Publications

This study examines what Boston charter schools are doing to achieve consistently strong student outcomes. Comparing Boston charter schools and more than 200 charter schools across the country, the study finds that Boston charter schools employ specific school leadership practices that result in stronger environments that promote excellent teaching. Key findings include the importance of early hiring while setting a high bar, leadership practices that foster a strong school culture, and ongoing professional development for teachers.

This report looks at 10 school districts and the key policy decisions they have made to redesign their teacher compensation systems. With the goal of attracting, retaining, and rewarding high-quality teachers while staying within budget and achieving district targets, these districts have changed compensation systems to pay effective educators more. 

This two-page brief from ASCD offers several charts about teacher leadership in the United States, including a map of states that have teacher-leader certification endorsements in place or planned.

This case study from the Harvard Business School considers the teacher contract implemented in Baltimore in 2012 under Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andres Alonso. Teachers have a four-tier career pathway that links performance to pay and promotion. Teachers can move into teacher-leader roles by collecting “achievement units” or completing peer-reviewed projects.

This study, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, surveyed more than 4,600 teachers seeking to understand how teachers use data to tailor instruction and the challenges they encounter with the tools intended to support data-driven instruction in the classroom. Although 91 percent of teachers agreed that data tools play an important role in today’s classrooms, they generally reported feeling overwhelmed by the amount of data available, and sought more nuanced data results and greater guidance.

This report details lessons learned from implementation of the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship (WWTF) program in five states. Aimed at providing a strong pipeline of effective teachers, WWTF currently partners with 28 universities in Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio to provide prospective teachers academic training, clinical experience, and mentoring that will effectively equip them to succeed in high-need schools.

This brief from ERS is based on its work with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and examines the relationship between strategic school design and effective student-based budgeting. The brief highlights the importance of aligning funding with a clear plan for reorganizing resources in order to improve student outcomes, and recommends that three overriding principles should be at the heart of all design plans: excellent teachers for all students, personalized learning and support, and cost effectiveness through creative solutions.

This case study examines the work of three groups of charter management organizations (CMOs) to develop and launch teacher credentialing and master’s degrees programs. After concluding that traditional teacher preparation programs were not equipping their graduates with the skills needed to teach effectively, leaders at High Tech High in San Diego; Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First in New York; and Match Education in Boston created their own programs for educating teachers, granting teacher certifications, and awarding master’s degrees in education.

This report summarizes key elements of new leadership structures in England resulting from recent reforms that have distributed leadership responsibilities across administrators and teachers. Teacher leaders or “middle leaders” are accountable for leading teams of teachers and students, usually determined by subject or grade level. As curriculum experts, they offer instructional support to teachers and are granted autonomies within their areas of focus. 

This paper explores recent reforms undertaken in the English school system to restructure its leadership development system. The new system includes three levels of leaders, including a layer of “middle leaders”—teachers who take responsibility for teaching and leading their peers in a set grade level, grade cluster, or subject area.