CFK reports from: The National Press Club
Event: Release of Annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, panel discussion
Organized by: Committee for Economic Development and MetLife
Where/When: Washington, D.C., June 14, 2005

Report by Susan Phillips

New teachers feel at a loss when it comes to establishing productive relationships with parents, yet believe this is one of the most important challenges they need to address, according to this new survey. It's the 22nd in an annual series conducted by Harris Interactive for MetLife.

The survey looks at the experience of starting at a new school from the perspective of new teachers, students entering high school, and principals. With the subtitle Transitions and the Role of Supportive Relationships, the survey looked at relationships among members of the school community, how new teachers perceive their impact on students' lives, and teacher and student beliefs about parent involvement and school safety.

Panelists discussed the implications of the findings for efforts to stem the loss of novice teachers from the teaching workforce in their first five years in the classroom, and for the success of efforts to close the academic achievement gap between different groups of students.

The new teachers—defined as those with five or fewer years of classroom experience—were most likely to report that communicating with and involving parents is the biggest challenge they face. Thirty-one percent chose this is that their biggest challenge, compared to 22 percent who cited getting sufficient resources, and 20 percent who chose maintaining order and discipline in the classroom.

Panelist Nicole Chilla, a 10th grade English teacher in Washington, D.C., said that teacher education programs don't emphasize parent involvement, and that most student teachers are too worried about mastering content, managing classrooms, and being evaluated during their brief student teaching stints to reach out to parents. However, said Chilla, she disagreed that this was the biggest challenge for new teachers, arguing that what happens in the classroom between teachers and students is most important.

John Geraci of Harris Interactive noted that while new teachers and principals both identified having an experienced teacher to serve as a mentor as the most effective way to help new teachers, 19 percent of new teachers said they did not have such a mentor. Eighteen percent said they did not even get a tour of the school before starting work.

The survey found that both new teachers and students agree on the importance of the personal relationship between teachers and students, with 85 percent of new teachers strongly agreeing that they can make a difference in their students' lives, and 95 percent of students reporting have had at least one teacher who had made a difference in their lives.

The new survey, along with earlier versions, is available online.