Data collected this summer shows Delaware educators are losing at least six hours a month of direct instruction time due to increased problems with student behavior.
The Delaware State Education Association — the union representing the state’s educators — polled over 1,000 members this July after finding student behavior jumped to the second most prevalent problem for teachers behind compensation.
DSEA’s Director of Legislative and Political Strategy Taylor Hawk says the union wanted to dive into that data further, and their findings show 75% of Delaware teachers have experienced outbursts by students that have disrupted learning.
Over half of those polled have also experienced chronic absenteeism, had items destroyed due to student behavior and faced verbal threats or aggression from a student.
About one in three educators has worried about physical injury by a student, while one in five has been injured.
While the median number of hours classroom teachers report lost to behavior is seven, the highest reported loss of time is in middle school at 10 hours.
The poll reports six in 10 teachers say student behavioral challenges make them more likely to leave education, and educators who have been in the field 10 or more years report a higher likelihood of considering leaving the field.
“One of the major barriers they referenced — three quarters of DSEA members say they're facing a lack of parent support from student discipline when looking to manage these problems, and six in 10 are saying they experience a lack of administrative support for behavior referrals," Hawk explained.
Hawk says their findings are not to point fingers, but rather to get a clear understanding of what educators are saying about the issue.
The majority of teachers cited food and housing instability, challenges at home, social and mental health challenges and technology and social media as potential contributing factors to students' behavioral challenges.
As far as solutions, the majority of educators cited smaller class sizes, improving support from administration and implementing policies on cell phone usage.
Hawk presented the data to the Student Behavior and School Climate Task Force, a body charged with developing solutions to tackle these exact problems.
Task force member and Superintendent of the Red Clay Consolidated School District Dorrell Green says administration is often in a "catch-22" for how they implement discipline policies.
"[Administrators] do their damndest to try to support the educators and use the tools and resources that are available to them," he said. "It's a push and pull I think in terms of really trying to be supportive of the classroom environment while also adequately meeting the needs of our students and communities in many instances."
DSEA UniServ Director for various New Castle County school districts Jenn Smith says she has heard anecdotally that teachers know their administration is doing their best, but they simply lack the staffing and resources to be more effective.
The task force is in its final stages of drafting recommendations. They have two more meetings scheduled before their report is due to state officials by Nov. 1, 2024.
