A number of teacher resignation letters recently went viral online. Interestingly, a study finds out that neither low payments nor retirement issues fuel this fiasco alone. Michigan State University investigates the controversial letters and discovers a bigger problem at hand.

Alyssa Hadley Dunn, an expert at Michigan State University, leads a team of researchers to examine the strange scenario of educators posting their resignations online. Apparently, teachers from all grade levels are frustrated and brokenhearted due to "scripted curriculum". It appears that they grew tired of standardized tests and retributive evaluation systems.

According to Phys.org, in the second part of the trio study, another reason that drives the resignation madness is the hunger for the chance to be heard. Through posting their resignation letters, teachers get the attention of the public that they failed to have before. The first study entitled "With regret: The genre of teachers' public resignation letters" was published in April in the journal "Linguistics and Education". Meanwhile, the second installment will appear on "Teaching and Teacher Education" this May.

Now, the third and final research unveils that these educators want to eliminate the "blame game" and the connotation of a "bad" teacher. Well, teachers are commonly blamed for school failures. To better illustrate, soldiers get blamed for a failed mission but the truth is: they just followed orders. The third study will be published in "Teachers College Record".

Some of the people Dunn worked with include Jennifer VanDerHeide, Matthew Deroo, Scott Farver, Amy Guenther, and Lindsay Wexler. They are all from Michigan State, either as assistant professors or doctorate students. All in all, Dunn suggests that school administrators need to allow teachers to engage in the development of curriculum and educational policies.

Per Science Daily, this move will make teachers feel wanted and forget the feeling to resign. Lastly, teacher turnover costs about $2.2 billion in the US alone, on a yearly basis. It also decreases student achievement in reading and math test scores.

Topics Michigan State University, Education System