Morale among Michigan’s teachers has tanked, with compensation and too heavy a focus on standardized testing among educators’ top concerns, according to the results of an online survey.

The survey was the first ever conducted jointly between the state’s two largest teachers unions, the Michigan Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers Michigan. Nearly 11,000 school employees — a fraction of the unions’ 175,000 combined membership — participated.

“too much focus on test scores, too little focus on the love of learning.”

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Key Findings

  • Widespread discontent among public school employees.
  • Growing sense that the education profession is headed to a crisis without more funding and better policies.
  • Near universal feeling that public school employees are not respected or considered when policies are being crafted.

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Respondents identified their top concerns as compensation (about 34%), standardized testing (18%) and evaluations (about 16%).

Most — nearly 80% — said they felt like they were under-compensated.

About 42.9% said that over the last five years, they have had to accept a concessionary contract to prevent jobs from being lost; nearly 24% said they did not, and 33% were unsure.

Read the ArticleSurvey Results(PDF, 1 MB)

Sources: Detroit Free Press, Michigan Education Association