Dive Brief:

• A new survey from the Education Week Research Center finds 86% of teachers reporting that they were impacted by changes or reforms in the most recent two school years. 
• Additionally, 58% of respondents said the changes have been "way too much" or "too much," though they've remained positive overall, with close to a third saying the amount of change was "just about right," Education Week reports.
• Teachers reported that they were most affected by changes to teacher evaluation systems (62%), the curriculum used (58%), professional development (53%), state testing (52%) and school discipline (46%).

Dive Insight:

Between the influx of technology, changes to state standards, the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act and more all happening in recent years, educators have had to make a lot of adjustments. On the state standards front alone, several states initially adopted the Common Core before backing out, making things even more complicated.

While change can bring about necessary improvements, it must also be coupled with a sense that stability will follow. If educators adjust to something like the Common Core or another set of standards, for example, and adapt to new teaching methods and curriculum as a result, a decision to back out can create turmoil in addition to having wasted time and money on professional development and resources for those standards.

The ability to brace for, roll with and make the best of changes is a necessity in the current education space. The realities of a shifting economy demand a focus on new skills and graduates prepared for different work environments than the generations before them. Meeting those needs may require administrators to provide additional support and stability to educators as they shift their pedagogical approaches and learn to incorporate a variety of new tools into their lesson plans.