Hey Teacher Tapp Community!
We’re now in Week 18 of tapping — welcome to all the new teachers who joined this week! Thanks to educators like you, our panel is growing, giving us even more insight into what’s really happening in schools across the country. Keep tapping, and let’s keep uncovering the truth together! 🚀🍎
Welcome to our new Teacher Tappers!
Until the end of April there is a 30-day challenge for new Teacher Tapp users! If they answer daily questions for 30 days, they’ll earn a Starbucks gift card ☕️✨.
If you joined before Friday 7th February – don’t worry you’re included too! Tap daily for 30 days before the end of April, and you’ll also receive a gift card.
This offer is limited to the first 1,000 teachers who sign up, so tell your teacher friends to be quick! Send them this blog and tell them to join the app today and help correct the narrative about education in the US.
To qualify, you must:
✔️ Be a K-12 teacher currently employed in a US school 🏫
✔️ List your school’s name in your Teacher Tapp profile ✏️
✔️ Be a legal resident of the United States 🇺🇸
🔗 Read the full terms and conditions here
Want to make the Teacher Tapp community even stronger? Invite your colleagues to join! The best link to share is onelink.to/teachertapp – it takes them straight to the app store! 📲✨
Now, let’s get into the data…
1. Causes of stress
There’s no doubt about it — teaching is a stressful job. But what’s the biggest source of stress for educators?
For nearly a third of teachers (30%), student behavior is the top challenge, making it the most common response by far. In contrast, the second biggest stressor — administrative tasks — was named by just 11% of teachers.
But that’s not the whole story. When we break the responses down by school type, a different pattern emerges.
While our sample is still growing, one thing is clear: high school teachers are far less concerned about student behavior compared to their elementary and middle school colleagues (14% vs. 34% and 36%).
For high school teachers, there’s no single overwhelming stressor — their responses are more evenly spread across different challenges.
From our experience running this question in England, we know that timing within the school year can impact responses. So, we’ll be asking again to track changes over time. Keep an eye out — this question will be back! 👀📊.
2. Classroom disruptions
It’s clear behavior is an issue in the classroom – but what is it about behavior that causes stress for teachers?
Disruptions are a normal part of classroom management, but this week we looked at what disruptions teachers face and the frequency of those disruptions.
Talking and not following instructions top the list of common behavior challenges, with 75% and 74% of teachers reporting them, respectively. But lateness is a major issue too — half of all lessons are disrupted by students arriving late.
The age of students significantly impacts the types of disruptive behaviors teachers encounter. While our sample size is still growing (and will get stronger as more teachers join!), clear patterns are already emerging. For instance, calling out is far more common in elementary schools than in high schools, with 63% of elementary teachers reporting it compared to just 31% in high schools.
As more teachers join Teacher Tapp, we’ll be able to see in more detail how classroom disruptions vary across elementary, middle, and high school.
3. Love is in the air ❤️
Happy Valentine’s (and Galentine’s) Day to all! ❤️
St. Valentine is making his mark in classrooms too — 81% of elementary schools have embraced themed activities, and 28% are even helping students exchange cards or flowers.
Things look a little different in middle and high schools, where celebrations are less common. In fact, nearly a third (30%) say nothing is happening — and they’re totally fine with that!
But not everyone is anti-romance… 12% of middle and high school teachers admit that while their schools aren’t celebrating, deep down, they wish they were! 💕
+ extra finding
Our Teacher Tapp community is now 41 of the 50 states!
As the app grows we’ll be able to make comparisons between states…and even between districts within states! 🥳
The states we’re missing are…
- Alaska ❄️
- Idaho 🥔
- Louisiana 🎷
- Maine 🦞
- Rhode Island ⚓
- South Carolina 🌴
- South Dakota 🏕️
- Vermont 🍁
- Wyoming 🦬
Know a teacher in one of these states? Then you know what to do! Send them this blog and tell them to sign up!
Daily Reads
We know lots of teachers on Teacher Tapp LOVE the daily reads, if you have ideas of reads we could feature, get in touch by emailing usa@teachertapp.com and we will check it out!
This week our most-read blog was all about what the potential implications will be if the Department for Education closes.
