The question of whether teaching is a profession, with all the status and responsibilities that entails, is not as settled as some believe. Emma García and Elaine Weiss look at the requirements and characteristics of a profession and examine data from teachers and find that teaching, as currently experienced by teachers, does not measure up to the…

Amid already critical teacher shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many teachers to leave the profession, but we know little about how it may affect teacher recruitment. Kayla Bill, Amanda Bowsher, Betty Malen, Jennifer King Rice, and Jason Saltmarsh conducted a survey and focus groups to explore how COVID-19 has influenced…

The Every Student Succeeds Act gives states greater flexibility in designing educational policy, but questions remain about whether and how states will use this opportunity to design truly innovative new policies to support higher levels of student learning. The authors describe how educational leaders in four states--California, Iowa, New…

To ensure that schools enjoy a steady supply of competent and committed teachers, federal, state, and local policymakers should look to the extensive research literature in this area, focusing on five strategies in particular: strengthening teacher preparation, improving hiring practices, increasing compensation, providing support for new…

Improving the quality of the teacher workforce is high on the nation's education policy agenda, but school systems continue to face difficulties in staffing STEM and special education classrooms with qualified teachers. This article documents the mismatch between the supply and demand of STEM and special education teachers in Washington State,…

Americans want higher professional requirements for teachers and believe teacher pay is too low, but they don't like tenure, according to the newest PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes To­ward the Public Schools. Public school parents trust and have confidence in the nation's teachers, and they said communicating with their child's teacher…

The 2018 PDK Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools finds that Americans trust and support teachers, but they draw the line at wanting their own children to join a profession they see as undervalued and low-paid. An overwhelming 78% of public school parents say they would support teachers in their community if they went on strike…

Recent state and federal policies generally focus on the individual teacher rather than the school organization. These reforms seem to assume that a teacher can do it all, that an individual who succeeds in one school can succeed in any school and, conversely, that a teacher who fails in one classroom will fail in all others. However, there is no…

The past year has seen the emergence of a broad consensus on raising the standards for entering the teaching profession. The NEA, AFT, and Council of Chief State School Officers all have said they want higher entry standards. Such an exam would be modeled after other professions and is a potential game changer. If sufficiently rigorous, the exam…

Half of all teachers might be moonlighting, working at a part-time job in addition to their main job as teachers, and that has consequences for their teaching jobs. Moonlighting interferes with their daily instruction and with their ability to collaborate with other educators. Moonlighting also can contribute to a less positive attitude about…

Experience with performance pay projects across the United States has demonstrated that, if performance pay programs are to be successful, teachers must be involved in their design. In addition, the district and the union must agree on the purpose of the program, it needs needs to be based on consensually agreed, credible measures that determine…

This article draws on research from outside of education to evaluate some common myths about performance pay and to consider future directions for designing and evaluating performance pay systems in K-12 education. The five common myths surrounding performance pay include: (1) Performance pay systems improve performance; (2) Performance pay…

This is the latest in a series of polls sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International with the Gallup organization. Some important findings of this year's poll include: About half of us believe teacher unions are hurting public education, but we're more likely to support teacher union leaders than governors in disputes over teacher collective…

Performance pay can be implemented in ways that are helpful to students and teachers, or it can repeat the mistakes of the past. To avoid these mistakes, initiatives must address the district factors that affect schools. There are six cornerstones for compensation reform: 1) Performance-based compensation is a systemic reform; 2) Compensation…

Nations around the world are experimenting with ways to use salary incentives to recruit and retain teachers, fill vacancies in hard-to-staff areas, and improve student learning. These experiments come at a time when qualified teachers are in short supply and when teaching appears to be a less popular professional choice for young people. Programs…