A recent comparison of data about states, conducted by Wallet Hub, ranked states based on a number of factors. The factors compare data on two category subsets that include: Job Opportunities and Competition and Academic and Work Environment. This study looks at subset factors that examine: Average Starting Salary for Teachers (adjusted for cost of Read more about Best and Worst States for Teachers for 2015[…]
A study conducted by the National Center on Education Statistics finds that new teachers who have mentor support, participate in an induction program, and have a higher starting base pay are more likely to remain in the field. NCES undertook the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (BTLS), which is a nationally representative longitudinal study Read more about School Characteristics that Keep Teachers in the Field[…]
Paul Bruno at the Brookings Institution explores the relationship between teacher evaluation policies and the supply of teachers in a recent article. Overall, teacher evaluations have been ramping up in recent years, with some evidence in New York City and Washington D.C. that they are improving student achievement. However, in general, teacher evaluation reforms in Read more about The Importance of Teacher Supply to Education Reform[…]
Joe Ashby was a a multi-classroom leader (MCL) at Buena Vista Enhanced Option Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee before finishing his doctorate and moving on to be a principal in California. He recently wrote an article about that experience for Real Clear Education, and he focused on the flexibility and growth that was present in Read more about Giving, Receiving Professional Development Every Day[…]
Frank Bruni has penned a piece highlighting the teaching shortages that have made the news around the country in recent weeks. The shortages are so acute in some places, both urban and rural, that teachers are being brought in who are not even fully certified yet. After researching and talking with various noted education professionals, Read more about Can We Interest You In Teaching?[…]
Professors Matthew Kraft and John Papay discuss research showing that the school contexts in which teachers work have a profound influence on their effectiveness. Below are excerpts from their article: An emerging body of research now shows that the contexts in which teachers work profoundly shape teachers’ job decisions and their effectiveness. Put simply, teachers Read more about Developing Workplaces Where Teachers Stay, Improve and Succeed[…]
Two new research studies that evaluated vast amounts of data both concluded that teachers continue to improve over the course of their careers. The prevailing wisdom from previous research, which many teachers and teachers unions have disputed, said that teachers improved in their first several years of teaching, but then plateaued. The studies looked at Read more about Teaching Experience Matters More Than We Used to Think[…]
Teacher employment policies — tenure, dismissal and seniority — have been debated for years, but with recent cases playing out in the courts the disputes have been elevated to new levels. What is best for students and teachers is a complex topic with varying view. This Education Commission of the States policy analysis uses the Read more about Vergara and the Complexities of Teacher Employment Policies — an ECS Policy Analysis[…]
NCES has recently released “Public School Teacher Attrition and Mobility in the First Five Years: Results From the First Through Fifth Waves of the 2007–08 Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study“. The first results of this nationally representative study that looked at the fates of about 2,000 teachers who were new to the field in 2007 or Read more about Longitudinal Research on Teacher Attrition[…]
There is no systemic evidence that all the best teachers are leaving. In fact the opposite appears to be true. More research and more years of data, are needed, but early results seem promising that evaluation is playing a positive role in keeping the best educators. Numbers have already been crunched on teacher retention and Read more about There Isn’t Really a Mass Exodus of Good Teachers[…]
More than 87 percent of TFA teachers say they don’t plan on remaining teachers throughout their careers, compared with 26.3 percent of non-TFA teachers working in the same subjects, grades, and schools, according to an analysis released last week by Mathematica Policy Research (PDF). The study suggests the risk of turnover is relatively high for Read more about Teacher Retention and TFA[…]
Jane Best and Emily Winslow at McREL Education have released a new brief focusing on current challenges of working toward equity in education. Particularly in a post Vergara vs. California education climate, educator equity and how to effectively distribute teachers to all students it is an issue on education professionals’ minds. With increasingly diverse student populations, Read more about Educational Equity: Challenges for Educator Effectiveness[…]
Anyone following education policy over the past several years has most likely read a headline along the lines of this: “Disgruntled New Teachers Leave the Profession in Droves.” Despite such recent education policy stories, the picture since 2007 has been decidedly rosier: Fully 70 percent of beginning teachers stay in the profession for at least Read more about Despite Reports to the Contrary, New Teachers Are Staying in Their Jobs Longer[…]
ASCD has a new bulletin out about teacher leadership that is an excellent jumping off point for anyone looking to both advance the role of teachers and improve student achievement. It first explores the teacher leadership landscape by featuring recent data on the primary characteristics of teacher leaders, identifying states that offer formal teacher leader Read more about ASCD’s newest Policy Points on Teacher Leadership[…]
What students want: great teachers every year What teachers want: career advancement while teaching, collaboration, on-the-job development and leadership, sustainably funded pay increases, and the chance to help more students succeed What both need: Policies to make a statewide Opportunity Culture possible Public Impact shows states the essential policies to reach far more students with gap-closing, Read more about Seizing Opportunity at the Top II[…]
Nearly everyone agrees that all students deserve a quality education, and that teachers deserve reasonable job protections. But Vergara v. California threw a spotlight on a hard truth: The balance has swung too far toward job protections for adults, at the expense of the rights of children. Tenure doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. TNTP believes Read more about Rebalancing Teacher Tenure[…]