Researchers at NIET and elsewhere have studied the effectiveness of "TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement" (TAP) in raising student achievement, improving the quality of instruction, and increasing the ability of high-need schools to recruit, retain and support effective teachers. This document provides summaries of some…

Research on teacher stability typically focuses on the extent to which teachers remain in the same school, district, or the teaching profession from one year to the next. I investigate another facet of stability--whether teachers remain in the grade they teach. Drawing on administrative data from a large district in California, I find that high…

This brief updates earlier study findings (Silva et al., 2014) regarding the extent to which teachers trained through teaching residency programs (TRPs) funded through the U.S. Department of Education's Teacher Quality Partnership grants program are retained in their districts and schools. TRPs prepare new teachers primarily through a year-long…

Discussions about human capital and school improvement typically center on teachers, not administrators, and that's a mistake. Principals, who are responsible for selecting and developing the teachers they know are so important, are a critical driver of school success. So it is imperative that states do everything they can to find, deploy, and…

It is widely believed that teacher turnover adversely affects the quality of instruction in urban schools serving predominantly disadvantaged children, and a growing body of research investigates various components of turnover effects. The evidence at first seems contradictory, as the quality of instruction appears to decline following turnover…

U.S. education has experienced many waves of reform in responding to rapid changes in knowledge, technologies, and the economy. It is now widely accepted that, to succeed in the future, all young people must have the opportunity to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication competencies--often referred to as…

This brief summarizes successful strategies for creating a strong and stable teaching force. These strategies are drawn from "positive outlier" districts in California that have excelled at helping African American, Latino/a, and White students achieve at high levels on assessments of academic standards in English language arts and…

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,…

We examine the efficiency implications of imposing proportionality in teacher evaluation systems. Proportional evaluations force comparisons to be between equally-circumstanced teachers. We contrast proportional evaluations with global evaluations, which compare teachers to each other regardless of teaching circumstance. We consider a policy where…

Teachers matter--and some matter more than others. That recognition has driven a tidal wave of controversial policy reforms over the past decade, rooted in new evaluation systems that link teachers' ratings and, in some cases, their pay and advancement to evidence of classroom practice and student learning. Two out of three U.S. states overhauled…

The "New Teacher Center (NTC) Induction Model" is a systemic approach to support beginning teachers (i.e., teachers new to the profession). Based on the research, the "NTC Induction Model" was found to have no discernible effects on teacher retention in the school district, teacher retention in the profession, or teacher…

Teacher turnover refers to major changes in teachers' assignments from one school year to the next. Past research has given an overview of several factors of teacher turnover. These factors include the school environment, teacher collaborative efforts, administrative support, school climate, location, salary, classroom management, academic…

The TAP System stands out because of its more than two-decade-long track record of growth and success in improving educator effectiveness and raising student achievement in high-need schools. This summary includes a recap of some of the most important results that have emerged from the research to date and highlights newer studies documenting…

Recruitment and retention challenges are once again leading to teacher shortages across the nation. Especially in urban and rural school districts, low salaries and poor working conditions often contribute to the difficulties of recruiting and keeping teachers, as can the challenges of the work itself. As a consequence, in many schools--especially…

The nation's teacher education programs are not producing the quantity or quality of teachers needed, particularly in needed subjects. The only way to ensure a strong enough pipeline of effective teachers to ensure equitable access is to dramatically increase how states are preparing prospective educators. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship…