Teacher Satisfaction Reported by Teachers of Fourth and Eighth Graders: State, National, and Cross-National Results From TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study)

• In Event: 33.038 - National and International Perspectives on Teacher Satisfaction and Working Conditions

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine teacher satisfaction regarding the profession in general and working conditions more specifically.

Perspectives
Almost half of new U.S. teachers leave within the first five years of entering the profession, with disproportionately higher attrition in high-poverty and lower-performing schools (Boyd et al., 2008; Ingersoll, 2012). Teachers who enter the profession are more likely to report that they would leave because of poor working conditions than low pay (Johnson, 2006).

Data Source
Data are from the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), including student assessment data at grades 4 and 8 and teachers’ reports about satisfaction with their career and working conditions at their school. TIMSS was administered at grade 4 in 57 education systems and at grade 8 in 56 education systems (these are mostly countries, but also subnational education systems including select U.S. states).

Methods
There will be analyses using two composite measures: (1) teacher career satisfaction, based on teachers’ level of agreement with questions such as “I am satisfied with being a teacher at this school” and “I am frustrated as a teacher” (reverse scored); and (2) teacher working conditions, based on teachers’ reports about the severity of various problems such as, “Classrooms are overcrowded” and “Teachers have too many teaching hours.” Besides descriptive statistics, multivariate analyses will examine inter-relationships among student, teacher, and school characteristics.

Preliminary Results/Conclusions
On average internationally, higher levels of satisfaction were reported among teachers of fourth-graders than teachers of eighth-graders. Within education systems, students of satisfied teachers generally had higher scores in mathematics and science than their peers with less satisfied teachers. However, the highest levels of teacher satisfaction tended to come from the lowest-performing education systems, such as Armenia, Chile, Georgia, and Thailand, while the lowest levels of teacher satisfaction tended to come from the highest-performing education systems, such as Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and Singapore.

U.S. teachers reported a level of career satisfaction that was either similar to or lower than the international average. For example, 90 percent of U.S. eighth-graders were taught by satisfied science teachers, compared to 92 percent for the international average. However, the opposite was found regarding teacher reports about satisfaction with school working conditions. At both grades, U.S. teachers’ reports about working conditions were among the most favorable compared to other education systems. For example, 40 percent of U.S. eighth-graders were taught by science teachers who reported hardly any problems, compared to 20 percent for the international average.

There is considerable variation across U.S. states. For example, about two-thirds of eighth-graders in Indiana were taught by mathematics teachers who reported hardly any problems with respect to working conditions, compared to one-third of students in Alabama.

Scholarly significance
Teacher attrition can adversely affect student achievement in many ways (Boyd et al., 2008), thus it is important to examine teacher satisfaction. Analyses within the United States as well as across states and countries help in better understanding the context and correlates of teacher satisfaction, including policy implications.

Authors

• David C. Miller, American Institutes for Research

• Sharlyn Ferguson, American Institutes for Research