National Education Association Research Articles

Retaining Teachers Through Building Confidence in Collaboration Skills: Promoting 21st-Century Teaching Skills in Teacher Education

In 2023, the United States faces a monumental teacher shortage. Murdock (2022) has quoted an estimated 36,504 full-time teaching positions as unfilled, with another 163,650 positions filled by underqualified individuals or by those teaching outside of their field of study. Although this figure falls short of the 53 percent of all schools reported by the National Education Association (NEA) as understaffed, it is a figure of consequence for educators and schools (Walker, 2022). The NEA has also reported that 55percent of those in teaching and in educational support positions have considered leaving the profession earlier than planned. In 2018, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducted their Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and found similar results. In the survey, 14 percent of teachers aged 50 years or younger stated their desire to leave the profession within the next five years.

Passing a Bill “Nobody Especially Cared About": The Creation of the Department of Education

This article is a case study of the creation of the Department of Education. President Jimmy Carter promised to create a separate Department of Education during his 1976 campaign. The National Education Association (NEA) provided the impetus for the legislation but it was the White House Domestic Policy staff and OMB Director that guided the bill through by working to narrow the scope of the conflict over the proposed legislation to ensure passage. Using both primary and secondary sources I explore the methods the Carter administration used to advance passage of the bill. Carter domestic policy advisor Elizabeth Abramowitz noted that, “if we get the Department, it will be a good example of the President’s ability to get something through Congress nobody especially cared about” (Abramowitz 1979). As a result, a new cabinet agency was created with little broad-based political support and substantive policy change, creating a Department that continues to be vulnerable to calls for abolishment partially due to a lack of broad public support.

Enriching Spanish-Speaking English Learners’ Experiences in the English Music Classroom

According to the National Education Association, one out of every four children in the U.S. public education system will be an English Learner (EL) by 2025, with at least half of these students likely being Spanish-speaking EL students. As school populations become more ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse, current and future music teachers must increase awareness of the barriers that the growing population of Spanish-speaking EL students may encounter. In this article, the author describes the language acquisition stages that Spanish-speaking EL students typically go through, providing insights into possible strategies for addressing their language barriers and socio-emotional needs, as well as fostering a culturally responsive and sustainable environment in the music classroom. In doing so, the author describes several concrete methods that music educators could use to engage with and learn more about the rich Spanish-speaking communities. Thus, becoming more responsive to the current demographic changes and challenges.

Reframing and Recontextualizing Maria Montessori’s 1915 California Visit

Maria Montessori’s visit to California in 1915—her second visit to the United States—coincided with multiple events in the region: San Francisco’s Panama–Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), San Diego’s Panama–California Exposition (PCE), and the National Education Association of the United States (NEA) annual meeting in Oakland. Her visit also came at a time when the American Montessori movement was splintering, and the academic elite increasingly criticized her educational model. These circumstances made Montessori’s visit to California a potentially valuable opportunity to rekindle interest in Montessori education across the United States. Discussions of Montessori’s visit in 1915 have been framed around her training course and demonstration school at the PPIE. Based on information from primary sources (e.g., newspapers and archival materials), some of which have been overlooked, this article asserts that her visit to California had broader implications. While her eight months in California did have a positive impact on the growth of the Montessori movement, Montessori’s engagement with mainstream education had limited impact and it gave way to waning interest in Montessori education in the United States.

Parental Rights Laws and the Impact on Mental Health Services and Counseling for Adolescents.

Parental Rights Laws and the Impact on Mental Health Services and Counseling for Adolescents.

Unpacking the social-emotional health of education support professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study sought to understand education support professionals' (ESPs) experiences early in the COVID-19 pandemic, including how they were feeling about their roles in education, strategies they were using to cope with unprecedented times, barriers they encountered toward maintaining SE health at work, and opportunities they identified as critical for creating safe and supportive school environments. This study employed a convergent parallel(QUAN + QUAL) mixed methods research design to capture ESPs' affective experiences and use of social and emotional learning (SEL). Data were collected in partnership with the National Education Association across 4 weeks through a survey including open and closed-ended questions. A total of 175 participants responded to the quantitative portion of the survey and at least one qualitative survey question. Findings suggest ESPs were feeling frustrated and experiencing very little SEL support in their daily work. ESPs would benefit from increased communication, inclusion, recognition, and well-being promotion in their schools. This study offers new insight into how schools and districts can provide better SEL support to ESPs.

Policy Dialogue: Twenty Years of Test-Based Accountability

AbstractSince No Child Left Behind was signed into law, test-based accountability has become a core feature of the K-12 public education system in the United States. The approach, it would seem, is here to stay. Yet that is not to say that anything resembling a consensus has emerged. Over the past twenty years, critics have continued to raise questions about the theory of change underlying test-based accountability, and scholars have detailed a variety of unintended consequences associated with it.If test-based accountability is both likely to persist and imperfect in its design, then it is critical to consider how its shortcomings might be addressed. In service of that aim, and in keeping with the mission of this feature, this Policy Dialogue explores future possibilities by starting, first, with a look at the past. In this particular case, participants were asked to address one simple question: “What have we learned from two decades of high-stakes testing?”As regular readers of HEQ are aware, these dialogues usually feature a historian in conversation with a scholar or practitioner from the world of policy. In this case, the choice of Diane Ravitch was a natural one, particularly given the fact that she is a member of HEQ's editorial board. A research professor at New York University, she is also a former assistant US secretary of education and the author of several books about measurement and accountability.Rather than select a single interlocutor, however, the editors chose to pair her with three leaders who represent the broad range of viewpoints in the field: Denise Forte, Princess Moss, and Paul Reville. Denise Forte is the interim CEO of The Education Trust. She brings to our conversation twenty years of experience in congressional staff roles, including as the staff director for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Princess Moss is vice president of the National Education Association and cochair of the NEA's task force on measurement and accountability. In prior work with the NEA's Executive Committee, she helped develop the group's position on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—from NCLB to the Every Student Succeeds Act. Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and former secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Nearly a decade before the passage of NCLB, he played a key role in the development of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, which instituted standards-based accountability across the state.HEQ Policy Dialogues are, by design, intended to promote an informal, free exchange of ideas between scholars. At the end of the exchange, we offer a list of references for readers who wish to follow up on sources relevant to the discussion.

An analysis of COVID-19 outbreaks in schools in South and Southwestern United States using open-source data

The reopening of schools for the 2020 fall academic session in the United States was linked to many cases of COVID-19 infection. This analysis utilized a dataset of school-related outbreaks created by National Education Association (NEA) to study attack rates and COVID-19 trends in schools located in the south and southwestern regions of the United States. The highest attack rate was observed in Mississippi for both students and teachers. In most states, the attack rate was higher for students in high schools than elementary schools, whereas the reverse was true for teachers. Most outbreaks had fewer than five cases, with only a small number of outbreaks that involved more than 10 cases in the duration under study. Outbreak size was found to be the highest in the state of Texas. Epidemic curves of new cases in most of these states showed features of a propagated outbreak. In some states, a rise in school-related cases coincided with rise in cases in the state. Findings related to size and pattern of school outbreaks may have significant implications for defining public health policies related to school functioning during infectious disease outbreaks.

Understanding students’ global interdependence in science instruction

Multiple American educational organizations such as the National Education Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the Council of Chief State School Officers have advocated for globalizing the K-12 curriculum. The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) in a position statement on international education and the Next Generation Science Standards have produced goals and standards for internationalizing the science curriculum by addressing topics such as climate change, environment, and disease that cross borders. In contrast to those pronouncements on the curriculum, this article views global science education through an instructional lens that focuses on a students’ global interdependence in science continuum allowing researchers and casual observers to classify science classroom activities into one of five stages based on the interdependence during instruction of students in two or more countries. At the continuum’s lowest stage labeled isolated, instruction is contained within a classroom with students having no interaction with students in another country. At the highest end called collaborate, students in two or more countries are working jointly to co-create a solution to the task before them. This science education continuum can also be used to categorize technology and engineering activities and could be adapted for use in other curricular areas including mathematics, language arts, and social studies, used as a tool to complement scholarship about a range of education topics from social justice to curriculum to student motivation, or inform pre- and in-service teacher education.

Better in Pictures

Better in Pictures

Role of Rawalpindi Medical University Students in Perspective of Public Health

Role of Rawalpindi Medical University Students in Perspective of Public Health

Race and School Librarianship in the Jim Crow South, 1954–1970: The Untold Story of Carrie Coleman Robinson as a Case Study

On December 23, 1969, the National Education Association and the Alabama State Teachers Association (a black organization) filed a class action suit in federal court against the Alabama Department of Education on behalf of Carrie Coleman Robinson, Negro School Library Supervisor in Alabama’s Department of Education. The suit argued that Robinson had suffered racial discrimination in hiring and stated that her First, Fifth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated. The American Association of School Librarians and its parent American Library Association (Robinson had been a member of both for decades) chose not to participate in the suit. The decision reflected the library profession’s unwillingness to openly discuss public school segregation, one of the nation’s major social issues in the last half of the twentieth century that was sparked by the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954). This article recounts the heretofore untold story of Carrie Coleman Robinson’s experiences with racial discrimination within the professions of education and librarianship.

Different School Reopening Plans on Coronavirus Disease 2019 Case Growth Rates in the School Setting in the United States.

BACKGROUNDIn fall 2020, all public K‐12 schools reopened in broadly 3 learning models. The hybrid model was considered a mid‐risk option compared with remote and in‐person learning models. The current study assesses school‐based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) spread in the early fall using a national data set.METHODSWe assess COVID‐19 case growth rates from August 10 to October 14, 2020 based on a crowdsourcing data set from the National Education Association. The study follows a retrospective cohort design with the baseline exposures being 3 teaching models: remote learning only, hybrid, and in‐person learning. To assess the consistency of our findings, we estimated the overall, as well as region‐specific (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West) and poverty‐specific (low, mid, and high) COVID‐19 case‐growth rates. In addition, we validated our study sample using another national sample survey data.RESULTSThe baseline was from 617 school districts in 48 states, where 47% of school districts were in hybrid, 13% were in remote, and 40% were in‐person. Controlling for state‐level risk and rural‐urban difference, the case growth rates for remote and in‐person were lower than the hybrid (odds ratio [OR]: 0.963, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.960‐0.965 and OR: 0.986, 95% CI: 0.984‐0.988, respectively). A consistent result was found among school districts in all 4 regions and each poverty level.CONCLUSIONSHybrid may not necessarily be the next logical option when transitioning from the remote to in‐person learning models due to its consistent higher case growth rates than the other 2 learning models.

The Pipeline Problem in Doctoral Counselor Education and Supervision

The hiring of new faculty members in counselor education programs can be complicated by the available pool of qualified graduates with doctoral degrees in counselor education and supervision, as required by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) for core faculty status. A pipeline problem for faculty hiring may exist in regions with fewer doctoral programs. In this study, the researchers examined whether the number of doctoral programs accredited by CACREP is regionally imbalanced. The researchers used an ex post facto study to analyze differences in the number of doctoral programs among the five regions commonly defined by national counselor education associations and organizations. A large and significant difference was found in the number of CACREP-accredited doctoral programs by region, even when population size was statistically controlled. The Western region had by far the fewest number of doctoral programs. The number of CACREP-accredited master’s programs in a state was a large and significant predictor for the number of CACREP-accredited doctoral programs in a state. State population size, state population density, the number of universities per state, and the number of American Psychological Association–accredited counseling psychology programs were not predictors. Demand may surpass supply of doctoral counselor educators in certain regions, resulting in difficulties with hiring new faculty for some CACREP-accredited programs. An analysis of programs currently in the process of applying for CACREP accreditation suggests that this pipeline problem looks likely to continue or even worsen in the near future. Implications for counselor education and supervision are discussed.

Civil Rights, Labor Conflict, and Integration: New Orleans Educators’ Struggle for Collective Bargaining 1965-1974

When American Federation of Teachers-Local 527 launched their collective bargaining campaign in 1965, they were one of five mostly segregated teachers’ locals in New Orleans and represented a minority of the system’s educators. Spurred on by the National, who saw them as the lynchpin to organizing the South, they held a three-day job action, the first teachers’ strike in the South, in 1966 and then a longer nine-day strike in 1969. Through these mobilizations, they connected their demand for collective bargaining to racial and economic equity in the schools, aligning themselves with Black students, parents, and lower paid support workers. In the early 1970s, New Orleans underwent an ambitious faculty desegregation program that transformed the schools and led to the merger between Local 527 and the majority-white National Education Association (NEA) local to form the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO). Although faculty desegregation was a top-down reform, the union capitalized on teacher integration to form intentional alliances across race and mobilize new members. Following the merger, UTNO renewed their call for collective bargaining, eventually pressuring the board to approve an election in 1974. I argue that by positioning racial justice as central to their union organizing, prioritizing participatory democracy among membership, and engaging in civil rights unionism, UTNO succeeded in achieving collective bargaining when so many other Southern cities failed.

Duties When an Anonymous Student Health Survey Finds a Hot Spot of Suicidality

Public health agencies regularly survey randomly selected anonymous students to track drug use, sexual activities, and other risk behaviors. Students are unidentifiable, but a recent project that included school-level analysis discovered a school with alarmingly prevalent student suicidality. Given confidentiality protocols typical of surveillance, the surveyors were uncertain whether and how to intervene. We searched literature for duties to warn at-risk groups discovered during public health surveillance, but we found no directly applicable guidance or cases. Reasoning by analogy, we conclude that surveyors should contact the school’s leaders to call attention to its outlier status, but public warning is unwarranted. However, such an ad hoc decision to issue a warning, even if only to school leaders, raises significant practical, legal and ethical issues. National public health and education associations should produce guidance that clarifies ethical and legal duties owed to schools and students involved in population health-risk surveillance.

The Myth of a Political Powerhouse: The National Education Association and Presidential Election Campaigns, 1972–2016

Background/ContextDuring the 2016 presidential election campaign, Hillary Clinton was “booed” while speaking at the National Education Association (NEA)'s annual representative assembly. The media suggested this evidenced a weakening of a powerful alliance. Since the NEA first endorsed Jimmy Carter in 1976, the claim that the Democratic party is “a wholly owned subsidiary of the NEA” has persisted. This characterization of the NEA and Democratic Party relationship has become so ubiquitous in political discourse that it is rarely questioned. As a result, the NEA is often portrayed as a powerful political player in national elections, while little evidence supports this conclusion.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyThis study uses archival evidence to identify the NEA's political influence during presidential election campaigns to provide scholars a more nuanced history as they seek to understand current political happenings.Research DesignThe historical analysis used internal campaign and NEA documents located in 13 archives housed in six presidential libraries, four university libraries, two state historical societies, and one public policy institute as well as the NEA Collection at The George Washington University.Findings/ResultsTwo factors explain NEA's limited influence on presidential politics despite its significant donations to the Democratic Party. First, Republican candidates used the NEA to attack Democrats as beholden to radical special interest groups. Democrats evidenced the success of this Republican strategy by taking positions the NEA opposed in an attempt to convince voters of their independence. Second, many NEA members did not support the NEA's involvement in party politics because they believed political activism was inconsistent with teacher professionalism or they were conservatives unwilling to support a Democratic candidate.Conclusions/RecommendationsAs they look to future presidential campaigns, scholars should remember: 1) Republican candidates’ attacks on the NEA have been part of a strategy to convince voters that Democratic candidates were beholden to special interests. Policy differences between Republican candidates and the NEA served as later justification for this strategy rather that its cause. 2) Democratic candidates supporting policies the NEA opposes is not an act of political courage. They have long found the power of the NEA rests not in its endorsement but in the opportunity for voters to see them stand up to this special interest group. Given the NEA's commitment to endorsing a candidate and the Republican strategy, Democrats have been able to challenge the NEA without fearing that it will cost them an endorsement or campaign contributions.

The Role of Teachers in Community Engagement and Transmission of Government Policies and Political Ideology in Harare Metropolitan Province

Zimbabwe adopted a new economic blueprint, Vision 2030, whose goal is to transform and develop the country into an upper middle-income economy by 2030. The teachers' role is to make the education system become a tool that creates industrialisation and modernisation. Teachers are to embrace the Competency-Based Curriculum as a vehicle for the attainment of this Vision. The education sector has the key to transform the country. Teachers are expected to innovate in their teaching, play a role in community and pass on government policies and political ideology. The study sought to investigate teachers' role in community engagement and transmission of government policies and political ideology in Harare Province. It employed quantitative research design. It was conducted in 145 schools which were randomly-selected from 231 schools in the Province. Using National Education Association (NPA) formula, for a population size N=5656, 360 teachers constituted a representative sample at 5% significance level. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire. Findings revealed that teachers play a role in community engagement, providing leadership and guidance; but had no role to play in the transmission of government official political ideology which they regarded as no concern of theirs. They view politics as highly partisan, but not as defined by Harold Lasswell (1936), who views politics as the process of deciding 'who gets what, when, where and how?' Given that politics is inextricably linked to education, the study recommends that government puts in place teacher in-service re-orientation programmes aimed at equipping teachers with necessary political ideological education and conscientisation.

On Whether Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy Is A Predictor Of Entrepreneurial Success

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of entrepreneurial self efficacy on entrepreneurial success. 9,450 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who are registered members of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), National Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) and Association of Small Business Owners in Nigeria (ASBON) in Lagos State is the sample population. Probability sampling technique, specifically, proportionate stratified random sampling method was used to select samples from the sampling frame. The formula developed by the National Education Association (1960) was used to determine the sample size of 381 was used for this study. Primary data on the dependent variable (Entrepreneurial success) and independent variable (Entrepreneurial orientation) was collected using questionnaire as research instrument. Entrepreneurial self efficacy measures are optimism and overconfidence while measures for entrepreneurial success are profitability, market share, net asset growth, sales growth and government policies. The questionnaire was pretested by a pilot study of 50 selected SMEs. Data obtained from the pilot study was analyzed and based on the result, the questionnaire was slightly modified giving an overall Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.853. The statistics of the model summary of the correlation co-efficient reveal that: R = .232 showing that the combined influence of the two predictor variables had a moderate positive relationship with entrepreneurial success. The coefficient of determination R square is .054 or 5.4%. This suggests that the combined influence of the predictor variables (optimism and overconfidence) explains 5.4% of the variations in entrepreneurial success of SMEs. The value of F (2,207) = 5.866, p <.05, shows that the combined effect of optimism and overconfidence was statistically significant in explaining changes in entrepreneurial success of SMEs in Lagos State. This is established by a p value of 0.003 which is less than the acceptance critical value of 0.05. The findings of the study reveal that entrepreneurs’ optimism had the highest influence on entrepreneurial success because the p value was 0.040 and then entrepreneurs’ overconfidence with 0.201. These findings may be of help to the owner/managers of SMEs to be more entrepreneurial optimistic in order for them to survive the intensely competitive market environment.

Will Entrepreneurial Orientation Contribute to Entrepreneurial Success?

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on entrepreneurial success. The study population is the 9,450 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who are registered members of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), National Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) and Association of Small Business Owners in Nigeria (ASBON) in Lagos State. The study employs probability sampling technique and specifically, proportionate stratified random sampling method to select it samples from the sampling frame. Sample size of 381 determined using the formula developed by the National Education Association (1960) for sample size determination was used for this study. The study employed questionnaire as research instrument to collect primary data on the dependent variable (Entrepreneurial success) and independent variable (Entrepreneurial orientation). Entrepreneurial orientation measures are: Innovativeness, Proactiveness and Risk taking while measures for entrepreneurial success are: profitability, market share, net asset growth, sales growth and government policies. The questionnaire was pretested by a pilot study of 50 selected SMEs. Data from the pilot study was analyzed and based on the result, the questionnaire was slightly modified giving an overall Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.853. The value of F (3,206) = 21.848, p <.05, shows that the combined effect of innovativeness, risk taking and pro-activeness was statistically significant in explaining changes in entrepreneurial success in Lagos State. The findings of the study also reveal that entrepreneurial pro-activeness had the highest influence on SMEs entrepreneurial success because the p value was 0.000 followed by risk taking with 0.007, and lastly innovativeness with a p value of 0.942. This finding may be of help to the owner/managers of SMEs to be more entrepreneurial oriented and developed competitive edge in order for them to survive the intensely competitive market environment.