Hey Tappsters!
Welcome to the USA Teacher Tapp blog 🎉 We’re now four weeks in, and things are heating up as we uncover more and more insights. So much to share this week!
Remember: Teacher Tapp only gets better as more teachers join, so please do tell your colleagues and help spread the word. The easiest link to share is onelink.to/teachertapp – it takes you straight to the app store!
Now, let’s dive into this week’s round-up of fresh edu-data insights…
1. Head lice! 🪳*
*not actual representation
Without wanting to make anyone itch, let’s talk head lice! During a recent school visit, we learned about a case of nits found in a child’s hair, and the school was figuring out the best response.
Naturally, the teacher asked what other schools do—and fortunately, Teacher Tapp can help answer that!
The most common reaction was to send the child to the school nurse, which, of course, raised the question of just how many schools have a dedicated nurse (more on that below). Teachers in elementary schools also brought up the issue of soft toys: do you bag them up and freeze them, or go for a thorough boil?
The question got us thinking about school nurses. In England, it’s rare for schools to employ a full-time nurse, but it seems more common in the US with 76% of you saying your school has a nurse entirely based in the school – although our current sample size may be skewing the data, so we’ll revisit this question in six months when we have more responses.
As we understand it, each US state has its own policies on school nurses, often tied to concerns about liability when it comes to treating students with medical needs. Having a nurse on site can be costly, but we’re curious to see whether it brings broader benefits. For example, does having a nurse mean outbreaks like head lice get contained more swiftly?
2. Politics… 🤐
With the upcoming election, political fervour is everywhere, but discussing it with colleagues isn’t always straightforward. Many people believe it’s best to keep politics out of the workplace – or, if discussed, only in private and with caution. Indeed, 18% of you said you’d never want to share political opinions at school.
For others, there’s a concern their views won’t be welcomed. This may explain why 68% of teachers reported feeling unable to express their views at least occasionally, and 26% said this happens frequently.
As Teacher Tapp grows, we’ll be able to identify which groups feel more or less comfortable sharing their views—and, of course, who the coveted 14% are who feel free to discuss anything!
3. Teachers are Early Risers! 🌅
Americans rank 13th in the world for early rising, with a national average wake-up time of 7:20 a.m. But teachers? You’re in a league of your own! 75% of you are up and moving before 6 a.m., and hardly anyone is still in bed past 7 a.m.
Why the early starts? Much of it comes down to school schedules. About one in five teachers has a class start time before 7:45 a.m. School districts vary widely in how they stagger start times—some send elementary students in first, while others start with high schools.
(Interestingly, middle schools usually fall in the middle—no surprise there! But who knows, we might find some districts that break the pattern.)
In any case, that’s a very early start for teachers. In the coming weeks, we’ll explore what this means for bedtimes and sleep duration. If trends mirror those in other countries, teachers might be getting less sleep than doctors would recommend!
➕Bonus Finding: The Lake Wobegone Effect
The Lake Wobegon effect is the tendency for people to overestimate their capabilities. It’s named after the fictional town in Prairie Home Companion where all the children are “above average”. Do teachers fall prey to the same problem?
To find out, we asked a tricky question…
As with Lake Wobegon we find that almost everyone felt they were above average. Just 5% of teachers felt they were below average.
One reason for this might be that Teacher Tapp users are unusual – and there’s good reason to believe that. They are curious enough to have downloaded the app and taken part in the question.
But the imbalance is strikingly different, especially the low percentage in the bottom 25%.
Why does this matter? Although it seems an amusing quirk it shows why data is so important. Personal opinion sometimes doesn’t measure up. Hence, while perceptions are important, we often ask a variety of questions on a topic, some perception based and many fact-baesd.
As we go forward, we want to tease out if there are characteristics of people who say they are below average and if this affects their working life.
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 on the question of whether school is enough to prepare young people.
