Teachers say there are many changes that could help them do their jobs better, such as adequate time for planning and support for their wellbeing.
The Louisiana Department of Education decided to address some of these challenges by convening a group of educators to recommend solutions, and they're seeing change take shape.
The Let Teachers Teach working group published its list of recommendations in May, and his ideas encompass improvements to address issues including professional development, student discipline and what one of the state's top education leaders calls “the art of teaching.”
“For me, teaching is a pedagogical science, but it requires an artistic delivery,” says Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley. “Unfortunately, many teachers, because of bureaucracy or lack of leadership, feel more like robots than professionals.”
The 18 recommendations don’t mince words when describing the problems teachers face. The section on training avoids “redundant professional learning sessions” in favor of strategies like personalized teacher growth plans and more time for better collaboration and planning.
One of the discipline recommendations is titled “Trust Us, Don’t Blame Us,” and calls for “overly disruptive” students to be removed from the classroom and “unruly students” to be assigned to alternative schools. This type of “exclusionary discipline” practice has its critics, who argue that it can be counterproductive and unfairly affects students who are members of racial minorities. However, in the wake of the pandemic, some teachers are looking for new solutions, as they have struggled to manage what they call worsening student behavior.
Brumley says four recommendations became law during the state's spring legislative session. They include a bill Demand that disruptive students be expelled from class at the request of the teacher and prohibiting retaliation against the teacher.
Others will do it Ban the use of mobile phones in schools starting in the fall and require extra payment for “non-academic” work by teachers, which Brumley said could include activities such as working the concession stand at a school football game.
The legislature also tasked the Louisiana Department of Education and the State Board of Education with designing a more effective plan for mandatory statewide training, Brumley explains. Let Teachers Teach’s recommendations describe these trainings as something teachers do “outside the regular school day and without pay.”
Brumley says she wanted the task force to come up with “real solutions to strengthen the profession, keeping in mind that student outcomes must be paramount.” The concept was to address the problems that teachers consistently told her were hindering their ability to do their jobs.
“A very clear example is that I hear teachers say, ‘My school requires me to read from a script,’” Brumley says. “We were very clear about that particular concept in the recommendations: unless you’re dealing with explicit, direct instruction or a novice or struggling teacher, effective teachers need the autonomy to deliver content through the craft of the profession and not simply by reading from a script.”
While Brumley and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry have expressed strong support for the recommendations (they led a Press conference Announcing the publication of the document does not mean that the educational landscape there is free of conflict.
Low earning potential has some Louisiana teachers wondering… how much longer They can stay in the countryside and the governor refused to support it. permanent wage increasesIt's also a place where culture wars play out, which teachers say is a mental strain: The governor is suing the federal government over expanded Title IX guidelines that Protecting transgender students About discrimination.