The Weight They Carry: Life as a Teacher in Mississippi
Mississippi First has released a new report, The Weight They Carry: Life as a Teacher in Mississippi, which examines the conditions shaping teachers’ day-to-day experiences and their decisions about whether to remain in the classroom.
Based on survey responses from nearly 1,000 Mississippi teachers across more than 120 school districts and charter schools, the report offers a detailed look at the cumulative pressures educators face and how those pressures are fueling Mississippi’s ongoing teacher shortage.
While public discussion about teacher turnover often centers on pay, The Weight They Carry finds that compensation is only one piece of a much larger picture. Teachers consistently describe a profession strained by overwhelming workloads, escalating student behavior challenges, and inconsistent or unsupportive school leadership. Taken together, these factors make teaching increasingly difficult to sustain over time.
“This report makes clear that Mississippi’s teacher shortage is not just about recruiting more educators into the profession, but also about whether the conditions of the job make it possible for them to stay,” said Grace Breazeale, Director of K-12 Policy at Mississippi First. “Teachers are carrying an enormous weight every day. If we want experienced, effective educators to remain in our classrooms, we must take seriously the realities of their working conditions and respond with policies and practices that reduce that burden.”
The Weight They Carry:
Life as a Teacher in Mississippi
What Teachers Are Carrying
The report highlights several interconnected challenges shaping teachers’ experiences in Mississippi classrooms:
- Compensation pressures, which have intensified in recent years due to high inflation, rising health insurance costs, and the absence of recent statewide teacher pay raises.
- Unmanageable workloads that routinely exceed the time available during the school day.
- Student behavior challenges, which many teachers report have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- School leadership, which strongly influences whether teachers feel supported, respected, and able to succeed in their roles.
Who Is Most at Risk
Using survey data and statistical analysis, the report identifies groups of teachers who face a heightened risk of leaving the classroom:
- Early-career teachers, who often experience intense workload demands with limited support.
- Teachers in districts with low local salary supplements, who are paid less than peers in wealthier districts for doing the same work.
- Teachers in high-poverty districts, where staffing shortages, student needs, and leadership instability are often most severe.
Policy Recommendations
The Weight They Carry calls for a more comprehensive approach to teacher retention: one that focuses not only on recruitment, but also on improving the conditions that shape teachers’ daily work. Key recommendations include:
- Improving teacher compensation, including an across-the-board salary increase and redesigned staffing models that allow teachers to advance within the profession.
- Reducing workload and time burdens by eliminating unnecessary tasks and creating systems that allow teachers to focus on teaching.
- Strengthening school leadership pipelines, particularly in high-need schools, to improve leadership quality and stability.
- Expanding access to student behavior supports, so teachers are not expected to manage complex challenges alone.
Mississippi First plans to continue this work through future research focused on teacher workload, school leadership, and student behavior.
Read the full report:
The Weight They Carry: Life as a Teacher in Mississippi
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