RPS "Moneyball" - What the Satisfaction Survey Says About School Climate

Last October, RPS released the results of a 2021-2022 teacher satisfaction survey. 

They were… really depressing. 

At the time, the easiest explanation was: Of course teacher satisfaction is in the toilet. The whole state is struggling! The Delta and Omicron Covid variants took out big chunks of instructional time (for illness or quarantine), which put a lot of extra stress on the remaining staff in the school. On top of which, our year-long virtual experiment further isolated students, causing an explosion in student misbehavior and a crisis of mental health. 

I was optimistic that, with each passing year, the covid-echo would fade and school environments would stabilize. That did not happen. 

Our Department of Culture & Climate - responsible for creating ”safe and loving learning environments” for students and staff - was overwhelmed. There was no time to address the school satisfaction surveys when they were rushing from school-to-school, responding to devastating events like this one, this one, and this one. 

The near-term goal was survival - not satisfaction. (The administration asked the Board to fund a Crisis Response Team to relieve this department, and allow them to focus on their other important work in the district. The Board cut it from the proposed budget.) 

Meanwhile, the slow exodus of teachers has continued all across the district. Under-resourced and exhausted, they’re leaving mid-year, mid-semester, or even walking out in the middle of the school day. 

This is a bit of a silent crisis for now - just numbers on a personnel update. But - if it’s anything like last year - the volume of vacancies will be eye-popping come summer time. 

I expect our SOL scores will reflect the academic impact of these absences, too. Whether a substitute rolls in to pass out worksheets, or a class is divided among remaining school staff - the quality of the district’s instruction decreases with each lost educator.

The Board is bracing for both of these things. They’ve instructed the administration to create a teacher retention taskforce, and offer a variety of bonuses to attract and maintain staff. 

Unfortunately, their school culture/teacher satisfaction talk is often… narrowly focused. Most members point to principals. They’re toxic, they’re bullying staff! Or even just they’re ineffective, they’re leaving their teachers to fend for themselves. 

Only the 5th District rep (now Chairwoman) Rizzi spoke to the complexity of the problem:

“I don’t know that we can always say that one principal is more effective than the other. People are dealing with vastly different circumstances at different schools. Hopefully we look at that when we determine who is effective and who isn't, and just get people resources they need.” (Watch)

An effective principal does not always equal satisfied teachers. There are many (many) additional variables to consider - including compensation, the physical work environment, whether the school is adequately resourced, or if the student body is challenging. Even the teachers themselves contribute (positively or negatively) to a school’s overall satisfaction. 

The Teacher Satisfaction Survey touches on most of these concerns. So today we’ll analyze those, and see if there are any useful insights the district can use to guide policy decisions and next-steps. What are the unique needs of individual schools? And, what policy interventions might improve their school climate, and teacher satisfaction?

  • Disclaimer 1: The information we have is outdated. We’ve had school zones change and principals turnover in the months since the survey was conducted.

  • Disclaimer 2: This is not an exact science. “Satisfaction” is a personal feeling that reflects a wide array of workplace conditions, experiences and expectations. Taken together - staff, teacher, and student input can suggest areas for improvement. They cannot and do not point to definitive causes.  

  • Disclaimer 3: This is not a judgemental discussion. “The numbers are the numbers.” They do not say “this principal is trash!” or “these students are just plain rotten,” and neither should we. 

This is Moneyball, but for RPS. A look at the numbers to figure out where our leaders can best allocate funds to make positive change in our schools. Nothing more, nothing less. 

The Findings

The Line across the graph indicates the schools’ average overall satisfaction score. This includes data points from students, teachers, and staff who indicated their school was an enjoyable “place to work and learn.” 

The colorful bars indicate staff satisfaction with school administration, co-workers, students, safety, and the availability of resources. 

  • When those colorful bars exceed the “satisfaction line” - we can see which parts of the school climate are working, and by how much.

  • When those colorful bars fall below the “satisfaction line” - we can see which parts of the school climate need improvement, and by how much.

Our first finding is that Rizzi is right. Each school’s circumstances are vastly different. 

The top 10 most satisfying schools have respectful students, respected teachers, and respected administrators. They struggle with a lack of resources, but - by the numbers - they are safe and cooperative environments.

The least satisfying school environments, on the other hand, are all over the place. 

Sometimes, one factor is an obvious outlier. Take Wythe, for example. The biggest concern there is safety. (We talked about that in this recent blog post.) That appears to be the anchor pulling down the schools’ overall satisfaction scores. 

Patrick Henry, on the other hand, is safe. Students are very respectful, and so are the teachers. However, it’s really poorly resourced, and the school’s leadership has a low approval rating. 

So how do we turn these negatives into positives? How can school administrators use these scores to triage school satisfaction, and prioritize their time and resources?

Satisfaction Solutions

Safety

The survey question was super vague. “I feel safe at this school.” That could mean a lot of things.

  • Is the building safe? Is the school over capacity? Can drills be properly conducted? Are students or staff exposed to mold, infestations, or other harmful conditions?

  • Is the building secure? Do doors stay locked, and alarms sound? Or can intruders easily enter the school?

  • Are there enough Care and Safety Associates (CSAs) to maintain “sight and sound supervision”? Are they trained well enough to offer helpful interventions?

  • Is the student body particularly disruptive? Do they frequently bring in contraband like drugs or weapons?

Schools with weak safety scores may have to address more than one of these factors. School leadership should work collaboratively with the district’s facilities team, security director, and culture and climate to determine targeted, school-wide interventions. (My guess is, this is already happening.) Could the district arrange for all staff in “unsafe” schools to get Mandt trained, so they can be part of the de-escalation process? Could the Operations Office create a security plan to permanently shut down/barricade lesser used entrance points, so CSAs can better supervise the others? (Surely, George Wythe doesn’t need all 117 of theirs.) 

This is also where a School-City partnership can come in handy. The Mayor announced new violence prevention programs in his budget proposal. Can any of those programs have a presence inside these schools? 

The 10 lowest scores for “I feel safe at this school”, relative to their school’s average satisfaction score (pink line)

Resources

We are a chronically under-funded school system. Resources are scarce. But are there ways we can use them more efficiently?

For instance, it looks like the only category pulling down Cardinal Elementary School’s satisfaction score is resources. Might this school with 692 English Learners be a good candidate for additional bilingual support? Or extend those bilingual bonuses to current RPS staff who may be better utilized in schools with higher percentages of English learners? Maybe this school would benefit from mandatory training or regular refreshers on EL compliance related processes and best-practices, as recommended by the LULAC taskforce. (Pg 4)

Similar story for Richmond Virtual Academy, whose satisfaction numbers reflect what we’ve heard in public comment.

Additionally, central office should be proactive about identifying the resource needs of under-resourced schools with poor leadership ratings. Maybe it’s a communication problem, maybe it’s not - but school staff shouldn’t have to endure needlessly under-resourced conditions while district leaders evaluate the school’s leadership troubles. 

The 10 lowest scoring schools for “Sufficient resources” and Professional Development, relative to their school’s average satisfaction score (pink line)

Students

This datapoint is a combination of the staff/teacher survey response to “I am treated with respect by students at this school,” as well as the student response to “I feel like I belong at this school” - which I took to be a measure of how welcoming their peers are/were. (Again, this is an imperfect science.) 

Personally, I hesitate to broadly characterize a student body as disrespectful. I have three children myself, and I know they are absolutely capable of disrespect at any age - but I also know they’re at their crabbiest when they are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. (HALT)

What the “Student” satisfaction score tells me, then, is how well a child’s basic needs are being met, and/or how much they trust the adults in their lives to meet those needs. 

Those “Basic Needs” - access to food, health, housing, and safe, nurturing communities - are really problems for the City to solve. It’s a broader societal failure that follows students into their Kindergarten classrooms, and continues to sabotage their school environments through graduation. 

In my opinion, the best thing Richmond Public Schools can do is partner with the City to identify the needs of (what Cheryl Burke calls) the “whole child.” This is the idea behind “fiscal mapping” - aka the city’s proposed Children’s Budget. They want to find and track how city agencies spend money (from all sources: federal, state, city, grant, and philanthropic) to see which of children’s needs are being served, how, and by whom? This can then guide future spending and programming to close any gaps in social services, as well as identify where/how they can streamline the services they already provide. (Currently, Burke and Young are the only ones who have responded positively to this proposal. Harris-Muhammed, Rizzi, and Jones come to mind as folks who have expressed some level of skepticism/hesitation.)

There’s really little else RPS can do directly. The state doesn’t fund enough of our support personnel - like counselors, psychologists, and social workers. There’s also just not enough of them to hire, even if we could.

In the meantime, school administrators are encouraging the community to come together to support students. Last week, new-Wythe Principal, (ironically named) Mr. Olds, all but begged parents to organize and participate in a PTA that offers afterschool programming. Other community members suggested that neighborhood and faith groups could establish or assist with community-building efforts, too.

The 10 lowest scoring schools for student “respect”, relative to their school’s average satisfaction score (pink line)

Leadership 

The post-Covid landscape has really rocked RPS.

Teachers have had it. Their job was hard enough before the pandemic, but now it’s damn near impossible. Their classes are bigger, their students' needs are greater, schools are overwhelmed with misbehavior, and the district’s budget cannot expand far enough or fast enough to offer any meaningful relief. 

At the same time, teachers have never been more powerful. They are in high demand across the country, and whether they say so or not - they can afford to walk. This is very much the case in RPS. 

As for the principals? Well. There is truth to the saying “people don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses,” and the data suggests that some of our “bosses” aren’t living up to the current moment:

  • Some Principals do not recognize or respect the shift in the worker-power balance. Public comment regularly features claims of retaliatory behavior. Playgrounds are also full of whispers about principals bullying teachers to the point of tears. 

  • Some Principals simply sound unqualified. Maybe they were fine pre-covid, but now they’re sinking in the post-covid chaos, cutting regulatory corners, un/knowingly violating student rights, or grossly mismanaging sexual assault allegations.

  • Some Principals just sound like really poor communicators. 

What the data also shows us is that schools with poor principal ratings often report similarly low resource ratings. This may indicate that some principals aren’t doing a good enough job advocating for and providing the materials their staff need to be successful. On the other hand, this may indicate that school staff blame their principals for their stressful under-resourced environment, regardless whether it’s fair to do so.

It could also mean something else entirely. Relationships are complicated, and so are these findings. 

Given the current principal shortage - yes, there’s a shrinking supply of all school staff, including superintendents - I really hope professional development can improve the performance of school administrators. Some, we may just need to cut loose. Especially if their conduct is a continuous threat to teacher retention. Perhaps there’s an opportunity here to throw administrators their own bonuses for improving their satisfaction ratings? I’m eager to hear the Teacher Retention Taskforce recommendations, particularly on this issue.

The 10 lowest scoring schools for administrator “respect”, relative to their school’s average satisfaction score (pink line)

Teachers

Teachers are an integral part of a schools’ climate. In fact, oftentimes the question “I feel respected by teachers and other adults at this school” received the highest satisfaction scores. My hunch is: “Respectful” teachers are a reflection of their workplace conditions. 

Disrespectful teachers probably are too. 

There is a fear that hurt people hurt people, and disrespectful teachers are mirroring the disrespect they’re receiving from their administrators. (I won’t beat that dead horse.)

But there’s also a fear that disrespectful teachers are a product of the “new norm” in post-covid classrooms.

Chronic teacher absenteeism is way up. Combined with the steady exodus of RPS educators, these vacancies put an incredible burden on the remaining school staff. This is a recipe for rapidly burning out and losing additional staff.

The district worked together with the teacher’s union, Richmond Education Association, to identify and negotiate compensation for all these additional burdens teachers are facing. This is, of course, an important step towards acknowledging and valuing the extra work of our teachers; but the City is not currently poised to fully fund this collective bargaining agreement. (One Board member thinks the agreement under-estimates the volume of teachers covering classes, anyway.)

What I do not know, and have not heard Board discussion about, is how the district intends to solve the cause of instructor-less classrooms (not just the symptoms.) Retention bonuses may help slow the exodus of teachers - but how are we going to alleviate their work conditions? How can we address their peer’s absenteeism so there aren’t extra classes to cover in the first place? I’m not even sure how bad teacher absenteeism is in Richmond Public Schools because I cannot find it publicly posted. All I have is anecdotal evidence that says it’s pretty bad. 

Some districts track teacher attendance and make the information public. Southampton County Public Schools (the district Dr. Harris-Muhammed works for) does this. I’m not sure what prize they get - but each month the Board recognizes the “winning” school with the highest teacher-attendance. This feels like small-potatoes compared the other big items we’ve discussed today (school safety, compatible administrators, well resourced schools, etc) - but I do think that tracking teacher attendance is a good way to flag schools with destructive climates in real-time. My guess is - these are the schools we’ll see the most turnover year-after-year, too. 

Again - this conversation is not intended to pass judgment on any one school or group of schools. Instead I hope you come away with a better understanding of how complicated School “Satisfaction” really is, and ways you can advocate to improve those conditions at your school (or all schools). I offer the following shout outs (harvested from RPS Direct) as a palate cleanser to prove that even schools on the struggle-bus are loving environments, worthy of our attention and investment:

Great job to Natoya Rozier at Carver Elementary. She is so warm and welcoming to the parents and staff. She has a drive and is willing to learn whatever we send her way. (1/24/23)

I’d love to give a shout-out to Sharne Francis, assistant principal at Henderson Middle School. She is always so kind and responsive. Our family is grateful for her work and her commitment to her students. (1/31/23)

I would love to shout-out Kevin Blyskal at River City Middle School. He is an excellent teacher that goes out of his way to create fresh resources to better support his students. He never says no when a fellow teacher asks for help, and is always willing to take that extra step to help others. He is a cherished member of our team! (2/15/23)

I would like to give a shout-out to Ms. Reeves at John B. Cary! Your hard work and dedication do not go unnoticed. My son always tells me that Ms. Reeves is his best friend. We are truly blessed and thankful for you. (2/15/23)

If you’re an RPS teacher with thoughts or suggestions about teacher retention, please consider attending the Teacher Townhall on April 12 (details TBD), or participating in the Teacher Retention Taskforce:

”Any other teachers who are interested in joining should contact Rodney Robinson at rrobins4@rvaschools.net.”

Becca DuVal