Part 2 of the latest MetLife Survey of the American Teacher finds continuing challenges in preparing diverse learners for college and careers, and teachers say success depends on resources to address different student needs.
More than 90 percent of all middle and high school teachers surveyed in the new MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers say that strengthening programs and resources to help diverse learners with the highest needs meet college- and career-ready standards should be a priority in education. Among that group, 59 percent say helping diverse learners “must be done as one of the highest priorities in education.”
A large majority of parents of middle and high school students in the survey (84 percent) say addressing the needs of diverse learners should be a priority, including 57 percent who say it must be done as a “highest priority” in education. Most business executives from Fortune 1000 companies also agree that the needs of diverse learners should be a priority (89 percent), but significantly fewer (31 percent), in contrast to teachers and parents, rate it among the highest priorities for education.
Given limited resources, teachers say opportunities for collaborative teaching (65 percent), access to online and technology resources (64 percent), better tools for understanding students’ learning strengths and needs (63 percent) and instructional strategies for teaching English language learners (62 percent) would have a major impact on their ability to address different learning needs of individual students.
A significant majority of middle and high school teachers (61 percent) say they are able to differentiate instruction “a great deal” to meet the varying learning needs of students in their classrooms. Their confidence in this ability to effectively customize their teaching for each student, however, varies by subject. Math teachers are the least likely (46 percent) to say they are able to differentiate instruction a great deal to help their students, compared with higher numbers of English teachers (60 percent) and teachers of other non-math and English subjects (65 percent).
Teachers’ confidence in their abilities to meet the needs of several types of learners also depends on their school. Teachers in schools with a college-going school culture – that is, with high proportions of students who will graduate college-ready – are more likely than others to say they are able to differentiate instruction. Among teachers who report that at least three-quarters of students in their school will graduate high school ready for college, 70 percent say they are able to differentiate instruction a great deal. Among teachers who say less than three-quarters of students will graduate high school ready for college, only 50 percent say the same.
While students overall give teachers a grade of B- on average for teaching individual students according to their abilities and needs, students who need the most help have a less positive opinion. Students who have considered dropping out of school are four times as likely as other students to give their teachers a grade of D or F (45 percent vs. 11 percent). Learning-challenged students are also more likely to give their teachers a D or F in this area (19 percent vs. 14 percent).
The survey also examines the attitudes of parents, teachers, and executives toward a number of solutions proposed to help improve American education. Adult stakeholders opinions are divided as to whether using measurements of teacher effectiveness that are based in significant part on student achievement growth should be a priority that takes precedence over others, given limited resources. A majority of parents (92 percent) and executives (97 percent) believe such measurements should be a priority. However, 27 percent of teachers say that no additional resources should be devoted to it. The survey is published online at: http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife_Teacher_Survey_2010_Part2.pdf
