A total of 620 staff from all 38 REACH schools responded to the Spring survey and 149 staff at the 18 newest REACH schools attended focus groups to provide their thoughts about specific aspects of AISD REACH. Results are summarized in this report.

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 problems that teachers face early in their careers are a major factor in growing rates of attrition among neophyte teachers. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, high rates of attrition, coupled with and aging teacher population in many countries in the developed world, may cause a teacher shortage crisis in…

Background/Context: Existing evaluations of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) and the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) charter school programs suggest that these programs may potentially be very effective in closing the academic achievement gap. Purpose/Objective: The purpose of the current study is to investigate the possibility of an internal…

EEIP is a Texas Education Agency (TEA) grant program that funds innovation in teacher supports and leadership opportunities. This technical report summarizes the four-year implementation of EEIP schools and provides valuable lessons learned from the program. A separate summative report and executive summary report also were published. [For the…

EEIP is a Texas Education Agency (TEA) grant program that funds innovation in teacher supports and leadership opportunities. This report summarizes the four-year implementation of EEIP schools and provides valuable lessons learned from the program. A separate technical report and executive summary report also were published. [For the technical…

Background/Context: Prior research on "Milliken v. Bradley" focuses on the failure of this case to implement interdistrict busing in the highly segregated Detroit schools. Much of this work focuses explicitly on desegregation, rather than on equity and addressing individual, systemic, institutional, and organizational challenges that may…

Teachers need career pathways that provide new challenges and sustained opportunities for leadership without leaving the classroom. Better opportunities for leadership and innovative pathways help to increase the retention of strong teachers. Although few such programs existed several years ago, a growing number of states, districts, charter…

With two decades of implementation in urban, suburban, rural, remote, tribal, public, private, and charter schools, the TAP System is impacting educators and students across the country. This document summarizes results from prior selected studies of TAP's impact and spotlights several new studies showcasing improved student achievement in…

According to Kram's mentor role theory, satisfaction with mentoring and mentorship quality are key indicators of effective and successful mentoring. We contribute to mentoring research by demonstrating the relative importance of mentorship quantity, mentorship quality, and satisfaction with mentoring to the prediction of job satisfaction,…

States, programs, and schools have long focused on the inputs of teacher preparation--the rules for candidates and the preparation programs they attend--because inputs were thought to predict teacher effectiveness, and because they were often the best option available. But in the early 2000s, policymakers began trying to evaluate preparation…

NIET [National Institute for Excellence in Teaching] continually evaluates the impact of TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement on raising student achievement, improving instruction and increasing the ability of high-need schools to recruit, retain and support effective teachers. In addition to national results in student achievement…

How can we best prepare pre-service teachers to succeed in the classroom--and to stay in teaching over time? The one-size-fits-all model of traditional teacher education programs has been widely criticized, yet the most popular alternative--fast-track programs--have at best a mixed record of success. An increasing number of districts and charter…

This study explores the effectiveness of educator preparation programs from the perspective of three female Hispanic veteran teachers serving high-needs populations of students. The study strives to contribute to research on minimum proposed standards for teacher preparation programs in Texas. Through a process of coding data from the informant…

This study examined the effects of a professional development programme aimed at equipping teachers for the challenges of teaching in urban schools. The contribution of the programme to teacher quality and teacher retention was evaluated using a mixed research design in which both quantitative (N?=?133) and qualitative (N?=?42) approaches were…