About the Survey

Why NTC Launched This Initiative

While the NTC has historically focused on supports for new teachers and administrators, we have learned that the conditions necessary to support this sub-set of educators are the same conditions that would support all educators. NTC experiences working in the fields of education research, policy, and practice have led us to two key understandings about educator development. First, improvements in teacher retention and student achievement can best be attained through ongoing supportive instructional interventions in the place where student learning happens, the classroom. Second, for real and sustained educator development to take place, classroom-level supports must be balanced with school environments that encourage, support and challenge all teachers to achieve to their highest potential. In an effort to address the environmental factors that support educator development from novice to veteran, NTC has engaged in a comprehensive data-driven initiative that seeks to open up the black box of conditions that foster school excellence.

Working directly with practitioners in schools for more than two decades, the NTC believes the dedicated professional educators working in schools are the individuals who best understand teaching and learning conditions. The initiative focuses on tapping into these vital resources, to gain both teacher and principal perceptions of the teaching and learning conditions that support, or inhibit, academic success for all students.

Background on the Survey

Educator Working Conditions ARE Student Learning Conditions!

Positive teaching and learning conditions are critical to creating environments where educators and students can succeed. These critical conditions include more than resources, class sizes, and physical structures (although these factors should not be overlooked). NTC’s conception of working conditions moves beyond traditional labor, health and safety concerns to also account for a more comprehensive environment of teaching and learning. The Teaching and Learning Conditions Survey looks at the following domains around teaching and learning conditions:

• School Leadership
• Professional Development
• Empowerment/Decision Making
• Facilities/Resources
• Time and Mentoring/Induction.

These six domains represent complex issues which our research has shown is closely related to the capacity of professionals to improve student learning (see our Findings Page). State leaders and school districts have been partnering with the New Teacher Center to implement the survey to collect data on how schools in their region are faring across these six domains.

The surveys are disseminated on-line to all school-based licensed educators in the state or district and are completely confidential. The surveys take approximately 20 minutes to complete and can be taken from any location with Internet access. The questions are tailored to the individual state and district contexts in order to ensure alignment with current initiatives and priorities. There are also a core set of standard questions incorporated into all surveys to allow for cross-region comparisons. Over 400,000 educators have been surveyed thus far.

At the state level, legislators, teacher associations and agency leaders use the results of the survey to support more robust education policy, improve current program initiatives, and inform future school improvement initiatives. At the local level, district leaders and school practitioners (including teams of teachers and administrators) disaggregate the data at the school-level to identify areas of strengths, areas to improve, and action steps to create more effective school environments.

Contact Information

If you are a state, district or union leader interested in implementing the survey in your region, contact Eric Hirsch: ehhirsch@ucsc.edu (919) 608-8294