A coalition of nine teacher preparation programs released a letter to the Department of Education and Congress calling for clear guidance to states seeking to enhance the quality of teacher preparation programs under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Urban Teachers–along with Aspire Public Schools, Blue Engine, Boston Teacher Residency, Read more
Charlotte Danielson is author of a number of books including Framework for Teaching, first published in 1996. She has consulted with state departments of education across the United States, as well as ministries of education abroad. She recently offered her view on how to improve current systems of teacher evaluation: Read more
A recent report from Thomas Toch at Georgetown University analyzes the national teacher-evaluation reform movement and finds that it has been far more beneficial than its many critics would suggest. In a growing number of states and school districts, new, more meaningful evaluation systems have focused principals’ attention on instruction, Read more
A group of leading teacher preparation program providers – Deans for Impact – released a set of policy recommendations calling for outcomes-based accountability and data-informed improvement in teacher preparation. Their recommendations are consistent with the following findings: Teacher preparation programs are disconnected from local labor market needs. There is no incentive for teacher Read more
The goal of every teacher evaluation system should be strengthening teacher practice to improve student learning. As states assume more autonomy under the Every Student Succeeds Act, they have a significant opportunity to make progress toward this essential goal by taking stock of their evaluation and support systems and refining Read more
Observations of teacher performance are a critical component of most teacher evaluation systems, and, if done well, they can help teachers better understand and improve their practice. Yet, as critical as observations are to ensuring quality instruction, not much is known about how districts are training and supporting their observers. Read more
In a recent article in RealClear Education, Ashley LiBetti Mitchel and Chad Aldeman explore the difficulty with evaluating teacher preparation. Excerpts of “Our Failed Investments in Teacher Preparation” appear below: Each year, new teachers collectively spend about $4.85 billion dollars and 302 million hours on their preparation work. But there Read more
When teachers enter the profession during a recession, they’re more effective at boosting student test scores in math, a new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds. Recession-era teachers didn’t have as much of an effect on student reading scores. The study considers data for 33,000 fourth Read more
Teachers need helpful feedback and support to improve their instruction and own their professional growth. Over the past four years, 30 states have changed how they evaluate teachers, and another 14 states are slated to do so in the next two years. As many of those states are learning, however, 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
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 Read more
Linda Darling-Hammond sees the recent PISA and TALIS results as a strong indictment of the direction of American education over the last two decades. Her answer, as she explains in an article for the Huffington Post Education, is to focus on teachers. Below is an excerpt from the article: For Read more
One of the classic questions about education is whether teaching can be taught. Is a teacher born or made? A recently released book, Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone) by Elizabeth Green, answers with a definitive, “Yes, it can be taught!” Green’s 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
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 Read more
In the overwhelming majority of American classrooms, pupils are divided roughly equally among teachers of the same grade in the same school. Parceling them out uniformly is viewed as fair to teachers-and doing otherwise might be seen as unfair. Parents might wonder, too. But what if more students were assigned Read more