In a high school classroom, math teacher Karen Collins sat alongside other educators in a training seminar on how best to explain complex Algebraic concepts to students.
The last day of school for most students in Georgia was nearly a month ago, but teachers such as Collins haven’t had much of a summer break as they prepare for the coming year. She and close to 450 teachers from across the state took part in the specialized training in July at Lanier High School in Gwinnett County.
“We have some downtime in the summer, but it’s not like a lot of people think — that we’re going off to gallivant, going to the beaches and here, there and yonder,” said Collins, who teaches at Greenbrier High School in Columbia County. “I’m working on unit plans, pulling ideas and activities together for the next school year … As long as you’re teaching, you are always on.”
Summer, once a time when teachers could take a break from the classroom and recharge for the next school year, is now filled with work for many. Teachers are directed to complete training to keep up with changes in curriculum and new initiatives. More educators are teaching enrichment courses and taking other jobs to supplement their pay. In Georgia, many teachers' pay effectively shrunk during the recession and remained stagnant for years.
There’s also increasing pressure for teachers to do extra work on their own time to support classroom instruction, education experts say. Teachers are expected to meet higher achievement standards, and are often the focus of blame for public education’s troubles.
All this has a cost, and the profession may be losing its allure for many. As Georgia beefs up certification requirements, it and other states are having a difficult time attracting qualified teachers and education prep courses at colleges are struggling to attract good candidates.
The profession has never been the highest-paying, and summer breaks have traditionally been looked upon as a benefit. A diminished summer break makes it harder to attract talented candidates to teaching, education experts say.
“If you want to really talk about market forces … we don’t get good teachers unless we make it attractive,” said Barbara Stengel, associate chairwoman for teacher education at Vanderbilt University. “They’re going to have to see a benefit, and it’s not going to be the money.”
“One possibility is the fact that you have a break in the summer that lets you have a life of the mind. That lets you read, let’s you rethink and maybe lets you take care of your children. Those things are really important in the overall package of how we construct the teaching profession.”
Most teachers in Georgia and other states are paid for 10 months of work or 190 days. The average teacher salary in Georgia for 2013-14 was $52,924, compared to the national average, which was $56,610, according to the National Education Association. Georgia ranks 24th in its average teacher salary, compared to other states.
The average weekly wage among all workers in the state in 2014, according to the Georgia Department of Labor, was $925, which would be $48,100 a year.
Close to 1,500 teachers in Georgia are getting extra training this summer, mostly in math or science, according to the Georgia Department of Education. The DOE offers several training seminars each summer for teachers, including the one recently at Lanier High School. Demand for the training has grown, with some school districts offering modest stipends for teachers to attend, though most teachers participate on their own time.
Besides training, over the summer teachers are also evaluating textbooks, creating lesson plans and meeting with other educators to make sure they’re all in line with curriculum standards. As more emphasis has been placed on decreasing “summer brain drain” for students, more teachers are being called on to teach summer enrichment programs as well.
Sandi Woodall, mathematics program manager for the state DOE, said teachers are working more over summer breaks to get the training they need so they don’t have to use up valuable instructional time during the school year.
In addition, teachers at dual-immersion schools, where students are taught in another language besides English, “absolutely must have professional learning during the summer, in both content and their language areas,” Woodall said.
“Probably the mid to late 1990s, (school) districts began looking at the idea that summer professional learning was a must for teachers,” Woodall said. “Our teachers are so dedicated they do not want to take away from their instructional time for professional learning. Keep in mind, that’s additional cost. Because when teachers are away, a substitute must be paid. It’s not only a financial cost, but it’s a cost to the students as well.”
In a recent survey conducted by the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teacher unions in the U.S., most teachers said they often felt their work was stressful. The top source of the stress was the "adoption of new initiatives without proper training or professional development."
Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind law, teachers have faced increasing pressure to meet more rigorous achievement standards tied to assessments.
Collins, who has taught 28 years, said when she first began her career she used her summer months to study for her graduate degree (to earn a higher salary) and visit family.
“I did have much more of a break to do family things and recharge,” Collins said. “That’s the biggest thing, is the recharging. Because by May, we’re all worn out. Teaching has become more stressful. You’re dealing with new content, discipline issues that are so much more different now than they were 28 years ago. All of those things take their toll.”
Teachers have traditionally spent a good portion of their own time prepping for teaching, doing work outside the classroom that supports their jobs to educate students. If teachers are doing more work, they should be getting adequately paid, education experts say.
In an encouraging sign for educators, most metro Atlanta counties included teacher pay raises in their latest school budgets for the first time in several years. Education leaders say the pay bumps are still not enough.
“They (teachers) work far beyond the length of the mandated school day,” said Nithya Joseth, assistant director of state policy for the National Council of Teacher Quality. “As we have higher expectations and standards — which is a good thing for students and teachers and education generally — to have professional development is absolutely key in making sure we’re setting schools and teachers up for success.
“Making sure teachers are compensated appropriately for that time is also really important. Because it is their time and they should be compensated.”
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