Twenty years ago, a report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) changed the national discussion about what must be done to improve America's schools so that all students experience success. The Commission drew attention to the overlooked fact that the most important school variable affecting student achievement is…

Many states have responded to teacher shortages by granting certification to individuals traditionally prepared out-of-state; now, out-of-state prepared teachers comprise a sizable percentage of the teacher workforce in many states. We know little about these teachers, and therefore, in the present study, we estimate the effectiveness of…

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…

This hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions examines fixing No Child Left Behind, focusing on supporting teachers and school leaders. Following an opening statement by Honorable Lamar Alexander (Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions), the following senators provide statements: (1) Honorable Patty…

While a quarter of all American students are enrolled in rural public schools, many rural teachers and administrators believe that education stakeholders are slow to fully recognize and address the unique challenges facing rural educators. This brief discusses recent steps taken by the federal government and individual states to address the…

On taking power the coalition government embarked on what many commentators believe is a radical programme of public policy reform. Under Michael Gove, education policy has become totemic to those arguing that Britain's classrooms are mired in academic mediocrity and behavioural failure. One policy response by the government has been to propose…

In its 2009 report "Teacher Compensation and Teacher Quality," the Committee for Economic Development urged business leaders to be active participants in school district deliberations about teacher compensation policies. The Committee for Economic Development (CED) noted that "business leaders can make the case to the public that…

In recent years, federal education programs and policies have increasingly focused on teacher quality as a means for closing achievement gaps, in part by directing states to measure teacher qualifications and performance and to promote equitable access to qualified and effective teachers among schools within a district. This report provides a…

This paper focuses on how understanding male gendered ways of experiencing the teaching profession might help us address the current shortage of male diversity in teaching. The study discusses the factors that may influence males to enter teaching and proposes the possibility of considering the participation of males in teaching as a way to…

Both the U.S. Department of Education and the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) believe that equal opportunity is a core American value. Equal access to excellent education provides meaningful opportunities for students to achieve their goals. Recognizing that family income and race often predicts a student's ability to access excellent…

On January 12, 2006, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board of Education approved a teacher performance-pay program awarding teachers financial incentives based on three indicators of performance pay. These indicators involved group performance for teachers based on campus second grade comparative growth in mathematics and reading…

This report includes two studies that describe the local context for teacher employment decisions. The first examines the local labor market, and the second examines employment for teachers who left Austin Independent School District (AISD). A separate executive summary and a technical report also were published. [For the executive summary, see…

For over a decade, researchers at NIET [National Institute for Excellence in Teaching] and around the country have studied TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement. This document summarizes recent internal and external research, including three new studies demonstrating TAP's effectiveness at raising student achievement, improving the…

This article takes up the opportunity offered by the United Nations' "Strategic Development Goals" to examine provisions for the selection, recruitment, training and professional development of secondary English teachers in Bangladesh. Qualified and trained teachers are considered as essential to effect the changes in English teaching…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore how pre-service training and professional development affected recruitment and retention of effective teachers serving in multicultural classrooms. The research questions under investigation were: (1) what pre-service training did effective educators receive before entering…