Empowering Teachers: A researcher seeks teachers' input on how to improve their working environments.

This is a really insightful interview. I encourage anyone interested in this subject to check out some of the work being done at UCSC's New Teacher Center. -Patricia

Ed Week Interview
March 1, 2008

There have been countless studies—not to mention legislative initiatives—on how to improve the teaching profession. But what do educators themselves think? What do they say they need to excel in their jobs? And what obstacles do they commonly face?

Eric Hirsch, director of special projects with The New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, wants to know. Since 2004, he has been conducting statewide surveys of teachers and principals on how they view the working conditions in their schools. Hirsch is now working with eight states to assess, as he puts it, what teachers “want and need,” and how their perceptions of various aspects of their jobs correlate with student achievement and teacher retention. His aim is to help schools create “environments where teachers can thrive.“

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