and creativity

Mary Welander. All legislators emphasized the immediate need for meaningful change and strong investments in the teaching profession. “This is an emergency situation, and we have to treat it as such,” said Brown, a CREC high school civics teacher who has felt the full effects of larger class sizes and fewer resources. “This is not a sustainable model. We need to treat teachers with the professionalism that they come to their jobs with. This is a highly

January and 37 % of teachers surveyed by CEA last fall.

Educators’ Top Concerns

Behind the spike are escalating teacher stress and burnout, an unaddressed educator shortage that continues to swell class sizes and multiply educators’ workload, pay that has not kept up with the demands of the profession, and numerous other issues. “We cannot get our jobs done,” Dias said. “We have been set up to fail.” Noting several hundred unfilled positions in special education alone at the beginning of the school year, combined with factors such as additional paperwork and an hourlong IEP process that now takes ten hours, she said, “It’s safe to say that every single special education teacher we have in the state of Connecticut is doing double duty right now.” Dias also pointed to attempts at bringing back the banned practice of dual instruction, efforts to upend reading and writing programs in schools, and more. Top issues Nearly all educators surveyed (98 %) identified teacher stress and burnout as their top issue, 96 % acknowledged staff shortages, and 93 % identified the lack of respect for teachers and students’ mental health needs. “Stress and burnout looks like teachers who are teaching more than 28 students in a classroom,” said Dias. “Stress and burnout looks like a high school teacher having to teach seven sections of math instead of five. Stress and burnout looks like excessive paperwork and unnecessary mandates that create pressure outside the classroom and take teachers’ attention away from the important work of serving children.” Furthermore, teachers’ salaries have not kept pace with those of professions requiring similar advanced degrees and responsibilities—so much so that educators often cannot afford to reside in or

educated workforce with certification and advanced degrees we typically reserve for higher paying jobs in private industry. That’s who’s going into your children’s classrooms every day.” “I’m the daughter of two public school teachers,” said Rep. Gilchrest. “I saw firsthand my parents’ passion and commitment to this profession, and I second what CEA has said—that we need to listen to the voices of our public school teachers here in Connecticut. They are crying out for help.” The mother of two public school students as well, Gilchrest added, “We need to give our public school teachers the respect they deserve, which means listening to them, paying them what they are worth, and giving them the space and time they need to prepare for their classes. I look forward to working with my colleagues on bipartisan efforts to improve conditions for our teachers.” “It’s very important that we look at teacher retention and recruitment, help our teachers stay in the classroom, and bring back the joy of teaching,” said Rep. McCarty, a ranking member of the legislature’s Education Committee. “Our

teachers have had to go through so much during this pandemic; the demands that we have placed on them are monumental.” McCarty called on her colleagues to work collaboratively with educators and

in a bipartisan manner. “It’s time that we show our teachers that we respect them and that we’re going to uplift the profession and make education a joyful,

English language learning resources Universal preK for all four-year-olds

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