NEW YORK, June 4 (UPI) -- The nation's teachers believe they have become scapegoats for the ills of public schools, a report by Public Agenda said Wednesday.
The report -- titled "Stand By Me" -- said teachers are relying more on unions and tenure policies for protection.
"Teachers come to the table with an acute sense that few understand the challenges they face, and that many outside the classroom underestimate what is needed to improve student learning," said Debra Wadsworth, president of Public Agenda.
"For those advocating changes in the teacher profession, 'Stand by Me' gives voice to the deep commitment that teachers feel to their students and profession, but also to their feelings of vulnerability and mistrust," she said.
The report by the non-profit, non-partisan public policy research organization was based on a random sample mail survey of 1,345 public school teachers conducted this spring. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Focus groups and interviews with 20 experts also were used.
Only 19 percent of the respondents say the national union "almost always" reflects their values and preferences. But 81 percent believe that working conditions and salaries would be much worse if they unions were not there. Protection from unfair accusations is also an issue.
"We live in a world (where) all they have to do is whisper that we hit them, and we're gone," one suburban respondent said.
The survey shows that 58 percent say "tenure protects teachers from district politics, favoritism and the threat of losing their jobs to newcomers who could work for less," but they also recognize that tenure sometimes protects the incompetent. Nearly eight in 10 say there are at least a few teachers who "fail to do a good job," and 36 percent said it is too hard to remove any but the very worst.
About 76 percent of the respondents said teachers have become scapegoats. Despite those feelings, 78 percent said their school has at least a few teachers who are "simply going through the motions," and only 14 percent say it is easy to remove incompetent teachers.
A majority of 59 percent feels that they are unfairly being held accountable for raising student achievement when so much that affects learning is beyond their control, the report said.
Reaction to testing for accountability and student evaluation is mixed. The report shows that 87 percent say a standardized tests could be used for promotion, but 53 percent say current standardized tests are "seriously flawed" and one in six respondents said testing should be abandoned completely.
A St. Louis teacher worried that it is impossible for some students to pass a test because "we'll have students who will come into the high school with an inability to read -- they can't add or subtract -- and we're supposed to perform miracles."
Most teachers, about 56 percent, said administrators need freedom to reward teachers. About 70 percent favor financial incentives for teachers in tough, low-performing schools and 67 percent believe teachers "who consistently work harder, putting in more time and effort" should be paid more.
But there is little support for tying teacher pay to test scores. Only 38 percent of the teachers favored more pay for teachers whose students "routinely score higher than similar students on standardized tests."
But teachers believe there is a downside to merit pay by a 67 percent to 22 percent margin. They believe merit pay would foster "unhealthy competition and jealousy" rather than motivate teachers. More than half, 52 percent, believe "principals would play favorites."
Southern teachers are more open to merit pay proposals at 50 percent. In the Midwest it's 36 percent, 34 percent in the West and 26 percent in the Northeast.
Among other results, high school teachers were shown as less likely than elementary school teachers, 27 percent to 42 percent, to feel confident about getting through to most of their students by the end of the year.
