As many of you know, Grant Wiggins suddenly passed away on Tuesday this week. He was a giant in the field of education, transforming the way many educators think about teaching, learning, thinking, and assessment. Grant’s work on Understanding by Design and Essential Questions have influenced our work as educators, Read more
Edgar Sanchez and Yan Zhou, writing for the ACT policy brief, have examined the effects of two different models on estimates of teacher effectiveness. When using value-added models to estimate teacher effectiveness, one key consideration is whether or not to include school effects such as available resources into the model. Read more
Shanna Peeples, recently named National Teacher of the Year, published on her blog a speech that she delivered in DC during her selection process. I don’t want to offend you, but I have to tell you that I will be talking about the f-word today. And that f-word is a Read more
Education Week has recently put together a new in-depth toolkit for educators that focuses on classroom management and student engagement. This unique toolkit presents resources and ideas educators need to run their classrooms smoothly and generate excitement about learning. The toolkit includes: 10 Education Week PD Webinars on improving classroom Read more
Education Week has released a new review of the updated Doug Lemov education bestseller, Teach Like a Champion. The updated version builds on the strategies from the first version, which came out in 2010. The book has been especially popular with teachers and schools, who appreciate its particular focus on Read more
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 Read more
The Center for American Progress recently released a new Education Resource Strategy report, which offers teacher salary redesign lessons from 10 first-mover districts. Effective teachers are the biggest in-school factor related to student success. Across the country, a diverse set of districts are pioneering innovative approaches to teacher compensation that Read more
In the final installment of Marc Tucker’s blog series on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, Gene Wilhoit, the former Executive Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, discusses the need to transform how we recruit, train, and develop our teachers and the consequences of failing Read more
It is a well-accepted tenet of education research at this point that teacher quality is the biggest school-based factor in student achievement, but how much is teacher quality associated with education background and certification status? This is the question that new research from the Bush Institute seeks to answer. One Read more
Education reformers are working diligently to design new teacher performance-based compensation systems and career pathways that reward high-quality teaching and offer opportunities for advancement without leaving the classroom. In this month’s issue brief, we explore various resources, research reports, and ideas related to teacher compensation to provide food for thought Read more
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 Read more
Join REL Mid-Atlantic for an Ask An Expert online chat on Using Student Surveys to Monitor Teacher Effectiveness. Kim Marshall, a former teacher of the year and principal who now advises and coaches new principals, will lead the discussion. He teaches instructional leadership and publishes The Marshall Memo, a weekly Read more
The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, part of the American Institutes for Research, periodically produces professional learning modules to support the education profession. Following are some gems released in October: Understanding Teaching Conditions (Professional Learning Module). Improving teaching conditions is essential for states and districts to address equitable access Read more
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 Read more
Research suggests that teachers’ social capital – their relationships, networks and collaboration – may be just as important as their human capital, or individual ability. Generally, education policy focuses either on in classroom factors or out of school factors. The thinking goes that in order for students to improve, they Read more
The Alliance for Excellent Education has released a new webinar and report on Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers. Webinar: Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers This webinar highlighted current trends in the teaching workforce, the research on induction programs, and a systems approach to creating supportive teaching and learning Read more