Louisiana State University: Research Report: Survey Of PK-12 School Teachers In Louisiana

Press release from Louisiana State University:

August 25, 2021

BATON ROUGE, LA - The Office of Educational Research in the LSU School of Education
released a report today, sharing survey results from PreK-12 teachers across the state. The survey was administered
to teachers in public, private, charter, and other type schools in the state in late
fall 2020. The purpose of the survey was to ascertain the views of classroom teachers
with regard to their work environments and how they had responded to challenges stemming
from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the survey asked respondents how well their
teacher preparation programs had prepared them for the classroom. 

In general, the respondents were satisfied with their careers as teachers and held
positive views of parents, students, colleagues and administrators. The primary sources
of stress in their lives as teachers had to do with workload, engagement of students
and parents, accountability policies, and restrictions placed on their ability to
tailor instruction to the needs of their students. Pay and resources were also frequent
issues raised as challenges for the respondents to the survey. COVID-19 tended to
exacerbate these challenges due to its protocols and the requirement to move significant
parts of instruction to some type of online format.

A total of 1,207 teachers responded to the survey. The administration of the survey
prioritized confidentiality and voluntary participation and, as such, was not intended
to yield a rigorously representative sample of the state. Nevertheless, the respondents
represent nearly 3% of the teaching workforce in the state in fall 2020 and their
demographics, as described in the report, are similar to that of the larger population.
Among other topics, the survey presented questions related to the perceptions respondents
held of their school environment, work life as teachers, and the impact of COVID 19.

View a PDF of the full report

About SOEThe LSU School of Education (SOE) offers graduate and undergraduate programs in Curriculum
and Instruction, Educational Leadership and Research, and Counseling, including two
completely online master’s programs. SOE offers a range of professional and academic
degree programs that focus on preparing students for careers in education, research,
policy formation and implementation, as well as program oversight. The School’s mission
is to prepare P-12 educational professionals to be leaders, practitioners, and scholars
knowledgeable in contemporary educational issues. SOE is part of the College of Human
Sciences & Education.   

Visit the School of Education at lsu.edu/education.

Visit the College of Human Sciences & Education at lsu.edu/chse.

Contact:

Mary P. WoodsDirector of CommunicationsLSU College of Human Sciences & Education225-578-6796 | mpwoods@lsu.edu 

This press release was produced by Louisiana State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.