"As the Commonwealth embarks on the next chapter in education improvement, we must have the voice of educators in the conversation. This survey is a unique and important opportunity to help shape education policy and practice with the perspective of the very teachers and administrators most involved in making classrooms succeed."
- Governor Deval Patrick

Results

Over 40,000 Massachusetts educators - teachers and administrators - responded to the Massachusetts Teaching, Learning and Leading Survey in March 2008. Educators provided their views about teaching and learning conditions, including leadership, empowerment, facilities and resources, professional development, and time, in their schools. The insights from educators across the Commonwealth provide critical information for making local and state-level decisions to improve Massachusetts schools. The survey data are released only at the school and district levels if a minimum of 40 percent and at least 5 of the school faculty responded to the survey. Click here to access school level data reports.

The Massachusetts Teaching, Learning and Leading Survey: Creating Conditions Where Teachers Stay and Teachers Thrive was released on February 24, 2009 to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The final report of the Mass TeLLS initiative analyzes teaching conditions in the Commonwealth, documents connections to student achievement and future employment plans, and examines how educators view conditions differently. Read the press release and review a powerpoint presentation of findings.

Using the Data

The success of Mass TeLLS depends on the extent to which school communities can use the resulting data to inform real school improvement processes. Toward that end, The New Teacher Center created a resources page to help schools and communities engage in ongoing and meaningful conversations about potential strategies to improve teaching and learning conditions. All members of the Mass TeLLS Coalition are committed to the appropriate use of the Mass TeLLS data to improve student achievement and to support positive working conditions in Massachusetts public schools. Coalition members have described their beliefs about the purpose of the survey and its appropriate use in a Memo of Understanding.

Click here to learn about support opportunities for enhancing teaching conditions.

Partners

A collection of stakeholder groups representing teachers, superintendents, community and business groups (listed on left side of this page) are collectively working with The New Teacher Center at the University of California at Santa Cruz (NTC) to conduct the survey. NTC is a nonpartisan organization with a mission to support the development of an effective, dedicated and inspired teaching force. NTC also has extensive experience conducting similar surveys across the country.

Governor Deval Patrick, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the American Federation of Teachers - Massachusetts, the National Education Association, the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association, the Massachusetts Elementary School Principals Association, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, The Boston Foundation, and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation are some of the groups supporting MassTeLLS.