This article focuses on the period between 1966 and 1968, when the original vision of the policymakers of the National Teacher Corps (NTC) and the federal staffers who created the NTC initiative held sway. In their vision, the "best and brightest" (according to their criteria) could better solve the problems of educating so-called disadvantaged…

School administrators are facing the perfect storm: a growing number of baby boomers retiring each year, an absence of experienced teachers to take their place, and high turnover among young teachers. The need to hire and retain a new generation of teachers is one of the biggest challenges facing school administrators. To fill these vacancies,…

One way to improve struggling schools' access to effective teachers is to use selective transfer incentives. Such incentives offer bonuses for the highest-performing teachers to move into schools serving the most disadvantaged students. In this report, we provide evidence from a randomized experiment that tested whether such a policy intervention…

National and state-level policies recognize the critical role that talented teachers play in ensuring that all students learn and in building capacity for instructional excellence in schools. Teachers influence student learning more than any other factor in the school, and the dividends of effective teaching are cumulative (see "Defining the…

Our nation is squandering one of its most important resources--our best teachers--and children are paying the price. Current policy initiatives overlook the most obvious, immediate source of improved teaching effectiveness: The great teachers we already have. The top 25 percent of U.S. teachers--more than 800,000 of them--already achieve results…

Teacher turnover disproportionately impacts high poverty districts, where teachers hold fewer professional credentials and working conditions are more challenging. The disparities in teacher quality and working conditions likely contribute to teacher turnover and workplace instability as well as limit students' opportunities to learn.…

This literature review seeks to find if the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 has produced more qualified teachers since before its enactment. The impact of the NCLB on student achievement and teacher quality needs have been examined since there have been 10 years after the law was enacted. Only 11% reported that the NCLB highly qualified…

The hiring of middle school teachers to positively impact student achievement--is this a process of teacher selection or teacher attraction for schools, respectively, with low teacher turnover and schools with high teacher turnover? Since research indicates that the most important variable influencing student achievement is having a highly…

This groundbreaking work examines teacher quality, work norms, and professional learning opportunities, using data from 15 countries. The authors compare and contrast the United States with two high-achieving countries--Japan and Australia--that have implemented very different approaches to improving teacher quality. Drawing on both large…

One way to improve struggling schools' access to effective teachers is to use selective transfer incentives. Such incentives offer bonuses for the highest-performing teachers to move into schools serving the most disadvantaged students. In this report, we provide evidence from a randomized experiment that tested whether such a policy intervention…

This study responds to a request from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to analyze National Board certification among high school teachers in understudied subject areas and locales to help fill gaps in the research literature. The authors also were asked to use multiple indicators of performance. The research team selected two…

The lack of diversity in the teaching force is troubling for several reasons. Fewer minority teachers may indicate that few minorities are interested in pursuing a career in teaching. The low number of minority teachers also may indicate that there are fewer minority candidates with the skills and qualifications to enter the field. The inability…

Over the last two decades policymakers and researchers of most "stripes" have come to conclude that teachers make the most difference in raising student achievement, and strong principals are key to school improvement. As a result, a wide array of initiatives have been launched to attract non-traditional recruits to education, measure…

Recruitment and retention of qualified education personnel remains an ongoing challenge and all 50 states have reported teacher shortages for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years. Although there was some variation from state to state in terms of which types of personnel were most difficult to recruit and retain, a shortage of qualified special…

Teachers are systematically sorted across schools. Often, schools serving the lowest-achieving students are staffed by the least-skilled teachers. While teachers' school preferences account for some of the sorting, school practices are also likely to be a key factor. Using value-added methods, the authors examine the relationship between a…