Many schools have encountered new struggles recruiting and retaining enough teachers over the last few years — and many face chronic staffing challenges that long predate the pandemic. To help address these challenges, Bellwether scanned the country for ideas and resources to create Creativity From Necessity: A Practical Toolkit for Read more
There is no doubt that teachers exert an incredible influence on students and their learning. But what if teachers hold the key to school and district-wide reform as well? In Core Education’s September Issue Brief, we explore the many ways schools and districts are offering exceptional teachers opportunities to share Read more
Over the last year, Education Evolving published a series of blog posts focused on the growing problem of teacher turnover, and uplifting the stories of schools, strategies, programs, and leaders that buck the trend. This series has now wrapped up. Check out some of the top posts: Why Teachers Leave: Read more
Recently in Getting Smart, Michael Niehoff wrote about 10 transformational practices that educators can lead. Excerpts of the piece appear below: If educators allow politicians, researchers and pundits to take charge of the evolution in education, it will be delayed and implemented with less clarity. It’s time for teachers to Read more
A new analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality demonstrates that more states are recognizing the importance of leadership roles for teachers, signaling that state policy is beginning to reflect teachers’ voices. Thirty-five states now have formal teacher leadership policies, with a net of eight additional states adopting formal Read more
The Center for the Future of Teaching & Learning at WestEd collaborated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the Teacher Practice Network (TPN) initiative, which supports a vast national network of teacher leaders who mentor and coach their peers. By providing high-quality standards-aligned resources and ongoing professional Read more
Education Evolving has released a new guide designed to address the unique opportunities and challenges that face school administrators using collaborative and distributed leadership models. The guide-which draws on the expertise and experience of eight administrators from teacher-powered schools around the country-is intended for any site administrator working at, creating, or converting Read more
High-quality, evidence-based mentoring and induction (M&I) programs can transform classroom instruction, improve teacher retention rates, narrow gaps in equitable access to effective educators, and raise student performance. The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders’ updated toolkit helps states and districts design M&I programs that support beginning teachers in strengthening classroom Read more
School systems—and the challenges they face—are often complex and diverse; effectively addressing these challenges may require a leadership approach that moves beyond traditional teacher and administrator roles. Teacher leadership is one strategy many states and districts are pursuing to facilitate meaningful change and support better outcomes for their students. To Read more
On the path to strengthen teacher pipelines, support excellent teaching and improve retention, many states have developed opportunities for teacher leadership and advancement. While most states offer advanced licenses to encourage ongoing learning and growth within the teaching profession, many are now also including supports and incentives to encourage more Read more
Candice McQueen and Charla Hurt recently shared the progress of a Tennessee initiative to engage effective teachers as teacher leaders for The 74. Excerpts of their piece appear below: The idea seemed like common sense: Engage the most effective teachers, ask them to come up with ideas for improving schools, Read more
There is no doubt that teachers exert an incredible influence on students and their learning. But what if teachers hold the key to school and district-wide reform as well? In our March Issue Brief, Core Education explores the many ways schools and districts are offering exceptional teachers opportunities to share Read more
In survey after survey, teachers report dissatisfaction with the professional development they receive. Many aren’t satisfied with their professional learning communities or coaching opportunities. Teachers say they want more on-the-job development, career advancement while teaching, and collaboration time. Some teachers are getting what they want. But is that good news Read more
While the importance and impact of school and teacher leadership has been widely understood by policymakers and practitioners, the field has lacked a comprehensive, research-based analysis to identify the specific elements of school and teacher leadership that can increase student achievement. Through a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, the New Read more
A new report from a group of the nation’s boldest state and district education leaders finds that improving curriculum is a powerful, but underutilized strategy for school improvement. Curriculum has long been a third rail in U.S. education policy, dismissed by policymakers despite related, highly visible efforts to develop college- Read more
Recently on the Brookings blog, authors Michael Hansen and Diana Quintero reviewed the data and put together a profile of the American social studies educator. Excerpts of their post appear below: To get a glimpse of the social studies teacher workforce in the U.S., we look to data from the Read more