Teachers give feedback to School Board members
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

According to a recent survey, Chesterfield County Public Schools' teachers and instructional aides say the school day is not structured efficiently, and many support flipping school start times for elementary and high schools.

These findings and others are the result of an online survey of teachers and aides recently conducted by the Chesterfield School Board. About 25 percent of Chesterfield County teachers and instructional aides responded to the anonymous, four-question survey. The school system employs 3,891 teachers and 700 instructional aides.

The Chesterfield Education Association had input into the questions, and teachers and instructional aides had about a month to respond.

The board also hosted a roundtable discussion with representatives from each school late last month to gather additional feedback on the survey questions.

"The teachers appreciated meeting with School Board members [on Mar. 27]," Lin Corbin-Howerton, director of school improvement and instructional support, told the board during a work session on Mar. 30.

"We can make a difference by [changing some things] because not all [improvement areas] have a dollar amount attached to it," said Chairman Tom Doland. "We were giving teachers an opportunity to have a voice."

The survey question related to flipping start times for elementary and high schools received the largest response from teachers and aides. Asked if the current school day is structured for the most efficient use of instructional time, 854 responded it wasn't.

"Research supports elementary learning early in the day, [and] high school starting later," wrote one respondent. "Our current schedule is set up to help students fail."

"Stop listening to parents and flip the elementary and high school times," wrote another.

One respondent urged that Chesterfield follow Henrico County's lead in school scheduling, writing, "The rise in grades and SOLs would speak for themselves."

"The teachers gave us an earful on this subject," said Dale School Board David Wyman.

When asked what they need to be more effective in the classroom, 722 respondents said they want smaller class sizes. The average class size is 25 students countywide.

Other responses included more planning time (585), more substitutes/instructional aides (410), attending fewer meetings (255), more administrative help for discipline problems (242) and more help with English as a Second Language students (169).

Teachers/aides were able to give more than one answer to the questions.

When asked to define "high quality professional development," 786 wanted professional development to be geared to what is taught while 485 urged more statewide seminars and workshops with national authorities.

Asked how student diversity has affected their teaching strategies, 622 indicated that they were using data-driven approaches while others provide more opportunities for students to learn "in the way that is best for them." Visual and spoken instructions ranked second at 504. One teacher listed prayer so everything could get done.