An increasing number of states are mandating that teacher performance be considered in employment decisions, including tenure and layoffs, according to a 50-state policy review of teacher-tenure laws by the Education Commission of the States. Three states — Florida, Kansas, and North Carolina — have attempted to eliminate tenure or are phasing it out. Florida Read more about Teacher tenure laws across the country[…]
A new comprehensive research study, first available from the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, argues that No Child Left Behind has not damaged teachers’ opinion of their profession, as many might have expected. In fact, according to Vanderbilt professor Jason A. Grissom, “Over the time spanning the implementation of No Child Left Behind, the Read more about Teachers Happier with NCLB Than Many Would Think[…]
Written for state legislators, governors, and their staff, this policy snapshot provides an overview of the latest research, information, and policy trends for establishing and supporting effective induction programs. Induction is a term that is often associated with mentoring of new teachers, and for good reason, but it is important to understand the definition of Read more about Supporting New Teachers: What We Know About Effective State Induction Policies[…]
With new standards, curricular materials, assessments, and evaluations in many districts, the education landscape is changing rapidly. Feedback and leadership from teachers is essential to the profession at this critical time. In this month’s issue brief, we have assembled stories, survey results, and views of teachers reflecting on their own profession, as well as information Read more about May Issue Brief: Teachers on Teaching[…]
Through a first-of-its-kind exploratory survey, over 300 National and State Teachers of the Year reveal the professional experiences and supports that they believe most contributed to their growth and eventual excellence as a teacher. Reflecting back on their careers, from preparation through mastery and even into retirement, the teacher leaders surveyed in this study provide Read more about From Good to Great: Exemplary Teachers Share Perspectives[…]
A new report from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching highlights the causes for and consequences of a relatively inexperienced teacher workforce, as well as promising practices in response to this reality. The high number of inexperienced teachers in public school classrooms is a largely unrecognized problem that undermines school stability, slows educational Read more about Carnegie Report Examines Lack of Experience in the Teacher Workforce[…]
For more than two decades, Teach for America has been sending bright young college grads into challenging classrooms with as few as five weeks of up-front training and expecting them to teach for two years. That’s about to change. TFA recently announced a pilot program to give an extra year of training to 2,000 college Read more about Teach for America To Boost Training & Retention Efforts[…]
An oft-cited question in education circles is how much poorly-performing teachers are able to continue to collect paychecks because of tenure systems and powerful teachers’ unions. This question becomes even more contentious when it is combined with the argument that more poorly performing teachers usually teach at underprivileged schools. In other words, the inability for Read more about Vergara vs. California: Teachers Unions on Trial[…]
More than a dozen states are on track to assign A-F letter grades to schools, among the trends highlighted in a first-of-its-kind database published by the Education Commission of the States. The online database shows which indicators states are considering in gauging school performance and how state leaders are publicly reporting on that performance to Read more about ECS database highlights letter grades for schools[…]
Can big data and predictive analytics help school leaders hire better teachers? That’s the new pitch being made by two companies: TeacherMatch, from Chicago, and Washington-based Hanover Research. Both claim that their new algorithm-driven teacher-selection tools can predict the impact teacher candidates will have on student test scores should they be hired, which they argue Read more about Data Tools to Predict Teacher Candidates’ Impact[…]
A groundbreaking new policy guide provides state lawmakers and education advocates with a blueprint for practical changes to improve teaching quality in America — one of the most critical factors to support student success. The guide recommends research-based policies and state models that have been highly effective in developing and sustaining talented and diverse teaching Read more about Excellent Teachers for Each and Every Child[…]
How can we extend the reach of our most effective teachers? Are there ways to restructure their time, role, and pay in order to allow these teachers to interact with more students? In this month’s issue brief, we focus on new ideas for restructuring the role of teachers to allow the very best to “touch” Read more about January Issue Brief: Teacher “Reach”[…]
Most every education official and pundit agrees that effective teachers are the largest determining factor of student success within control of the education system. Many have suggested various methods by which teacher training programs, principals, schools, school districts, and even states can act to ensure a greater number of quality teachers. What is the proper Read more about Giving Every Student Access to Excellent Teachers[…]
One policy response to the challenge of attracting high-performing teachers to low-achieving schools is offering teachers monetary incentives to transfer. This report examines impacts of transfer incentives — including the willingness of teachers to transfer when offered an incentive, teacher retention in the schools to which they transferred, and the impact of transfer incentives on Read more about Effects of Incentives for High-performing Teachers to Transfer to Low-achieving Schools[…]
A new report from Education Next demonstrates the academic differences between those entering the teaching profession in recent years and those entering in decades past. The numbers suggest that the teaching profession is benefiting from higher numbers of academic high achievers than has been the case in the past. Dan Goldhaber and Joe Walch, writing Read more about New teachers outpace their veteran peers on SAT scores[…]
Thomas S. Dee, of Stanford University, and James Wyckoff, of the University of Virginia, have sparked the debate on teacher evaluations with a new working paper which suggests that DCPS’ IMPACT teacher evaluations have proven effective to increase teacher performance and student test scores. IMPACT is the most radical of various teacher incentive plans tied Read more about Promising results from new study of DC Impact Teacher Evaluations[…]