Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4-8, 2026, and National Teacher Appreciation Day is May 5, 2026. The May Director’s Desk article, Teacher Appreciation and Shortages, examines teachers’ satisfaction and strategies to address teacher shortages, stress, and burnout. As the Director notes, data suggest that once-a-year expressions of appreciation – flowers, cards, lunches, and gifts – may not be enough as the national teacher shortages grow each year. This article examines the characteristics of today’s U.S. teaching corps and teachers’ perceptions of the challenges they face in the classroom.

Today, nearly four million K-12 teachers serve more than 50 million students in 98,500 U.S. public schools. It is estimated that the average teacher affects over 3,000 students during their career, both in and out of their classroom (NCES, 2024).

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the majority of teachers are in their 30s and 40s, and the large majority are women (see below).

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Pew Research Center, 2024a.

The graph below compares the racial and ethnic makeup of U.S. public school teachers and students and how they have changed over time. While the percentage of white students declined dramatically from 71% in 1987-88 to 46% in 2020-21, the large majority of teachers are white (though the percentage decreased from 87% to 80% over this period). The second-largest change in the student population was among Hispanic students, which increased from 11% to 28%. The percentage of Hispanic teachers nationally also increased from 3% to 9%, while the percentage of Black teachers declined from 8% to 6%.

% of public school K-12 teachers and students who are_______, by year

As discussed in the Director’s Desk article, research on teacher satisfaction, stress, and burnout paints a discouraging view of the current state of the teaching profession.

• In a 2023 survey, only a third of teachers reported being extremely or very satisfied with their jobs overall. About half (48%) said they’re somewhat satisfied, while 18% said they are “not too or not at all” satisfied with their job (Pew Research Center, 2024).
• A 2022 Gallup survey of U.S. workers revealed that workers in K-12 education reported significantly higher burnout rates than those in any other industry. 44% of teachers reported being “always” or “very often” burned out at work.
• RAND researchers Diliberti, Schwartz, and Grant (2021) concluded that stress was the #1 reason teachers leave the profession early (both before and during the pandemic).

In an Economic Policy Institute study (Schmitt & DeCourcy, 2022), the top four reasons former teachers cited for leaving the profession were:

• The stress and disappointment of teaching weren’t worth it (43%
• I didn’t like the way things were run at my school (32%)
• I did not get enough support from my school or school (29%)
• My pay was not sufficient (24%).

Clearly, salaries have long been a concern and challenge, with many districts struggling to compete with other professions and, often, even neighboring school districts.

According to the NEA (2025), the average starting salary for teachers is $45,526. In some states, such as Missouri, Montana, and Nebraska, the average starting salaries are under $40,000. According to the NEA study:

• 87% of pre-K–12 teachers said that low pay is a moderate or serious concern;
• 40% reported holding more than one job;
• 95% said they spend their own money to meet the needs of their students; and
• 37% reported having a moderate or serious problem making a living wage.

However, compensation is just one issue. To address teacher burnout, dissatisfaction, and turnover, it would be helpful to better understand what other factors are driving teachers to leave the profession. What are the causes of stress and disappointment? What aspects of how their schools are run are most frustrating? And, what support(s) do teachers really want and need?  The answers to these questions may not be as simple as many school leaders and leading experts assume (see Darling-Hammond et al., 2016; 2023). In this article, we will look more closely at some of these issues.

The 2023 Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Teachers provides a detailed, less-than-optimistic view of teachers’ perceptions of student achievement, motivation, behavior, and mental health, as well as parental involvement and accountability (Lin et al., 2024). Surveys by the NCES and RAND have reported similar findings (Doan, Steiner, & Pandey, 2024).

Workload

• 84% of teachers said there’s not enough time in the day to get all their work done
• 81% of the teachers who said they don’t have enough time cited “just having

Academics 

• 48% of the teachers said the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor; 33% said it’s good, and only 17% said it’s excellent or very good.
• At high-poverty schools, 73% of the teachers said the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor (see below).