In a recent class project for an Education Specialist course, I conducted a small action research project to try to determine potential causes of teacher frustration. We all know the facts. Teachers have a reputation for being one of the most stressed and underpaid professionals and they are leaving the profession. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were approximately 10.6 million educators working in public education in January 2020; today there are just 10.0 million, a net loss of around 600,000. Teacher shortages are affecting schools across the country.
The area of focus for the action research was on Operations and Management. Essentially, the ability of leadership to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to improve management, communication, technology, school-level governance, and operation systems.
I assessed the amount of time teachers spend on non-value added tasks (tasks or requests that do not add to the mission or operation of the school, influence the learning environment or improve the processes or procedures of the classroom or building operation. In comparison to value added tasks (tasks is that inform teaching practices, create positive learning experiences, advocate for the teaching profession, etc.)
I asked a group of high school teachers to document anytime they spent time on a non –value added tasks. In a small, short investigation, I discovered that teachers could spend up to 10% of their day on non-value added tasks. Tasks like entering grades. Not grading, which is used as a variable to assess student progress, I mean the actual manual setting up of an assignment in a gradebook across multiple class periods and multiple buildings. The gradebook and attendance tool is a converted database tool that hosts important student data so required to use, but a cumbersome tool that can take several minutes to load and update. Audio visual issues with hardware and software that do not work properly, or the processes and technology required to set up testing, student parking issues, burdensome tools and processes that get in the way of relationship building amongst teachers and students.
| Teacher Contracted time in Hours per day | 7.75 |
| Teacher Contracted time in Minutes per day | 465.00 |
| If Time spent on Non Value Added Tasks – 3% per teacher (lost time in minutes/day) | 13.95 |
| Lost Labor in Minutes (all staff) | 4,883 |
| Lost Labor in Hours (all staff) | 81.38 |
| If Time spent on Non Value Added Tasks – 10% per teacher (lost time in minutes/day) | 46.50 |
| Lost Labor in Minutes (all staff) | 16,275 |
| Lost Labor in Hours (all staff) | 271.25 |
The impact to both labor costs and morale and culture is significant. A teacher can lose from 14 minutes – 48 minutes per day to non-value added tasks. At one high school with a staff of 350 and a student population of approximately 3,000, teachers spend between 3%-10% of time on non-value added tasks that represents 81 – 271 labor hours lost each day for the school. For teachers, being asked to continue these non- value added processes without an acknowledgement or justification, there is certainly an impact to culture/morale and overall job satisfaction.
Effective educational leadership is complex, but an awareness of what is happing at all levels of the building and the willingness to address problems and implement solutions with team input can be an effective, leadership practice that may not be as time consuming as we think, especially if we consider the impact of losing labor hours to non-value added tasks.
Imel Learning 