The Rural Schools Task Force (RSTF) was formed at the request of Commissioner of Education, Mike Morath, to identify current challenges and best practices for rural school districts statewide and develop recommendations for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that would support rural schools and districts in overcoming obstacles and meeting the needs…

While there is a robust literature examining the patterns and causes of teacher turnover, few articles to date have critically examined the measures of turnover used in these studies. Yet, an assessment of the way turnover is measured is important, as the measures become the means by which the "problem" of turnover becomes defined and…

This Special Issues Brief from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) outlines the unique characteristics of high-need schools, supports state and district leaders as they consider their role in implementing initiatives with a focus on equity, and explores how programs can be customized to meet the unique circumstances of a…

Many organizations use dashboards to monitor and analyze important performance measures. Data dashboards present the most important information (sometimes called key performance indicators, or KPIs) about processes and outcomes in a concise, easy-to-digest format. Dashboards get their name from the clusters of instruments and gauges drivers use to…

Teachers are crucial to student achievement. It therefore becomes important to assure that teachers who can foster student achievement are present in all schools, and that they remain in the teaching field. The most effective teachers are not evenly distributed across schools. Schools with poor, high-minority, and low-achieving students are more…

This brief is the first in a series of reports examining the teacher shortage dilemma. It considers what the research says about teacher shortages and highlights recent state task force findings. Designed to guide state leaders in policy decisions, the briefs that follow examine five strategies states are using to address shortages: (1)…

This report examines the ongoing effort to revamp teacher evaluations. After collecting and synthesizing data from 17 states and the District of Columbia, it provides five major lessons for policymakers. New evaluation systems are just one part of sweeping changes in American schools. Because the number and extent of these changes are daunting,…

Research studies have found that an integral part of being a tenure-track faculty member is the relationship between the higher education institution and individual faculty members (Mawdsley, 1999). Tenure-track positions are competitive spaces that demand and expect assistant professors to excel in publishing, teaching, and scholarly activity.…

Research from 6 years of AISD REACH suggested the program likely influenced student performance, teacher practices, and novice teacher retention. However, little evidence showed schoolwide growth or retention stipends facilitated desired results.

Search theory suggests that early career job changes on balance lead to better matches that benefit both workers and firms, but this may not hold in teacher labor markets characterized by salary rigidities, barriers to entry, and substantial differences in working conditions that are difficult for institutions to alter. Of particular concern to…

To meet the new and more rigorous college- and career-ready standards for student learning, all of today's students must have access to effective teaching--every day and in every classroom. As teachers and their school leaders are increasingly held accountable for implementing consistently effective teaching, calls for holding the programs that…

District Awards for Teacher Excellence (D.A.T.E.) is a state-funded program in Texas that provides grants to districts for the implementation of locally-designed incentive pay plans. All districts in the state are eligible to receive grants, but participation is voluntary. D.A.T.E. incentive pay plans were first implemented in Texas districts…

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible relationship between selected variables and teacher attrition. Data were analyzed to determine if a relationship did exist between the selected variables and teacher attrition: standardized reading proficiency scores, undergraduate grade point average, gender, and ethnicity. The variables…

Although there have been numerous studies addressing factors that cause special education teachers to leave the classroom, few have focused on factors that contribute to teachers remaining in the field for 5 years or more. This study examines the factors that contribute to the retention of Mexican American special education teachers in the lower…

Performance pay plans for teachers are a hot topic across the nation, so the country's largest program is bound to attract attention. But caution is advised. This is a state-sponsored program evaluation of Texas' most recent incentive pay program rather than research, and it suffers from two major constraints: data not collected and questions not…