Regional Center Staff

The Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center—in partnership with the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality—hosted two webinars for state officials in Tennessee who were committed to addressing the state’s equity problem. The first webinar, which took place in March 2007, highlighted strategies used by other states and the challenges and opportunities they encountered in collecting and analyzing equity data. The Tennessee Department of Education’s study of equity also was discussed. A follow-up webinar was held a month later.

This brief examines 10 districts across seven states and describes student access to the highest performing teachers. The researchers found that low-income students had unequal access to each district’s highest performing teachers at the middle school level. These results were not consistent at the elementary level.

This brief discusses the need for highly qualified and effective teachers to be distributed equitably in schools and districts across all states. It emphasizes the roles of education leaders at the school, district, and state levels in securing such teachers so that all students have equal opportunities to learn.