Current Policies Related to Equitable Access to Great Teachers and Leaders

Questions That Regional Centers Should Consider to Set Priorities

  • Which states have promising practices and strategies for providing technical assistance or other resources for local education agencies to:
  • Fill vacancies (fix the pipeline)?
  • Effectively deploy teachers and leaders?
  • Increase teacher and leader retention?
  • To what extent is equity, broadly, and inequitable access to great teachers and leaders, in particular, a priority in your center’s mission?
  • Among your states, which state education agencies have the necessary policies in place to address inequitable access to effective educators? Is there a front-runner from which other state education agencies can learn?
  • What lessons can your states learn from implementing their equity plans? Which strategies worked? Which strategies did not work? Has inequitable access improved in your states?
  • How recently have the states in your region updated their equity plans as required by 1111(b)(8)(C) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)?
  • What remains a priority, particularly in your states’ new or existing action plans (e.g., equity plan, Race to the Top plan, ESEA waiver plan)?
  • What should be added to or deleted from your states’ previous equity plans? How comprehensive or systemic were the approaches in those equity plans? What were the lessons learned?
  • How can we use the previous equity plans in your states to make more visible, widespread, and long-term improvements in student-access to great teachers and leaders?

Questions That State Education Agencies Should Consider to Set Priorities

  • What is the status of your state's Plan to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators?  How can it be strengthened in its design, modification, or implementation?
  • To what extent is equity, broadly, and equitable access to great teachers and leaders, in particular, a priority in your agency’s mission or strategic priorities?
  • Does your state’s Race to the Top or ESEA flexibility request address equitable access to great teachers and leaders?
  • What policies in your state support or constrain access to great teachers and leaders (e.g., certification, accreditation, mentoring, differentiated staffing and career pathways, and professional development requirements)?
  • Has equitable access improved in your state? If not, is there a lack of political urgency to address the challenges? Is there a lack of shared understanding of the problem of inequitable access to great teachers and leaders?
  • Are there competing priorities within your state? How can your state leverage other policy priorities to address equity?

Questions That Educator Preparation Programs Should Consider to Set Priorities

  • To what extent is equity, broadly, and equitable access to great teachers and leaders, in particular, a priority in your program’s mission and goals?
  • To what extent is inequitable access a priority among faculty?
  • If your preparation program already is confronting this issue, what specific strategies for preservice and inservice training has your program employed? Are there additional data that the program could collect or obtain from other sources to indicate whether its efforts are succeeding?
  • Are your educator preparation program’s recruitment practices, curriculum, clinical practice opportunities, and assessments specifically designed to ensure that both teacher and leader graduates have the knowledge, skill, and personal characteristics to succeed with a diverse population of students and in challenging school environments?
  • Does your educator preparation program follow up with its graduates to see how well they are doing and offer ongoing mentoring or other support after they graduate?
  • Is your educator preparation program fully taking advantage of the potential of its K–12 school and district partnerships to strengthen the clinical preparation of candidates and build the capacity of the K–12 partners?

Questions That Local Education Agencies Should Consider to Set Priorities

  • What polices are in place that hinder or support efforts related to inequitable access to great teachers and leaders in your district (e.g., teacher and leader evaluation, hiring, dismissal)?
  • Does your district have a local education agency equity plan? How is the plan being implemented? Is there evidence that the plan is being successful?
  • What district policies support or constrain providing equitable access  (e.g., certification, accreditation, mentoring, differentiated staffing and career pathways, and professional development requirements)?

Questions That Schools Should Consider to Set Priorities

  • What polices are in place that hinder or support efforts related inequitable access to great teachers in your school (e.g., teacher evaluation, hiring, assignment, development)?
  • Does your school district have a local education agency equitable access plan? How is the plan being implemented in your school? Do the strategies outlined in the plan align with your school’s strategic priorities, school improvement plans, or needs?
  • What opportunities are there for great teachers to reach more high-need students in your school?