As the omicron wave spikes across the United States, K-12 education is one of many systems buckling under the weight of expanding needs. Recent headlines highlight staff and busing shortages, parental anxieties about both in-person and distance schooling and disputes between unions and districts. Yet teachers’ experiences in their classrooms can be overlooked in these conversations.
As part of our research into teaching, since March 2020, we have been following the experiences of a group of elementary school teachers in one suburban school district in the Midwest.
We’ve seen variations in teachers’ experiences and well-being over the course of the pandemic, yet our research suggests their situation continues to be incredibly challenging.
In January 2022 – halfway through the school year that was supposed to be a return to normal – teachers tell us they are barely hanging on.
‘Trying to make up for the great divide’
Teachers tell us they are more worried about student learning than ever before, and their job duties keep expanding while resources dwindle.
Struggling with the omicron surge, many previously hopeful teachers describe being utterly overwhelmed, overworked and exhausted.
Now in their third disrupted school year, students in the same grade have even more widely varied academic achievement levels than usual.
Elementary school teachers in our study report needing to address up to nine different academic levels in a single classroom, when they may address two to three in a typical year. Yet they tell us they are not getting the time, support or resources to develop appropriately different lessons.
Teachers are constantly having to figure out how to teach material in appropriate sequences while accommodating student absences. One teacher told us, “It’s just hard when students are gone and I don’t know how much new content to teach when they’re away, and how to get them caught up afterwards.”
Teachers say learning gaps, already wide before the 2021-2022 school year, are expanding even further.
‘It’s actually a nightmare right now’
Beyond academics, teachers report having to reteach basic school readiness skills, such as raising hands, standing in line and taking turns.
Rachel,
