Teaching Conditions: Responses to EducationWeek Article

On July 19, EducationWeek published an article titled, “Teachers’ Skills Took a Hit During the Pandemic, Too, Report Says.” This article received severe backlash from educators who felt it was a criticism of their struggles teaching during the pandemic. Many educators responded by highlighting the skills they acquired, including remote and asynchronous teaching. Educators also highlighted how this article illustrated the disconnect between teachers and school leaders throughout Covid.

  • “Hard disagree. I came out of pandemic teaching a much better, more responsive educator. It was schooling’s demand for ‘normalcy’ that caused teachers to take a hit.” —High School Social Studies Teacher in Iowa
    • “Alternative headline: Teachers can’t be responsive to anything other than standardized test scores during a global pandemic that killed over 1,000,000 Americans without being accused of their skills taking a hit.’” —High School Social Studies Teacher in Iowa
      • “Knowing what we know now, conscientious educators simply can’t go back to the way things were before. That’s not a skill gap, that’s recognizing that the world shifted and being responsive to it. Catch up with us.” —High School Social Studies Teacher in Iowa
  • “That EdWeek article feels like a hit piece. Teachers are right to be upset.” —Elementary Teacher in New York
    • “Agreed. Not only does it seem like a hit piece, but the timing seems so intentional. At a time when a lot of folks are preparing to go back to school, this is NOT what is needed right now.” —STEM Educator in Florida 
    • “I can’t stop thinking about the timing of it, either. Like, ‘welcome back!’ Also, what EdSec yesterday didn’t help the day either.” —Teacher, N/A
    • “I’m so exhausted by articles about topics where the person/group critiqued isn’t even contacted or included.” —Teacher, N/A
    • “That’s because it is a hit piece. RAND and CRPE (and their funders) are in the business of decreasing trust in public education. The writers would like to see New Orleans-style ed reforms be the nationwide reaction to the pandemic. Undermining trust in teachers is the first step.” —Educator in Massachusetts
    • “I get it! Yes, it reads like a hit piece! Nothing helpful about this article…..” —History Teacher in Texas
  • “‘District leaders expect teachers to perform miracles after failure to offer quality professional development and a continued failure to retain experienced educators.’ Fixed it!” —High School English Teacher in Texas
  • “I try really hard to be open to their perspectives, even ones I tend to disagree with. I try really hard to seek to understand. But I’m sorry (not sorry), but the claims in this entire piece about teachers and teaching are just… laughable. —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “I can’t take seriously a piece that assumes there was adequate coaching for teachers prior to the pandemic. And districts struggled to keep teaching positions filled? With all the blame, hostility, & “quit if you don’t like it” sentiments, I wonder why Ts left the profession…” —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “You know what’s interesting? The fact that every single teacher I knew bent themselves backwards learning *new* skills—and in fact, *taught themselves* and each other new skills—during a time when most district ‘leaders’ couldn’t figure out how to mute themselves on a Zoom.”  —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “The story I’d love to see is one that highlights how the pandemic was an opportunity for schools to innovate education. And that many, many Ts were on the forefront of that work. Yet it was often a lack of support from leaders & bureaucracies that prevented that from happening.”  —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “I think if you asked teachers (whose voices are not in this piece), most would say that meaningful feedback on their instruction even *pre* pandemic was *already* insufficient. . . AND”  —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “The added problem during the pandemic was that leaders didn’t know what it was actually like to teach during that time. They weren’t teaching kids online & in-person concurrently, or creating synchronous & asynchronous lessons simultaneously.”  —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “I will be the first to acknowledge the *tremendous* responsibility teachers have to grow as professionals and do right by kids, esp. when it comes to issues of equity and social justice. But I’m just so tired of all these blame-the-teachers narratives +”  —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “So many teachers I know worked so incredibly hard during the pandemic, often with very little support. Keeping kids engaged & learning relevant took on new meaning & urgency. And speaking from personal experience, I learned how to do and teach so many things *better* because I had to.”  —Educator in Pennsylvania 
      • “Sadly, I think the impact of this piece will be that it’s used as evidence to micromanage and standardize instruction in ways that don’t make learning better but controlling teachers easier.”  —Educator in Pennsylvania 
  • “No, just no. Teacher skills grew. State Ed departments failed on a huge opportunity they had to do a complete overhaul on standards so that they were more developmentally and age appropriate.Stop. Blaming. The. Teachers.” —Elementary Teacher in Virginia
  • “Like many of my colleagues, I learned overnight how to do an entirely different job than the one I was trained for. And I did it well. Ask my students. Then I was asked to forget everything I had learned and go back to the before times. So, yeah. It’s been a wild ride.” —High School Math Teacher in Georgia
    • “I learned more about good teaching than I ever have during these three years, and it resulted in me finally feeling like I’m the teacher I want to be. So yeah, weird.” —High School ELA Teacher in New York
  • “That article ‘Teachers’ Skills Took a Hit During the Pandemic, Too, Report Says’ makes me laugh because… I got some of the best PD I’ve ever had -and didn’t have to travel to learn from amazing people. It also made me realize how much I don’t enjoy what’s offered in my system.” —Early Education Teacher in Washington