To gain insight into why teachers leave Ector County ISD, the Human Resources and Talent Development departments conducted a survey.
Executive Director of Human Resources Matthew Spivey said the surveys are done during the spring at the end of the contract year when they can get the largest response. The survey got 103 responses this year.
Chief Communications Officer Mike Adkins said the surveys, done by Upbeat, have been done for three or four years.
Spivey said the district wanted “more actionable items” that they could understand and delve deeper into why employees left so they can better understand how to retain them.
“Some of the information is information we know … Some of it is germane to all of education, but specifically looking at those pieces that just affect ECISD gives us more actionable items. … They did some redesign on their questions, I believe this last year, so it gives a little bit further insight about why people are leaving the district, and helps us to target some specific areas that we’ve identified as areas for improvement,” Spivey said.
The areas of improvement matched “very closely” with the national comparison group that they used through Upbeat.
“One of the comments they made, and I laid this to the board as well, is that our areas of improvement looked very similar to almost any other district that they (Upbeat) works with. … Low pay was one of the pieces. But even within our low pay, we were 12 percentage points more positive than the rest of the national comparison group. That was a really good piece. Even though it’s one of our areas to improve, we’re still ahead of the curve for that national comparison group,” Spivey said.
“Poor work/life balance was another one. Again, I think that’s something we’re seeing post-pandemic. I don’t want to generalize and say every area, but in education, we see that quite a bit. However, we were still 8 points more positive than the national comparison group on that as well. But still looking at ways that we can be very mindful of supporting all aspects of our employees, not just their work time, but how can we make it a more wholesome work/life balance for them,” Spivey said.
He added that ECISD has some very driven employees.
“We’re blessed to have them, the hours they put in. It’s a sacrifice that they make, but it’s one that they’re pouring into their students and so it’s definitely appreciated and noticed. But still we want to make sure that they’re taking time for their family (and) for their well-being as well,” Spivey said.
The data was focused on teachers and presented at the Sept. 17 ECISD board of trustees meeting. The survey, commissioned by the Human Resources Department, was done by Upbeat and cost $20,500. There are about 1,800 teachers in ECISD.
Spivey said there were three pre-survey questions such as how many years teachers expected to stay in the profession when they came to ECISD.
The answers are broken down into categories like 1 to 2 years, 3 to 5 years, 6 to 10 years, etc. Fourteen (14) percent of teachers said they only expected to stay in the profession for 1 to 2 years. Last year, 6 percent said they would be in 1 to 2 years and this year it was 14 percent.
“Those are the ones that we have to make sure we’re supporting, that we have our programs in place to make sure they get the mentoring, the practical pieces, the pedagogical pieces they need to grow as educators … That was the biggest change we saw in our pre-questionnaire questions,” Spivey said.
There was a “huge change” in the school teachers taught at was not as big a factor in them leaving as previous years dropping by 22 percentage points.
Areas for improvement last year were areas of strength this year. One of those was understanding how they could grow in their profession.
“We were very targeted in making sure that these vast pipelines that we have for our employees that we were much more vocal about and much more intentional about, making sure that everyone knew what those places were like … (paraprofessionals) to teachers and so on,” Spivey said.
He said Human Resources partnered with Talent Development to make sure that they understood that if they wanted to grow, “we’re here to help you grow.”
“I think that was a big piece that increased that quite a bit over last year’s results,” Spivey said.
One thing they want to do is increase the ease of access to the survey for all employees.
“The feedback and actionable items that are definitely beneficial to our department; even conversations we’ve had with other departments, too, about specifically supporting our teachers and supporting our employees, making sure that we’re understanding why they’re leaving … so we can put those plans in place before they leave to help keep them here,” Spivey said.
ECISD’s teacher fill rate is currently 98.5%. The average teacher salary shows ECISD offers higher salaries — $63,387 — than the state, which is $60,717, and has a slightly higher in turnover rate — 23.8% for ECISD and 21.4% for the state. When considering all compensation, ECISD average teacher compensation for the 2023-24 school year was $73,761.
“We have one of the highest starting salaries in the state of Texas … We have a very robust strategic compensation program. We have our TIA, which is our Teacher Incentive Allotment, which funds teachers that are showing demonstrated growth for our students,” Spivey said.
He noted that those funds come from the state. There are also other grant programs that are funded by the state and federal government.
“We had 44 teachers last year that earned over $100,000. We were recognized the year before at TASA, the Texas Association of School Administrators Conference for I believe it was four teachers that earned $100,000. This year, we had 44 that earned over $100,000 so lots of ways for teachers to add on those stackable pieces. That way they’re not limited to just what our base compensation is but all those pieces they’re able to add on top of that,” Spivey said.
Some of the programs align with what ECISD is already doing.
“One of the big things is we didn’t want to add more on top of the teacher’s plates because of the countless hours they’re already putting in, but being able to as an HR department capitalize on what they are already doing and find ways to fund the growth that they’re achieving with their students,” Spivey said.
In 2024, 103 teachers, or 64 percent, completed the exit survey which was up from 44% in 2023.
Forty-seven (47) percent of teachers said factors unrelated to their jobs prompted them to leave. That is a 20 percent increase from 2023.
Nineteen (19) percent said factors specific to their school were the reason for leaving. That was a 22 percent decrease from 2023.
Eighteen (18) percent said factors related to the teaching profession in general were why they left and 16% said factors related to the district. Overall, ECISD showed more positive responses than the national averages of this survey.
Positive areas from the exit survey show improvement in teachers’ satisfaction with evaluation practices, their subject assignment, benefits, and distance to work. Areas to improve upon are lack of trust with leaders, low pay, and poor work/life balance.
The starting salary for ECISD teachers is $60,600 a year, which is among the highest in the state.
Stackable incentives mean ECISD teachers can — and already do – earn more than $100,000.
A board recap said the Human Resources and Talent Development departments continue to recruit relentlessly; using virtual positions for hard-to-find speech pathologists and diagnosticians, attending job fairs across Texas and New Mexico, recruiting certified teachers internationally, and using part of a leadership training grant to strategize and increase effectiveness of recruiting practices.
