Update: 2 Out Of 5 Teachers Are Unhappy With Profession

The study by Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates found these unhappy teachers were frustrated with their administration, discipline problems, and the focus on standardized testing.

Molding the minds of thirty kids definitely has its rewards. Melanie Myklebust became a teacher five years ago.

"That flutter you see when that light bulb light up and they get it and they are able to apply the skill they've learned," says Myklebust, fourth grade teacher at Daisy Bates Elementary.

Myklebust says it's not always a blissful day in her classroom.

"When I first became a teacher, I had a student throw a pencil at my face. It was the first year and I was like, I can't do this," says Myklebust.

It's no surprise to her or her colleague Darice Nesmith that two out of five teachers report being "disheartened" or disappointed with their profession. Nesmith says she's most stressed out because the lack of parent involvement.

"It always works if a parent is involved in the classroom as well as at home," says Nesmith, first grade teacher.

The study found 3/4 of disheartened teachers cited discipline issues and seven in ten cited testing as major drawbacks.

Teachers feel pressure because of test scores because they're constantly being compared to other teachers, schools and school districts. Sometimes they feel like a failure even if they show improvement but are still on the state's school improvement list."

"When those test scores don't show the hard work as a teacher, it is disheartening," says Myklebust.

Yet these two teachers say they're not disheartened, but more likely fall into the "Idealist" or "Contented" groups. When they do have a bad day, they feel they have plenty of support.

"Our administrators do a good job and come around and say they are proud of what you're doing," says Nesmith.

Although some of the results are negative, the studies found two-third of disheartened teachers want to stay in the profession. More than half of them felt, they are still making an impact on student learning.

The study also found more than half of disheartened teachers taught in high-poverty schools.

Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates web site:

The study was based on a nationwide survey, with more than 100 questions, of nearly 900 teachers. Teachers fell into three broad categories which researchers call the "Disheartened," the "Contented," and the "Idealists."

According to the study, the "Disheartened" accounts for 40 percent of K-12 teachers in the United States and tend to have been teaching longer and are older than the Idealists, and more than half teach in low-income school.

The vast majority of teachers in the Contented group (37 percent of teachers) view teaching as a lifelong career. Those teachers tend to be veterans-94 percent have been teaching for more than 10 years, the majority have graduate degrees, and about two-thirds are teaching in middle-income or affluent schools.

However, it is the Idealists-23 percent of teachers overall-who voice the strongest sense of mission about teaching. Nearly nine in 10 Idealists believe that "good teachers can lead all students to learn, even those from poor families or who have uninvolved parents.