As school districts across Colorado combat issues with teacher retention, the Colorado Department of Education is collecting data on teachers’ job satisfaction.
The Teaching and Learning Conditions Colorado survey, conducted every two years, shows that educators statewide have positive feelings about their schools. Even so, teachers have identified some areas where they need more support.
The majority of Colorado teachers report that their schools are good places to work (86%) and good places to learn (88%). But they need more help supporting students who have experienced trauma, who have individualized education programs (IEP), and who are multilingual learners. They’re also asking for more support developing students’ social emotional skills.
In a Zoom call with media outlets on May 1, Commissioner of Education Susana Córdova said teachers also need more planning time for their classes.
The state’s survey shows 61% of teachers feel they have adequate time to prepare for lessons, and 50% say external substitute teachers are readily available.
“The teacher shortage is a continuing challenge,” Córdova said. “And to help turn that around, … we clearly need more substitute teachers to help with coverage and to free up some of the time that teachers are losing when they have to cover classes.”
Some of this survey data differs from information collected by the state’s teacher’s union, the Colorado Education Association (CEA).
The Colorado Department of Education’s survey shows only 6% of teachers surveyed were considering retiring or leaving the teaching profession, down from 9% in 2022. The union’s recent “State of Education” report found 58% of its survey respondents were considering leaving the education profession “in the near future.”
Cordova addressed the discrepancy during the press conference.
“Obviously, there are likely differences in the questions that were asked,” Córdova said. “There sometimes can be differences in how people feel depending on what time of year the questions are asked. … And it may well be that this survey tapped into a different group of people who responded than in the CEA survey.”
Teacher retention remains a top priority for school districts across the state. The new superintendents of the Aspen and Roaring Fork school districts have both emphasized the issue in their bids for the leadership position.
Local responses
In most categories of job satisfaction, teachers’ responses from Aspen to Rifle aligned with statewide averages, give or take 5%, but there were some notable changes from 2022 to 2024.
In the Garfield RE-2 school district, there was a big increase in how many teachers were satisfied with family and community engagement, but new staff with one to three years of experience reported feeling happy with their support systems much less often compared to new staff in 2022.
Fewer Garfield RE-2 staff members felt new initiatives are given enough time to determine their effectiveness in 2024, and 8% less support staff, such as paraprofessionals, were satisfied with the clarity and appropriateness of their job responsibilities.
Roaring Fork School District teachers reported job satisfaction levels mostly on par with their 2022 responses, but more of their staff were happy with the level of family and community involvement.
Similar to Garfield RE-2, the Roaring Fork School District saw fewer new teachers satisfied with their support systems in 2024 compared to 2022.
The number of Aspen School District staff who had a positive general impression of their school improved this year by 11%. But at 83% general satisfaction, they’re still lagging behind the Roaring Fork School District (88%) and Garfield RE-2 (85%).
Another notable increase in the Aspen School District is the 27% increase in support staff who were satisfied with their job, making the Aspen schools on par with downvalley school districts in this field. Superintendent of the Aspen School District Dr. David Baugh said satisfaction was “way down” in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, and he’s been working to improve culture and climate at the schools since he arrived in 2020.
“I think the TLCC survey sums up that we are heading in the right direction,” Dr. Baugh said.
While slightly more Aspen teachers were happy with their professional development opportunities this year, they still fell behind the state’s average. About 70% of teachers in Colorado are happy with their professional development, compared to just 59% of Aspen teachers.
Less than 40% of teachers in Parachute and Battlement Mesa’s Garfield-16 school district filled out the survey, so data is not available on teacher satisfaction in those schools.
