Do Low-Income Students Have Equal Access to the Highest-Performing Teachers?

This brief describes the prevalence of the highest performing teachers in 10 purposely selected districts across seven states. The patterns suggest that students from low-income families have unequal access, on average, to the district’s highest performing teachers at the middle school level but not at the elementary level. The data also indicate that there is variation in the types of inequitable access: Some districts have an underrepresentation of the highest performing teachers in high-poverty elementary and middle schools. Others have underrepresentation only at the middle school level, and one district has a disproportionate share of the district’s highest performing teachers in its high-poverty elementary schools.