In late 2011, Denise Watts, a superintendent at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, was looking for help meeting her goals as executive director for the new Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment for Transformation), a $55 million public-private partnership to improve academics at historically low-performing, high-need schools in western Charlotte, N.C.
High-need schools typically have trouble... Read more »
Great Teachers and Leaders for All Learners
Jun 29 | Jiye Grace Han, consultant at Public Impact and GTL Center team member, and Sharon Kebschull Barrett, senior editor, Public Impact
Jun 29 | Christopher Poulos, Teacher-Leader in Residence, Connecticut State Department of Education, and Teacher at Joel Barlow High School, Redding, Connecticut,
This year I have had the unique opportunity of splitting my time between teaching in my Redding, Connecticut, school district and serving as a teacher-leader in residence at the Connecticut State Department of Education. In this hybrid role, I have been able to work alongside policy leaders making decisions that impact public education while reflecting on my classroom practice and representing... Read more »
Jun 29 | Angela Minnici, Ph.D., GTL Center Director,
Both new and longstanding debates over reforming teacher preparation took center stage on February 27, 2014, at a joint hearing, “Exploring Efforts to Strengthen the Teaching Profession,” held by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education and the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training. At the heart of the conversation is the quality of teacher... Read more »
Jun 29 | Christopher Poulos, Teacher-Leader in Residence, Connecticut State Department of Education, and Teacher at Joel Barlow High School, Redding, Connecticut,
This year I have had the unique opportunity of splitting my time between teaching in my Redding, Connecticut, school district and serving as a teacher-leader in residence at the Connecticut State Department of Education. In this hybrid role, I have been able to work alongside policy leaders making decisions that impact public education while reflecting on my classroom practice and representing... Read more »
Jun 29 | Lisa Foehr, Director of Educator Quality and Certification, Rhode Island Department of Education,
It seems like nearly every school in every state is implementing a new system that defines educator excellence and evaluates educator performance. Policymakers and local leaders declare their interest not only in determining how an educator performs but also in improving educator performance so students benefit. So, how does a state or a school system make good on guaranteeing that educator... Read more »
Jun 29 | Mark Blitz, Ph.D., Research Associate, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, and Project Director, the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL),
In September, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA) released a draft of a “refresh” of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards―the standards that articulate the expectations and responsibilities for school leadership practice. In addition, CCSSO and NPBEA, through the support of The... Read more »
Jun 29 | Jiye Grace Han, consultant at Public Impact and GTL Center team member, and Sharon Kebschull Barrett, senior editor, Public Impact
In late 2011, Denise Watts, a superintendent at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, was looking for help meeting her goals as executive director for the new Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment for Transformation), a $55 million public-private partnership to improve academics at historically low-performing, high-need schools in western Charlotte, N.C.
High-need schools typically have trouble... Read more »
Jun 29 |
By Daman Harris, Ph.D., Staff Development Teacher; Inger Swimpson, Ed.D., Director, Department of Certification and Continuing Education; Troy Boddy, Director, Equity Initiatives Unit; Gail Epps, Ed.D., Program Manager, New Teacher Induction Program; and Brenda Delany, Ed.D., Instructional Specialist for Higher Education Partnerships, Department of Certification and Continuing Education—... Read more »
Jun 29 | Renee A. Moore, Mississippi Delta Community College,
During my tenure as our state Teacher of the Year, one of my duties was to help recruit teachers. Because I live in the impoverished Delta region of Mississippi, I took a special interest in encouraging new teachers to come to our area. Unfortunately, the combination of poor working and living conditions in many Delta towns makes attracting and keeping teachers very difficult. This frustrating... Read more »
Jun 29 | Cheryl Pruce, AIR Research Analyst,
Here’s something you already may know: Mathematica Policy Research’s two, large-scale studies on the distribution of effective teachers across schools have made quite a splash in the research and policy worlds. So why yet another blog post on them? Because most of us need help translating meticulous research so we can use it in the field!
That’s why I asked some of the authors of Access to... Read more »
Mar 14 | Tara Zuber, Technical Assistance Support, GTL Center and Alex Berg-Jacobson, Technical Assistance Support, GTL Center,
States and districts looking to strengthen and diversify their teacher pipelines have expressed a rising interest in “Grow Your Own programs.” Based on partnerships between states, districts, and preparation programs, these programs proactively recruit teacher candidates from local communities to join the profession and teach in their communities’ schools. Little information, however, is... Read more »
May 27 | Catherine Jacques, Center on Great Teachers and Leaders,
Instructional improvement and instructional leadership are central to many states’ plans to improve equitable access to effective teaching. Teacher leaders support and accelerate improvements in teaching and learning in schools across the country; however, only a few state equity plans explicitly address teacher leadership.
States are missing an important opportunity. Teacher leadership can help... Read more »
Apr 25 | Aaron Butler, American Institutes for Research,
A national focus on equity has spread to states and districts during the last year, thanks in part to the federal Excellent Educators for All initiative. It is no surprise that leadership preparation and professional development are at the core of many state equity plans.
But leadership is not one-size-fits-all. Education today sorely needs “turnaround leaders”—individuals who are capable of... Read more »
Mar 07 | Dana Chambers, Center on Great Teachers and Leaders,
As of the close of 2015, the U.S. Department of Education had approved Equitable Access to Excellent Educators plans (also known as equity plans) for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Not surprisingly, the approved plans zero in mainly on teacher quality issues, but many states also highlighted school leadership strategies aimed at closing equity gaps.
Nearly 40... Read more »
Feb 19 | Mark Sass, Teaching Ambassador Fellow,
An idea born of frustration from last year’s International Summit on the Teaching Profession came to fruition on February 5th and 6th. The first National Summit on Teacher Leadership was held in Washington, D.C., and for those in attendance there was an overwhelming sense that this is the right work at the right time. The Summit was another important step in the teacher... Read more »
Nov 30 | Cortney Rowland, Center on Great Teachers and Leaders,
Education research and policy meetings almost always address the notion that “context matters” to some degree. But Battelle for Kids (BFK) put context center stage at its Rural Education National Forum held in Columbus, Ohio, in October. Jeanette Walls, author of the book, The Glass Castle, shared stories about growing up poor in rural West Virginia and poverty’s profound impact on her life.... Read more »
Aug 06 | Dan Brown, Co-Director of Educators Rising,
Our patchwork teacher recruitment pipeline is insufficient.
Only 5 percent of high school students taking the ACT exam said they intended to pursue a career as an educator. Enrollments in teacher preparation programs are down across the nation. Simultaneously, the demand is expanding through increasing retirements and student populations, requiring nearly 350,000 new hires for K-12... Read more »
Jul 14 | Paul Sindelar, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Special Education, University of Florida and Co-Director of CEEDAR,
Many teacher preparation programs focus on preparing teachers to work in hard-to-staff or high-poverty schools, particularly in urban and rural locations. The potential of these programs to address the problem of equitable access to highly effective teachers, however, is diluted by several factors, including what researchers have called the “draw of home.”
Many teacher education graduates return... Read more »
Apr 03 | Christie McMullen, i3 Project Systems Coach for AVID Center,
When do teachers have an opportunity to see excellent teaching being modeled as part of their regular school day? Sadly, the answer is almost never―until now.
Such observations are the norm in Hardee, Highlands, and DeSoto counties in central Florida. The middle schools, high schools, and state college in these counties are partnering with the AVID Center (Advancement Via Individual... Read more »
Mar 04 | Peter W. Cookson Jr, Director, The Equity Project at AIR,
“Our education system, legally desegregated more than a half century ago, is ever more segregated by wealth and income, and often again by race,” noted The Equity and Excellence Commission in its 2013 report titled For Each and Every Child: A Strategy for Education Equity and Excellence.
To address this ongoing challenge, The Equity Project at AIR brought together some of country’s top... Read more »
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