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Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: Making the Most of Recent Research (2008)
This brief culls the associations between teacher quality and student achievement, as identified in a research synthesis conducted by the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. It identifies several teacher quality variables—including specific teacher qualifications, characteristics, and classroom practices—that are strong and consistent predictors of student achievement.
Download an Adobe® Reader® PDF version of Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: Making the Most of Recent Research (960 KB).
Improving Instruction Through Effective Teacher Evaluation: Options for States and Districts (2008)
This brief discusses the measures used in teacher evaluation and focuses on their strengths, limitations, and current use. It underscores aspects of evaluation policies currently aligned with best practices and illuminates areas in which policymakers can improve evaluation rules, regulations, and implementation—thereby improving teacher instruction and student performance.
Download an Adobe® Reader® PDF version of Improving Instruction Through Effective Teacher Evaluation: Options for States and Districts (616 KB).
America's Challenge: Effective Teachers for At-Risk Schools and Students
In the two short years since the launch of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, a tremendous amount of information has been compiled about the availability, recruitment, and retention of teachers for at-risk schools and students. National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality has compiled much of this learning in its inaugural biennial report, America's Challenge: Effective Teachers for At-Risk Schools and Students, which was released on October 11, 2007.
Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges and Long-Range Plans. Issue No. 1—They're Not Little Kids Anymore: The Special Challenges of New Teachers in High Schools and Middle Schools
Generation Y teachers want to shake up the stagnant education system, according to a survey of first-year teachers commissioned by National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The freedom to be creative, the power to make a difference, opportunities to grow, rewards, and an end to the one-size-fits-all model of instruction is what new teachers say in chorus will improve the quality of education, according to the nationwide survey of 865 teachers in their first year in the classroom, conducted by Public Agenda. Most telling is that 79 percent of the respondents would choose supportive administrators over significant salary increases. Most of the survey sample is younger than 29.
( Adobe® Reader® PDF 1MB)
Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges and Long-Range Plans. Issue No.2—Working Without a Net: How New Teachers From Three Prominent Alternate Route Programs Describe Their First Year on the Job
Working Without a Net provides additional results from the new-teacher survey conducted by Public Agenda. It focuses on new teachers in high-needs schools, comparing the perspectives of those from traditional teacher education versus those from three alternate-route programs: Teach for America, Troops to Teachers, and The New Teacher Project.
( Adobe Reader PDF 1 MB)
Highly Qualified Special Education Teacher Requirements
The Highly Qualified Special Education Teacher Requirements database includes state statutes, administrative codes, rules, and regulations to provide a more complete and accurate picture of activity surrounding special education teacher requirements.
Communication Framework for Measuring Teacher Quality and Effectiveness: Bringing Coherence to the Conversation
This communication framework was developed to promote effective dialogue about the measurement of teacher quality and effectiveness. The framework consists of the following four components: communication planning, goals clarification, teacher quality terms, and measurement tools and resources. Also included are definitions of key measurement terms, three communication tools, resources that provide information on standards for teaching quality, and additional resources.
The Link Between Teacher Quality and Student Outcomes: A Research Synthesis
This research synthesis explores the evidence connecting teacher quality and student achievement. Its goal is to help identify which teacher qualifications and characteristics should be prioritized in education so that schools and districts can focus on hiring those teachers who are most likely to have a positive impact on student learning.
The TQ Source has a new look! Visit the website to experience the latest resources and navigational features. While you are there, check out the newest feature of the TQ Source—TQ Tips and Tools: Emerging Strategies to Enhance Teacher Quality.
