Fighting for Quality and Equality, Too: How State Policymakers Can Ensure the Drive to Improve Teacher Quality Doesn’t Just Trickle Down to Poor and Minority Children

The Education Trust developed this brief to describe the problem of the inequitable access to excellent teachers and provide policy recommendations for addressing it, including the following:

• Produce better information on teacher effectiveness and place it in the hands of those who need it.
• Require that teacher evaluations focus on effectiveness and require districts to reform hiring and placement practices.
• Provide incentives for teachers to work in schools and ensure equitable access to effective teachers.