Voices of Change

With the Voices of Change project, we set out to capture the experiences and evolving practices of educators as they unfold. Two EdSurge journalists developed in-depth reporting projects, which resulted in comprehensive accounts of how teachers’ working conditions are changing.

Emily Tate’s story, “Our Nation’s Teachers Are Hustling to Survive,” follows American public school teachers who work multiple jobs to supplement their income because their teaching salary is not enough to make ends meet. The pervasiveness of this issue has been exacerbated by the urgent realities of the pandemic and economic downturn, both of which compel teachers to push themselves and overextend even further. Co-published with Mother Jones.

Stephen Noonoo’s story, "The Mental Health Crisis Causing Teachers to Quit," takes a close look at the next great labor crisis, compiling an account of the rapidly growing teacher shortage and dwindling educator pipeline fueled by teacher burnout, exhaustion and extreme stress. His article shines a light on the mental health crisis engulfing the teaching profession. Co-published with The New Republic.

Over the past year, we have published stories exploring themes related to access and equity, mental health and well-being for students and educators, and workforce challenges. These articles were written by our fellows, reporters, contributing writers and researchers. We highlighted new voices from across the country, including first-person essays from educators and school leaders tackling timely and relevant challenges with real solutions.

Our research team facilitated various research and community engagement events. Those activities involved more than 90 educators from diverse K-12 school communities across the country through focus groups, surveys, in-depth interviews and virtual learning circles (structured small group discussions where educators gathered to connect and learn from each other about topics relevant to their practice).

Each activity served a different purpose. Our focus groups were designed to learn more about how educators engage with articles and research about teaching and learning, and to better understand what additional resources they would find most inspiring to their practice. Our series of virtual learning circles, surveys and interviews allowed us to delve deeper into topics most commonly raised by educators during these discussions including trauma, burnout and questions about leveraging education research.

Across these conversations with educators, we explored how teachers, administrators and other school staff members were adapting to the complex challenges of the 2021-2022 school year. EdSurge researchers shared their findings in two articles and a final report, which highlights learnings from the Voices of Change project.

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