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Summer means school\u2019s out. And this year, teachers are likely just as thrilled as students\u2014if not more so, judging by the results of the 2024 State of the American Teacher Survey<\/a>, released on June 18, which finds that educators are among the most stressed, burned out, and unfairly compensated workers in society.<\/p>\n The survey, from the nonpartisan nonprofit Rand, found that teachers feel all three pain points at about twice the rate of comparable working adults, defined as aged 18 to 64 with a bachelor\u2019s degree and at least a 35-hour work week. And roughly three times as many teachers reported difficulty coping with the work-related stress.<\/p>\n They attribute a majority of their stress to managing student behavior, administrative work outside of teaching, and low salaries\u2014base pay is roughly $70,000 compared with $88,000 for their similar working counterparts, prompting only 36% of teachers to consider their base pay adequate, as compared with 51% of those other working adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s especially frustrating considering the many hours required, with teachers reporting working nine hours a week more than similar working adults, for an average of 53 hours of work per week.<\/p>\n The fourth annual Rand State of the Teacher survey is a nationally representative, annual survey of 1,479 K-12 public school teachers across the U.S., supported by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) and presented using findings from a separate 2024 American Life Panel<\/a> companion survey of 500 working adults.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Among Rand\u2019s other findings:<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>Teachers go into the profession because of their deep commitment to helping children learn and thrive. They, supported by their unions, have thrown themselves into the mission of helping students recover academically, socially and emotionally. They should be lionized, cherished and supported,\u201d Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, tells Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut this report shows, once again, that conditions, compensation and culture wars have made their lives more stressful than their peers,\u201d she adds. \u201cTeachers make all other professions possible. It\u2019s well past time to stop the inadequate funding, political attacks, poor pay and substandard conditions and give them a real say. Where that happens, we\u2019re starting to see our efforts bear fruit\u2014as schools become places where parents want to send their kids, educators want to work and kids thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n Notes Sy Doan<\/a>, lead author of the report, in a press release on the survey, \u201cAlthough teacher well-being seems to have stabilized at pre-pandemic levels, our data raise questions about the sustainability of the profession for Black teachers and female teachers in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n The findings are similar to those of a recent Pew Teachers Survey<\/a>, which also found that teachers are less satisfied with their jobs than other workers\u2014with 33% of teachers and 51% of all U.S. workers expressing \u201cextreme satisfaction.\u201d It also found: 77% of teachers say their job is frequently stressful, 68% say it\u2019s overwhelming, 70% say their school is understaffed, and 52% say they would not advise a young person starting out today to become a teacher.<\/p>\n\n\u2018Conditions, compensation, and culture wars\u2019<\/h2>\n
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