BOSTON, July 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global
learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today announced
the findings of the second annual Educator Confidence
Report, which examines educator sentiment on a range of issues,
including technology use in classrooms, professional learning
opportunities, and overall comfort and familiarity with digital
learning tools.
"The Educator Confidence Report gives us a clear
snapshot into the needs of K-12 teachers in the U.S.
today," said Rose
Else-Mitchell, Executive Vice President of Professional
Services at HMH. "This report shows that teachers'
appetite for technology in classrooms is matched by their
desire for targeted solutions to support
meaningful implementation of that technology to truly drive
learning gains."
Key takeaways from the report include:
- Deeper family engagement and professional learning top
priorities for educators: 58% of educators reported a desire
for more parent and family engagement while an overwhelming 84%
spend their own money on professional development.
- Educators are turning to social media to interact with their
communities: Facebook was the most popular social media tool
used by educators as a whole to communicate with families, although
district administrators showed a slight preference for Twitter. 33%
of teachers, 60% of school administrators and 67% of district
administrators reported using Facebook, compared with 16%, 43% and
71% (respectively) who use Twitter.
- Decrease in concerns about meeting standards and
accountability requirements: Concern by educators about teacher
accountability requirements dropped by 13 percentage points
year-over-year (from 63% to 50%), while concern about meeting the
requirements of Common Core/state standards assessments dropped 11
percentage points (from 58% to 47%).
- State assessments being delivered digitally: Over one
third of educators (39%) are administering end-of-year state
assessments in a digital format; however, only half of respondents
said they feel well-prepared to administer them in digital
form.
- Digital paradoxes revealed: Newer teachers (ten or fewer
years of experience) use social media more often to engage with
students than more experienced educators. More experienced teachers
(11+ years), however, use other digital tools, such as digital
white boards and online assessments, with greater frequency. With
the exception of social media, there were no instances in the
survey where newer teachers use a digital tool more often than
those with more years in the classroom.
Although teachers with 10 or fewer years of experience are less
frequent users of digital classroom tools, they report the most
confidence when it comes to using technology resources in an
instructionally effective way. This specific finding signals the
importance of providing educators as a whole with the necessary
supports to help guide them toward increased incorporation of
digital tools for student instruction and engagement.
Else-Mitchell continued, "HMH partners with thousands of school
districts across the US and this data aligns with what we hear from
customers. It is critical that we listen to teachers, so we can
provide them with the effective, collaborative and personalized
professional learning opportunities they want."
The Educator Confidence Report is an independent survey
that was conducted by the market research agency MDR on behalf of
HMH. This was the second administration of the survey to a
diverse national cross-section of 1,047 educators.
To view the full report, visit
http://learn.hmhco.com/ecr2016.
About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt (NASDAQ: HMHC) is a
global learning company dedicated to changing people's lives by
fostering passionate, curious learners. As a leading provider of
pre-K–12 education content, services, and cutting-edge technology
solutions across a variety of media, HMH enables learning in a
changing landscape. HMH is uniquely positioned to create engaging
and effective educational content and experiences from early
childhood to beyond the classroom. HMH serves more than 50
million students in over 150 countries worldwide, while its
award-winning children's books, novels, non-fiction, and reference
titles are enjoyed by readers throughout the world. For more
information, visit www.hmhco.com.
Follow HMH on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Media Contact
Jennifer Berlin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(617) 351-5270
Jennifer.Berlin@HMHCo.com
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