Teacher

This CALDER study uses longitudinal data to examine gaps in teacher quality over time between advantaged and disadvantaged students in North Carolina and Washington. The report finds that teacher quality gaps have always existed, but the size of the gaps have varied over time and been driven by different dynamics, including changing student demographics and teacher mobility.

This report challenges the widely-held belief that teacher turnover adversely affects student outcomes, finding that teachers leave the profession largely as a result of poor performance or ineffectiveness in the classroom. The report suggests that improved selection policies, aligned with better induction, mentoring and professional development policies could positively impact the quality of the teaching workforce and encourage higher retention rates of quality staff.

This report from EdTrust examines why retention rates of black teachers and teachers of color remain low. Based on qualitative data collected during focus group sessions comprising 150 black teachers across the U.S., the report reveals the challenges black teachers face in schools and classrooms that contribute to a lack of diverse teachers.

This brief examines how six school districts participating in the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative are using data systems to identify a steady supply of effective school leaders. The data systems have the capacity to match principals to schools according to fit, identify principal mentors, and tailor training to a school leader’s needs. The brief shares lessons learned regarding system design, access, and implementation. 

This report evaluates the potential of a professional development model in which excellent teachers gave formal presentations traditionally delivered by non-district experts to develop other teachers. The study found that teachers received the training positively, reporting increased collaboration, effectiveness, and perception of the presenters as leaders within the district.

This qualitative study examined a professional development school partnership  between a local state university and a K–5 inner-city school in the southeastern U.S. over a year to discover how the school fostered teacher leadership. The report discusses three dynamics that foster teacher leadership—professional development opportunities, co-teaching, and collective teacher efficacy—and the elements of the school culture that were found to support teacher leadership.

This report from NCTQ and the Brookings Institution examines why diversity in the teacher workforce matters so much, and the challenges associated with recruiting teachers who reflect the diversity of students served. The report finds that minority teachers exit the teacher pipeline at four key points: attending and completing college, majoring in education, hiring into teacher positions, and staying in teaching beyond one year, and it suggests some short-term strategies that could be employed to reverse these trends. 

This brief from the Learning Policy Institute examines the effectiveness of state efforts to recruit, employ, and retain minority K-12 teachers. Results are based on a study of teacher recruitment data from 1987 to 2013. The study concludes that though efforts to recruit and place minority teachers in high-needs schools have been largely successful, retention rates have been low. Other findings indicate that two key determinants of retention are the degree of teachers' classroom autonomy and teacher input into school decisions.

This report from the Learning Policy Institute uses federal databases to analyze current trends in teacher shortages and to project future shortage trends. It identifies four principal factors that drive teacher shortages: high attrition rates, increasing student enrollment, declining teacher preparation enrollment, and district attempts to reduce student-teacher ratios. With a projected shortfall of around 300,000 teachers by 2020, the report identifies some policy strategies that could be used to improve recruitment and selection practices. 

This report outlines findings from a study of the 2010 cohort of Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Program grantees in their third year of implementation. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the impacts of pay-for-performance bonuses on teacher and student outcomes in ten districts. Findings indicate that student achievement after three years in TIF schools was 1 to 2 percentile points higher than in non-TIF schools, which is roughly equivalent to a gain of four additional weeks of learning.