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Strategies for Surviving School Stress Maintaining a positive outlook amid NCLB and budget cuts

But with new leadership in the White House and a more supportive Congress, public education has a more hopeful outlook for the next four years. President-elect Barack Obama has taken a close look at public education and we know, and like, what he’s thinking:

“A truly historic commitment to education—a real commitment will require new resources and new reforms,” Obama has said. “It will require a willingness to break free from the same debates that Washington has been engaged in for decades—Democrat versus Republican; vouchers versus the status quo; more money versus more accountability.”

Obama’s plans to expand Head Start and early childhood and afterschool programs, make math and science education a priority, address the dropout crisis and make college more affordable echo NEA’s own strategies for public schools. But for many school employees, it may be Obama’s plan to reform NCLB that offers the most immediate satisfaction.

Obama calls NCLB “No Child Left the Money Behind” and argues that the lack of resources to implement the law’s admirable goals is what educators across the country find most frustrating. Everyone agrees that high standards and accountability are essential to great public schools, but inadequate federal funding, excessive standardized testing requirements and the make-or-break nature of the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system weigh heavily on students and schools. The increasingly gloomy national economic forecast doesn’t help much, either.

“This is a difficult time—state and county budgets are stretched to the limit, and your well-being, and that of the families and students you serve are affected,” said MSTA President Clara Floyd. “But we have much to be proud of right now. Thornton funding, combined with the hard work of parents and educators around the state, is making a real difference.

“We are on our way to being a national leader in raising achievement levels for all children,” Floyd continued.“Test scores are going up in every district, and nationally, Maryland is ranked second in AP scores.”

Looking a bit further down the road, say two or three years, the outlook looks rosier. Marylanders had the foresight to pass the slots referendum, which opens up a new dedicated source of funding for public education, and the Obama administration’s plans include NCLB reform and additional federal funding to the states to address the needs of struggling students and schools. But it will take some time for change (and dollars) to find its way from Washington and Annapolis to the classroom and worksite, and in the meantime, we have some difficult realities to face.

This year, some Maryland school systems have already increased class sizes, left vacant instructional assistant positions unfilled, delayed construction and renovation projects, trimmed bus routes, hiked school meal prices and postponed expansion of effective language immersion programs.

As resources get squeezed, many educators are feeling the pressures of an ever-increasing workload even more. In one day, a classroom teacher may monitor the lunchroom or hall, copy papers, grade tests and homework, break up a fight, act as a surrogate parent, jump through bureaucratic hoops, or morph into a confidante, interpreter, banker, mediator, statistician, computer technician, parent liaison, or life coach.

And even though teachers by their very nature thrive on such a variety of tasks, as well as student personalities and the potential of the classroom experience, most everyone agrees that the needs of students and the expectations of staff have evolved to a new level.

NCLB and school-related stress

Teaching is the most important work we can do. But NEA data shows that nearly 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession in less than five years. “We work so hard every day and the work we do is so important, it’s imperative that teachers and all educators have the support and resources needed to do our jobs,” said MSTA President Clara Floyd.

The demands of NCLB, and the funding shortfalls that limit the resources educators need to reach every child, are a large part of the daily frustrations they experience as their students and schools struggle to meet the law’s mandates. For new teachers, the frustrations are felt even more acutely.

That’s why NEA wants to fix NCLB by retaining the high expectations and standards of the law, but providing the positive supports and funding every student, teacher, support professional and administrator in every school needs to succeed.

“I’ve seen a dramatic shift since NCLB. It’s really upped the ante on the stress level and the expectations. We’ve always had behavioral issues, workload issues, and classes that are tough to teach,” said member Nancy Davidson, a school psychologist in Anne Arundel County. “But NCLB has added another level. The requirements of NCLB have come to us with no funding or support.

“Having to meet NCLB’s AYP puts significant pressure on teachers to get students to perform at higher levels,” Davidson added. “The expectation is that everyone can do the work and each year more students are expected to be proficient. But it really doesn’t allow for the kids who don’t. It’s very hard on the teacher and frustrating for the students who aren’t succeeding within the strict confines of the law.”

The whole issue of the standardized testing required by NCLB and the state of Maryland is a source of concern on many levels. Many practitioners say that thanks to NCLB, teaching has become not so much an art, but a scripted exercise.

“Mandates like NCLB that require teaching to a single standard in the curriculum don’t allow for the complexities and diversities that are part of the human experience,” said Angela Oddone, a consultant for NEA’s Health Information Network. “A lot of the things that have made the quality of life for both teachers and students unfortunately fall by the wayside are the result of the parameters imposed by NCLB.”

“I feel that the burden of stress is increasing, for several reasons,” said Prince George’s member Will Thomas, Maryland’s new Teacher of the Year. “Nearly every teacher faces a class size larger than recommended, and I don’t think the public or policymakers really, really consider the effects it has on student learning and test scores.

"I have mixed feelings about NCLB because Prince George’s County is making some great progress, but it is an issue,” Thomas continued. “I think certain issues are passing us by because we’re so concerned about testing. There are critical issues that we need to confront with our students before they leave us and go into the world. At times testing it can be burdensome. It locks you into a box and affects the way we can teach.”

The data provided by NCLB’s standardized test requirements— Maryland’s MSAs and HSAs—is critical to teachers diagnosing their students’ individual strengths and weaknesses, and to schools as they target student resources. But the excessive focus on high-stakes testing has in some cases thwarted collaborative efforts essential to effective teaching and learning.

Some schools require test results to be posted on the teacher’s door. One class may have 85 percent of students passing, another just 65 percent. What’s hidden in the simple data is the make-up of the student population.

In one county, a member teacher who observed the class of a colleague deeply concerned about her class test scores, immediately noticed that the demographics of the class were totally different than his own higher-scoring class of the same subject. The student dynamic made classroom management and effective teaching much more difficult. It was obvious why there was such a gap in the scores— and in the recognition the teacher received for her considerable efforts.

Dr. Robert Burke, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Miami University and a member of the national advisory board of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, says that the features of NCLB—its inflexible mandates, sanctions and arbitrariness—leads to many of the frustrations teachers report about being less able to meet individual students’ needs.

“NCLB has redefined teaching to mean only the transmission of information in mechanical and scripted ways,” Burke said. “And it has also redefined learning to mean only the results of student performance on standardized tests. The essence of education is the relationships that develop, in particular the relationship between one teacher and each individual student. That’s where the significance of teaching lies—that’s why people go into teaching, they want to make a difference in children’s lives. So it’s frustrating when there seem to be so many obstacles.”

It’s significant pressure, said St. Mary’s County nurse Karla DeSelms. From her vantage point as a health care professional and school employee, she sees increased anxiety in the educators and students in her school, mostly due, she believes, to NCLB testing mandates. A teacher may have wonderful lessons in her repertoire, she said, “but using them may put her and the class at risk of playing catch-up to make sure her students get what they need for the test.”

Keeping a positive outlook

Headaches, irritability, depression, memory loss, poor problem solving skills, and a compromised immune system are all manifestations of stress. Fortunately there are a number of simple and very effective ways, which are listed on pages 10, 11 and 13, to combat heightened school stress until the help arrives, and these techniques can work for everyone. Some suggestions focus on taking care of oneself, learning to relax, and spending more time with family and friends.

Another way to maintain a positive, productive outlook is to join other Association activists in lobbying for funding and changes at the local, state and national level. MSTA activists are letting their local county council members and state legislators know that despite the requirements to balance budgets during difficult economic times, protecting existing funding for education reforms like smaller class sizes and up-to-date facilities and textbooks is essential.

At the national level, Congress is looking at passing an economic stimulus package in early 2009 that could include some assistance to state and local governments and is also expected to take up NCLB reauthorization next year. NEA is asking teachers and other educators on the front lines to share their concerns about the law’s rigid and underfunded mandates with their members of Congress so that we can continue to build the case for a more flexible system with positive supports and rewards for success.

Getting involved in these efforts not only helps our lobbying on behalf of educators and students, but it is guaranteed to make you feel more empowered—not a helpless victim of circumstances beyond your control.

“I think it’s important for all of us—regardless of whom we voted for in the election—to heed our president-elect’s message of ‘Yes, we can!’” added Floyd. “I know sometimes it feels like we’re facing an uphill battle, but we’ve climbed high mountains before, and we can do it again. Keeping that hope alive for a better future is critical.”

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MSEA is the 71,000-member Maryland affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA). NEA represents over 3.2 million public education teachers, support professionals, retired educators, school administrators, higher education faculty, and future educators.
© 2009 Maryland State Education Association