Executive Summary of 2005 Qualitative Data

Georgia's educators and the students they teach every day deserve the best. They should teach and learn in premier learning and teaching environments that support and encourage them in their critically important work. Thanks to the funding and support of BellSouth and a dedicated state-level Steering Committee, school and business leaders in ten Georgia school districts now have the chance to listen to the people who know-the teachers themselves. Through the BellSouth Quality Learning and Teaching Environments (QLTE) Survey, teachers and professional school staff revealed what they need in their classrooms and schools to help children learn better.

With more than 7,000 educators from the ten pilot school districts responding, the QLTE Survey response rate exceeded 83%. The pilot school systems are supported by six community-school partnerships and were selected to serve as pilot sites for the survey based on criteria that included geographic and demographic diversity in addition to school district and community leadership. These Systems include some 157 schools from northwest to southeast Georgia, ranging from urban to rural and large to small school profiles. These districts educate nearly 96,000 students, where district demographics range from 10% to 85% minority populations and 38% to 92% children in poverty. The ten pilot school districts are Baker County Schools, Bibb County Schools, Dougherty County Schools, Floyd County Schools, Hall County Schools, Lowndes County Schools, Montgomery County Schools, Toombs County Schools, Valdosta City, and Vidalia City Schools.

The Survey questions focused on five domains-Time, Facilities and Resources, Leadership, Empowerment, and Professional Learning-and ended with two overall summary questions. In addition, the Survey included optional open-ended questions, designed to obtain qualitative data which may not have been captured in the overall Survey.

THE ROLE OF QUALITATIVE DATA
A unique feature of the Georgia BellSouth Quality Learning and Teaching Environments (QLTE) Survey is its solicitation of written comments from school personnel and its inclusion of qualitative analysis of these comments. Educators in all categories--teachers, administrators, counselors, media specialists, and paraprofessionals-were offered an opportunity to comment freely, and anonymously, on any issue raised in the survey or to introduce new issues that may not have been addressed to their satisfaction by the survey. Of the more than 7,000 survey respondents, 1,647 chose to answer the optional open-ended questions. See Appendix for the categories of respondents.

This executive summary of the qualitative report is based on an analysis of results of these voluntary comments. Just as the ten volunteer districts do not necessarily constitute a representative sample of the diverse school systems across the state or indicate the perceptions of all of Georgia's educators, the qualitative responses are not necessarily representative of the perceptions of all respondents. Qualitative responses tend toward extremes in that those who choose to answer are likely to feel more strongly about the issues than those who don't.

While qualitative data should not be considered as representative, these data do play an important role in understanding, clarifying, and supplementing quantitative data. Qualitative responses help explain numbers, clarify nuances, and add details. Qualitative responses may also introduce new issues that have not been satisfactorily addressed by survey questions and domains. Thus, this report includes categories which extend beyond the five domains of Time, Facilities and Resources, Leadership, Empowerment, and Professional Learning.

This qualitative report highlights educators' concerns in their own voices. Qualitative analysis identifies themes which appear frequently and provides specific quotations which serve as examples of these themes. Each individual quotation is enclosed in quotation marks. Minor changes in structure may occur in some quotations for clarity or length, but there has been no change in meaning. The words of the survey respondents add a level of reality and significance missing from the numbers alone and provide multiple perspectives on the learning and teaching environments in Georgia schools.

THANKS FOR LISTENING
Teachers expressed appreciation that they were asked for their opinions, and they anticipated that their responses would be heard and that action would be taken. The combined knowledge of educators is an amazing resource that is not always fully valued. One of the most motivating things to a teacher is to be asked for his/her professional opinion. Repeatedly throughout the written comments across all ten districts was a vocal appreciation for being "listened to." Several faculty members ended their statements by writing,

"Thanks for listening," and "Thank you for allowing the teachers of Georgia to have a say." Quotations which are representative of this theme include the following:

LACK OF RESPECT
Respondents perceived a widespread lack of respect for the profession of teaching in general and highlighted a need for stronger signs of appreciation and recognition for their accomplishments and for the work and sacrifices the job requires. Quotations which are representative of this theme include the following:

STATE AND NATIONAL MANDATES
School personnel are under tremendous pressure to meet new state and federal mandates and to adjust to a rapidly evolving environment of high-stakes standardized testing, high levels of accountability, increased paperwork, changing rules and requirements, and the need for professional learning in multiple areas. Quotations which are representative of this theme include the following:

TIME
Time led all other topics for teachers in frequency of choice, in detail, and in the emotion of the responses, primarily related to frustrations associated with "not enough planning time." Teachers report that the requirements of the school day are "overwhelming."This finding from the qualitative data supplements quantitative results showing that Time was the area of greatest concern, with educators in eight of ten districts rating this domain lowest. Although many administrators did not mention time at all, those who did responded in support of teachers' concerns as did many counselors, media specialists, and paraprofessionals. "Not enough time" was clearly the biggest surprise experienced by new teachers.

Subcategories related to teachers' concerns about time included Pre-emption of Planning Time, Lack of Time for Teaching, Class Size, and Student Behavior/Discipline. These time demands help explain quantitative findings that educators spend large amounts of unpaid hours outside the regular school work day. Quotations which are representative of these subcategories include the following:

FACILITIES AND RESOURCES
Inequity is apparent in the differences among schools within districts. The wide range of educator responses illuminated the disparities between schools that "have" and those that "have not." The learning and teaching environment at some schools is described as a "state of the art facility" containing "the best of materials." At other schools, educators who possess equal ability and dedication attempt to achieve the same high levels of learning in building that are "crowded," "old, rundown, unattractive," even "filthy," with classroom furniture that is falling apart from age, and "limited access to minimal supplies." Disparities appear to be related to rapid population growth in some areas which have proven difficult for school systems to keep up with. Many comments touched on funding concerns that are tied to larger budgetary issues at the local and state levels which cannot be quickly addressed.

The disparity among schools is especially significant given the findings from the quantitative data that educators in nine of ten districts ranked Facilities and Resources as first or second in importance for their efforts to promote student learning. They also considered Facilities and Resources to be a significant factor in making decisions about whether to remain at their schools. Quotations which are representative of these subcategories include the following:

LEADERSHIP
Disparities in leadership quality are apparent. The quality of leadership has a strong impact on teachers' perceptions of their learning and teaching environments and on their decisions to stay at a school. Good leadership that makes faculty and staff feel supported and valued as part of a school-wide team overshadows most other problems, even big ones. As one teacher put it, "I doubt I would be currently teaching if it were not for the excellent leadership, respect, and professional courtesy extended to the faculty and staff at my school."

Effective leadership. Leadership was credited as most important by respondents who rate their schools as excellent learning environments and "a great place to work." Respondents described the following characteristics of effective leaders:

"Morale is very low due to always being monitored and critiqued." "The principal offers no real help, just a command of 'Get it done!' and most of the students don't even know who the principal is."

Central Office/Board of Education Issues. Across the ten districts, there are strong indicators that respondents recognize positive motives behind central office decisions even when they feel frustrated by some of the ramifications. Quotations which are representative of this theme include the following:

EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment issues permeate all other categories, but are most closely intertwined with School Leadership. Teachers who worked in schools with supportive and enthusiastic administrative teams were more satisfied with their careers. Quotations which are representative of this theme include the following:

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
Respondents expressed general satisfaction with the content of professional learning and recognized the need for professional learning opportunities. However, they expressed frustration with scheduling, delivery costs, and selection procedures. Quotations which are representative of these subcategories include the following:

TEACHER ATTRITION
Respondents who specifically mentioned their intentions to stay in or leave their schools or the profession attributed their decisions to the cumulative effect of the five domains, but also focused on the most critical factor. Teachers who planned to leave their schools focused on Leadership as the factor which had the greatest impact on their decisions while teachers who planned to leave the profession focused on environments which do not allow them to teach children to the best of their ability. Quotations which are representative of these subcategories include the following:

"I love teaching children but I can't!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Educators are being asked to do more and more with less and less. This is more frustrating than people believe. If you went into education because you really wanted to help children, but time and money do not allow you to do the best job you know how to do, this causes you to be upset and feel uninspired about teaching."

PARAPROFESSIONALS
Paraprofessionals found many of the survey questions less applicable to their school role than to those of the other participants. Their responses were balanced between commentary across the domains and concerns about some issues directly related to them. Subcategories of themes which were specific to paraprofessionals were Desire for Professional Learning, Need for Respect, and Substituting for Teachers. Quotations which are representative of these subcategories follow:

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The true experts have spoken. The QLTE Survey provides community and school leaders from the pilot districts with valuable information about what teachers and students need to optimize their work. Leaders in the pilot districts and at the state level have pledged to listen intently to these voices. By analyzing survey results, leaders will be able to target areas of need, build on areas of strength, and work together on intensive plans to provide premier learning and teaching environments to Georgia's deserving teachers and students.

Administrators Counselors and Media Specialists Paraprofessionals Teachers Total Responses
57 69 152 1369 1647

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