Colorado teachers: We like our schools, but we’ve got some issues

Colorado teachers are largely happy at their schools and consider them good places for students to learn. But they’ve got concerns about having enough time to get everything done, and issues with how student behavior rules are enforced.

Those are among the takeaways of an anonymous survey this spring of more than 35,000 teachers — more than half of the 68,000 certified teachers in the state.

The state Department of Education released the results Friday, the same day thousands of teachers descended on the state Capitol to advocate for stronger school funding, teacher pay, retirement benefits, and more.

The survey, Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado, or TLCC, found:

  • Eighty-nine percent of Colorado teachers believe their school is a good place to work and a good place for students to learn.
  • About four in 10 feel they don’t have enough time to prepare for instruction.
  • About half feel that new initiatives — like curriculum, assessments, instructional approach — aren’t given enough time to determine their effectiveness.
  • More than four in 10 think rules for student behavior are not enforced consistently.

The survey did not include any questions about teacher pay.

“We appreciate everyone who took the time to complete the survey, which gives us valuable information that we can dig into to help us better support teachers and improve education for all students,” Katy Anthes, Colorado’s education commissioner, said in a statement.

This was the first year the state conducted the TLCC survey, and officials cautioned against comparing it to a similar survey that previously was conducted. State officials said a tool that would provide good comparisons should be released later this spring.

You can read the full survey results here.