Teacher Well-Being in Michigan’s Turnaround Schools Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Teacher Well-Being Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Low or declining teacher well-being poses the greatest challenge in high-poverty and racially segregated schools. These schools are commonly high-stress environments for educators and students alike (Kraft et al., 2015; Paulle, 2013), and they often struggle with more staffing vacancies, higher teacher turnover, and fewer qualified teachers than schools in other contexts (Akiba et al., 2023; Papay et al., 2017).
In this study, we draw on a unique set of longitudinal qualitative data to offer further evidence from such contexts on teacher well-being through the COVID-19 pandemic. We use open-ended survey responses from teachers in Michigan’s Partnership Districts (PDs)—high poverty and racially segregated districts identified for turnaround under the state’s accountability policy (Burns et al., 2023). Teacher turnover rates have increased modestly in Michigan through the COVID-19 pandemic but have spiked more dramatically in PDs and other high-poverty and racially segregated contexts throughout Michigan (Harbatkin et al., forthcoming).
Analyzing three years of data, we describe the state of teacher well-being, the factors impacting it, and changes through the pandemic. Specifically, we answer the following questions:

1. What issues related to cognitive, subjective, physical and mental, and social well-being did teachers report during the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 school years?
2. How did teachers’ well-being across these domains change over time?
3. How did the factors that teachers identified as impacting their well-being change over time?

We will use Viac and Fraser’s (2020) framework, which defines four dimensions of teachers’ occupational well-being: cognitive, subjective, physical and mental, and social. We have three years of open-ended responses on an annual survey of teachers in PDs. At the end of the survey, we asked: “If you have any additional comments, please feel free to write them in the space provided below.” In each survey year, one-quarter to one-third of responses provide substantive answers to this question. We will analyze the responses with a four-step process. First, we will use qualitative coding to categorize the responses by topic (e.g., accountability, COVID-19, culture/climate, staffing). Second, we will write analytic memos to summarize the major themes in each category. Third, we will complete a matrix that displays summaries of major themes across each school year. Finally, we will synthesize these data into major findings for each of the four dimensions of well-being in Viac and Fraser’s (2020) framework.

Initial findings highlight the distinct challenges teachers faced at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the persistence of a range of threats to well-being in subsequent school years. At the outset of the pandemic, teachers spoke mostly about challenges of modality shifts and online instructional tools. Comments shifted to general human capital challenges during the next school years. In both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 surveys, teachers expressed a chronic need for more instructional staff and training for long-term substitutes who fill the gaps when there isn’t a classroom teacher available. Teachers’ cognitive and social well-being were jeopardized by inadequate staffing, along with ongoing student academic and social-emotional challenges stemming from the pandemic.

Authors

• Chanteliese Watson, Michigan State University

• Ariell R. Bertrand, Michigan State University

• Jeremy L. Singer, Wayne State University

• Erica Harbatkin, Florida State University