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The Urban Teacher Partnership Invites Proposals

The Urban Teacher Partnership invites proposals for multi-program concurrent presentations during the 3rd Annual “Great Teachers for Our City Schools” National Summit on Increasing Student Achievement Through Effective Teaching , to be held April 14–16, 2010, in Denver, Colorado. TQ Center staff will be facilitating and presenting at this conference. Additional information is available at http://www.mscd.edu/utp/.

New Publications

Following are the newest publications developed by the TQ Center:

• Ensuring the Equitable Distribution of Teachers: Strategies for School, District, and State Leaders
  This TQ Research & Policy 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.

• TQ Research & Policy Update Special Edition
  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides unprecedented funding for education reform through a number of funding streams and competitive grant opportunities. This TQ Research & Policy Update Special Edition provides information and resources for use by regional comprehensive centers and state education policymakers and stakeholders on how to systemically and strategically use these funding opportunities to advance education reform. In addition, it provides information on how states could use ARRA funding to address rural education challenges.

• Teacher Hiring, Placement, and Assignment Practices
  This Key Issue discusses the importance of implementing effective teacher hiring and placement practices, particularly for at-risk districts and schools. It provides strategies for teacher hiring, assignment, and placement that will help districts’ approaches to hiring and placing teachers who are likely to be effective and stay in the schools where they start.  

• Determining Processes That Build Sustainable Teacher Accountability Systems
  Ongoing issues of teacher accountability have impelled several responses in the form of changes to current teacher evaluation practices. This TQ Research & Policy Brief reports preliminary findings and recommendations from a study of such change processes that Public Impact conducted for the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality in three school districts and three state departments of education.

• Recruiting Special Education Teachers
  This Key Issue discusses the critical shortage of special education teachers, especially in urban and rural areas. It provides strategies for recruiting special education teachers through incentives and partnerships with institutions of higher education, attracting more people into the profession through multiple pathways, encouraging paraprofessionals to become certified teachers, retaining current special educators, and promoting cultural diversity in the field.

Sabrina Laine's Keynote Address at 2009 What Works Conference

Sabrina Laine, Ph.D., TQ Center director, opened the 2009 What Works Conference with a presentation and keynote address introducing the conference theme: “Beyond Highly Qualified: The Development and Distribution of Highly Qualified Teachers and Leaders.” Dr. Laine also presented data highlighted in the TQ Center’s 2009 biennial report, America’s Opportunity: Teacher Effectiveness and Equity in K–12 Classrooms. These data illustrate the TQ Center’s work in states during the last four years as state education agencies have implemented the highly qualified teacher provisions of ESEA and have begun to shift their focus to teacher effectiveness and equitable distribution.

TQ Center’s Second Biennial Report Calls for Systemic Approach to Teacher Effectiveness and Equity in K–12 Schools

As the federal education focus shifts from highly qualified teachers to highly effective teachers, a systemic approach to recruiting, supporting, and evaluating teachers is necessary to ensure that all students have access to highly effective teachers. This approach is emphasized in the TQ Center’s second biennial report, America’s Opportunity: Teacher Effectiveness and Equity in K–12 Classrooms.

The Fourth Annual What Works Conference: “Beyond Highly Qualified: The Development and Distribution of Highly Effective Teachers and Leaders”

October 28–30, 2009
The Fairmont Washington, D.C.

This conference brought together federal and state policymakers, regional comprehensive centers, and practitioners to learn about the latest research on and strategies for addressing teacher effectiveness and equitable distribution so that they can make informed and strategic decisions about educator quality from a systems perspective.

Conference sessions focused on these topics as well as school leadership, response to intervention, and the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on states. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller opened the conference, followed by special guest and keynote presenter Sir Michael Barber from McKinsey & Company. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered the conference closing address.

New Resources Relating to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009

The TQ Center website has a new section relating to ARRA Resources. This section focuses specifically on teacher effectiveness and equitable distribution.

Using ARRA Funds to Improve Teacher Effectiveness and Equitable Distribution: An Interactive Mapping Tool—modeled on a subway map—is a new tool designed to guide conversations between regional comprehensive center (RCC) and state education agency (SEA) staff on the strategic use of ARRA funds to improve teacher effectiveness and equitable distribution.