The 2025 Texas Teacher Poll: Craft, Care, and A Call to Action

Just under half of Texas public school teachers feel they were prepared to enter the classroom at the start of their careers, and many report current needs for more support in their work with students who are experiencing learning gaps and behavioral challenges.

A shift in teacher training also is evident in the latest Charles Butt Foundation Texas Teacher Poll, with essentially as many teachers in 2025 reporting that they have obtained an alternative teacher certification as are traditionally certified. That is a change from previous Foundation polls since 2020, in which traditional certification was more prevalent
than alternative routes. Further, 6 percent of teachers in this poll say they have not completed a teacher certification program at all, with younger and new-to-the-profession teachers most likely to report having no such certification.1

Regardless of career training, ongoing needs for support are extensive. Three-quarters of teachers say most of their students started the 2024-2025 school year below their expected grade level. Strategies to address learning gaps are the topic of greatest interest for professional development.

Helpfully, while learning gaps are a top concern, 60 percent express confidence that they have adequate support and resources to address the issue. That is 20 percentage points higher than the number who felt supported to address pandemic-related learning losses in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis three years ago. At the same time, this leaves four in 10 teachers who still lack confidence in their support to address learning gaps.2 At the same time, this leaves four in 10 teachers who still lack confidence in their support to address learning gaps.

Student behavior is a concern as well. Seventy percent of teachers say they lack adequate support from their campus to meet the needs of students experiencing behavioral challenges, more than say they lack support for meeting the needs of students with learning differences (50 percent), English-language learners (46 percent), students who identify as LGBTQIA+ (42 percent), students from low-income households (40 percent), and students of a different race or ethnicity than theirs (26 percent).3 Additionally, when teachers are asked what administrators can do to improve their work environment, the top response is support in handling discipline.

A greater share of teachers than in the past cite disciplinary issues as contributing to their considering leaving the profession. And considering leaving is notably higher among those who feel unsupported in addressing discipline.

In all, 66 percent of teachers have seriously considered leaving their position in the past year, underscoring a continued retention challenge for the state’s public schools. Reasons contributing to considering leaving include work-related stress, excessive workloads or long hours, feeling undervalued, poor pay and benefits, too many administrative burdens, and disciplinary issues.

While still extensive, the share of teachers who have seriously considered leaving is down from 78 percent of teachers who said so in the 2024 poll, with the sharpest drop among the newest teachers, those with one to five years of teaching experience.

In another change over time, the share who feel they were prepared to enter the classroom as a first-year teacher is down 15 points from its level in 2022. Asked what would have made them better prepared, teachers mention more classroom time, attentive mentoring, specific training topics, and a better window into the realities of being a PK-12 public school teacher.4

Among other results:

• Almost all teachers, 94 percent, say a significant salary increase would be highly important in encouraging them to continue working as a public school teacher. As things stand, 54 percent report doing outside work for pay in the past year.
• Even with their own income challenges, a vast 96 percent of teachers report having spent their own money on classroom supplies in the current school year, with a median expenditure of $500. Additionally, 71 percent of teachers have spent their own money on their students’ personal needs for items such as food or clothing.
• Administering and preparing for standardized tests are among the top concerns in terms of demand on teachers’ time. Handling administrative tasks and discipline also are high on this list. Seventy-nine percent lack confidence in The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) to effectively measure student learning, though this has eased from 87 percent in 2021, when pandemic challenges were surging.5

The following sections of this report explore the findings of the poll in depth, highlighting the views and experiences of Texas teachers across a range of issues.