NCTAF Statement on the New MetLife Survey of the American Teacher

NCTAF Urges the Nation’s Education Leaders to
Act on MetLife’s Homework Findings

WASHINGTON – February 14, 2008 – The release this week of the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: The Homework Experience shines a spotlight on the importance of homework for today’s students. Homework forges day-to-day links between teachers, students, and parents that directly benefit students in their current schoolwork as well as in the life and work skills they will use beyond the classroom.

“Parent and teacher engagement is the most important partnership we have in education,” said NCTAF Co-chair Richard W. Riley, a former U.S. Secretary of Education. “Homework is an essential tool through which teachers can communicate with parents. These activities enable teachers and parents to shape the out-of-classroom learning context that contributes to the quality of educational experiences provided by the school,” he added.

Despite anecdotal reports that homework is placing an undue stress on family life, The Homework Experience finds that a majority of parents (60 percent) believe that the right amount of homework is being assigned, and three-quarters of students report that they have enough time to do their assignments.

But NCTAF is concerned by the finding that lower achieving students do less homework and that these students report receiving a poorer quality education than others. A related area of concern is that novice teachers may be less effective than veterans when it comes to homework.

“This difference between novice and veteran teachers is significant when we consider that schools with a majority of students from low-income families are more likely to have a large number of beginning teachers than schools with few low-income students,” said NCTAF President Tom Carroll. “Those teachers have few opportunities to learn from veterans about how to use homework to engage parents and students in productive homework activities.”

The consequences of concentrating inexperienced teachers in high needs schools become even clearer when we look back at the findings of the 2004-2005 MetLife Survey on Transitions and Supportive Relationships in schools, said Carroll. Novice teachers (those with five years or less of experience) were most likely to report that communicating with and involving parents is their biggest challenge – outweighing all other challenges including classroom management and preparing students for testing. The report also found that the problem of parental involvement is particularly acute for those new teachers in schools with a majority of students from low-income families, where large numbers of beginning teachers are concentrated.

Carroll also pointed out that the 2006 MetLife Survey of teacher Expectations and Experiences reported on the push-pull tensions that these conditions create in teachers’ lives. The report found that teacher career satisfaction is at an all time high, but that at least one quarter of our teachers are likely to leave the profession within the next three years, because they feel that they do not have enough training for the challenges they face and that they need more support during their early years in the classroom.

“The encouraging news is that the MetLife reports provide clear insights into what can be done to address these concerns,” said Riley. “Mentoring relationships between experienced veterans and novices can significantly increase the odds that new teachers will remain in the classroom, where they can build effective relationships with their students and strong partnerships with the parents. This is particularly important when we consider that students who struggle with homework, and who are most likely to report feeling overloaded and stressed by their assignments, are also most likely to report that they do not have any adults at school they can turn to for help,” he added.

The annual MetLife Survey has consistently provided a voice for teachers, administrators, students, and parents to clearly articulate the positive and negative aspects of the schooling experience. Taken together, the most recent MetLife report on the Homework Experience, and the earlier MetLife reports on Teacher Expectations and Support, build a strong case for the importance of collaborative relationships that nurture the spirit and power of teamwork among veteran and novice teachers, who working together, can design lessons and homework activities that improve student learning beyond what any of them can accomplish alone.

We urge the nation’s leaders and NCTAF partners to take a close look at these reports.

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The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. NCTAF is dedicated to providing every child with competent, caring, qualified teaching in schools organized for success. With a network coalition of 25 states and links to professional educational organizations across the nation, NCTAF provides leadership on innovation and improvement in teaching and learning in America’s schools. For more information, visit NCTAF’s website: www.nctaf.org.