State Education Leader

As you set priorities, select state partners to invite to participate in your efforts to tackle equitable access to great teachers and leaders in your state. Consider representatives from key groups, including teachers, principals, unions, community members, parents, state education agency staff, educator preparation programs, and district administrators. Ask departmental stakeholders, including division leaders and their deputies, to participate in an equity workgroup. 

Based on implementation of strategies, clarify procedures and processes that are not helpful for identifying effective teachers and leaders. If needed, revise the state or district plan to clarify the shared understanding regarding what measures will be used to determine teacher and leader effectiveness, the purposes of assessing teacher and leader effectiveness, and specific decisions that will be made using these data. 

Based on current strategies implemented and data collected, which strategies appear to have an impact on equitable access? 

Periodically analyze the adequacy of current data-reporting procedures. 

Adopt a regular schedule and process for analyzing teacher and leader effectiveness data across schools to determine whether effective teachers and leaders are distributed equitably within and across districts and schools. 

Conduct a focus group of front-runner local education agency (LEA) leaders, and ask the following questions:

• Which districts have promising strategies for addressing inequitable access to great teachers and leaders?
• What state policies, regulations, and practices hinder or support attracting, developing, or retaining effective teachers?
• How does an LEA work with the local teachers association to support equity work? Can this partnership be strengthened to better support equity work? 

Review equity data from districts across the state, and consider the following questions:

• Which district is the furthest behind in terms of its equitable access to great teachers?
• Which district seems to be a front-runner, from which other districts can learn? When making connections, be sure to consider how district context (i.e., demographics, poverty level) might impact strategies used to address inequitable access to great teachers and leaders.
• Where are your identified high-need schools in terms of equitable access? 

Seek assistance from the federal technical assistance network for this work (i.e., your regional educational laboratory [REL], regional equity assistance center, or regional center).

Establish benchmarks for success based on your new or existing action plans (e.g., equity plan, Race to the Top, Elementary and Secondary Education Act flexibility waiver). 

To ensure full public access, make certain that reporting is technically accurate and complete and includes a user-friendly executive summary for lay people.