APA Press Release
September 11, 2006
Contact: Kanika Lewis
(202) 336-5700

APA COALITION SURVEY IDENTIFIES TEACHERS' NEEDS

New teachers are particularly interested in strategies addressing a broad range of student achievement levels

WASHINGTON – Pre-K through 12th-grade teachers want more preparation in classroom management and instructional skills, according to a nationwide Teacher Needs Survey released today by the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education, a partnership between the APA Education Directorate's Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education and 14 child-related APA divisions.

The Coalition’s goal is to support educators’ ability to apply an understanding of successful teaching and learning methods—based on psychological science—in their classrooms and schools.

According to the more than 2300 responses received, teachers want help with classroom management in areas including student safety in classrooms and dealing with students' negative or disruptive behaviors. Teachers also want help with instructional skills, such as promoting critical thinking and motivating students to learn. 

The survey also indicates that teachers want “further preparation in addressing the achievement disparities they see every day—disparities also reinforced by data collected to meet No Child Left Behind regulations,”  said psychologist Rena Subotnik, PhD, Director of APA’s Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education.

Novice teachers, in particular, expressed a strong need for assistance. “New teachers, those most likely to leave the profession, told us that they are seeking instructional strategies to serve the wide range of achievement levels students bring to the same classroom,” said Subotnik. 

Survey respondents indicated a preference for receiving professional development in the form of online courses or small in-district workshops, rather than larger regional workshops.  “Teachers want a more personalized environment that offers them preparation on topics they deem as relevant and necessary to improve instruction and classroom management practice,” said psychologist V. Scott Solberg, PhD, Chair of the Coalition and Director of Wisconsin Careers at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. 

By reporting these findings, the Coalition hopes it will help inform public policy as well as influence the creation of APA professional development courses for teachers based on their needs.

Full text of the executive summary of the report is available at: http://www.apa.org/ed/cpse/tns_execsummary.pdf

For more information please contact Ashley Edmiston or Rena Subotnik, PhD from APA’s Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.