Going the Distance bookcover

Going the Distance

The Teaching Profession in a Post-Covid World

Riley Collins 

(Author)

Alisun Thompson 

(Author)

et al.
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
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Description

An unflinching yet ultimately hopeful appraisal of the workplace factors that determine career risk and resilience among K-12 teachers, informed by the lessons of the COVID-19 crisis

In Going the Distance, Lora Bartlett, Alisun Thompson, Judith Warren Little, and Riley Collins examine the professional conditions that support career commitment among K-12 educators--and the factors that threaten teacher retention. Drawing insight from the period of significant teacher turnover and burnout both during and beyond COVID-19 school shutdowns in the United States, the authors offer clear guidance for policies and practices that meet the needs of teachers and nourish a robust teaching workforce.

The work presents vivid firsthand accounts of teaching during crisis that were captured as part of the Suddenly Distant Research Project, a longitudinal study of the experiences of seventy-five teachers in nine states over thirty months, from the school closures of spring 2020 through two full school years. The authors characterize the pandemic as a perspective-shifting experience that exposed existing structural problems and created new ones: a widespread sociopolitical framing of teaching as an occupation constrained by strict regulation and oversight, an overreliance on test-based accountability, a decline in public investment in education, and growing legislative constraints on what teachers could teach.

Identifying contextual differences between teachers who left and those who persevered, the work calls for solutions--including increased teacher voice, collaborative workplace cultures, and reforming school accountability systems--that support teachers to pursue ambitious educational goals in ordinary times and equip them to respond rapidly and capably in times of crisis.

Product Details

PublisherHarvard Education PR
Publish DateNovember 19, 2024
Pages264
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9781682539439
Dimensions9.1 X 6.1 X 0.7 inches | 0.8 pounds

About the Author

Lora Bartlett is an associate professor of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research advances knowledge related to teachers' professional commitment, conceptions of teacher professionalism, and the composition of the teacher workforce. Alisun Thompson is an assistant professor and teacher educator at the University of Puget Sound. Her research focuses on the conditions that attract, support, and retain teachers in the profession. Judith Warren Little is the Carol Liu Professor of Education Policy, emerita, at the University of California, Berkeley, and an elected member of the National Academy of Education. She is a sociologist whose research focuses on teachers' work and the organizational and policy contexts of teaching. Riley Collins is a doctoral candidate in the Education Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, whose work centers on teacher labor organizing.

Reviews

"Going the Distance is a comprehensive study on teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and has broader implications for teachers' work during crises. It is written in a very accessible way that means it will be taken up by educators, academics, and policymakers alike."--Nina Bascia, professor emerita, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
"Going the Distance immerses readers in the challenges that teachers nationwide faced during COVID--unworkable workloads, scarce resources, top-down edicts, and blame for students' 'learning loss.' In their compelling analysis, the authors explain how school and district contexts affected teachers' work, their satisfaction, success, and subsequent career decisions."--Susan Moore Johnson, Jerome T. Murphy Research Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author of Where Teachers Thrive: Organizing Schools for Success

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