| Effective teachers are critical to raising achievement and closing longstanding gaps among student subgroups. Unfortunately, access to effective teachers is not equitable or fair. Research shows that students in high-poverty schools are more likely than students in more affluent schools to have the least effective teachers. A new report from The Center for American Progress and The Education Trust calls for federal policy to challenge states to set big goals for teacher effectiveness and fair teacher distribution—and to assess both through meaningful evaluation. The report is titled Essential Elements of Teacher Policy in ESEA: Effectiveness, Fairness, and Evaluation. Teacher effectiveness work is made more difficult by the need to move far and fast in an environment of incomplete and rapidly changing information. But if we fail to address the critical issues of teacher effectiveness and equal access to strong teachers, then there’s little reason to believe that other reforms will have much impact. The Essential Elements report proposes a timeline for evaluation and implementation of specific human capital initiatives to support this effort. As the 112th Congress considers the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), it must revamp Title II of the ESEA and target additional dollars toward improving teacher effectiveness and equity. States and districts must engage in important reforms as a condition of receipt of their Title II funds. The authors of the report call on Congress to consider the following requirements for state and local education agencies: to collect and report school-level teacher-quality measures, implement new evaluation systems, and be accountable for ensuring that all students have access to strong teachers. Access the report here: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/02/pdf/esea_teacher_policy.pdf Core Education is dedicated to teacher effectiveness for the teachers of all students. We create professional standards, design evaluation measures and systems aligned with desired standards, and design professional development to meet the needs of educators as revealed by appropriate evaluation measures. See our complete list of services here: http://www.coreeducationllc.com/page12.php |
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