Research & Insights

As school and systems leaders, we have a real opportunity now to change the education system to provide a better and more equitable education for all students.

Well before COVID-19 hit, many states had backed away from only recently adopted teacher evaluation policies. With COVID-19 now dominating the landscape, more schools and districts are opting to forgo teacher evaluations.

Researchers have spent decades investigating the most valid predictors and measures of teacher quality, with one of the hopes being that school districts will know exactly what to look for when hiring new teachers.

No district wants to lay off personnel. But if it ought to be done, NCTQ (along with other education researchers and policy advocates) has laid out ways to make layoff decisions that cause the least harm to students, provided that teacher quality considerations are prioritized.

An Action Guide for States

The 2019-2020 school year is coming to a close, but school district leaders will continue to face the challenges of distance learning as they plan for both summer school and fall openings.

Some of the essential skills can be learned from textbooks and lectures—but knowing how to put it all in motion requires some real-world practice.

In light of the economic turmoil that COVID-19 is bringing about,
pension shortfalls are likely to grow at an even more staggering rate.

Over a century ago, former school principal Abraham Flexner catalyzed the reform of medical education, producing an exhaustive report and ratings of the nation’s 155 medical schools.

In this unprecedented time of school closures, districts must walk a fine line regarding teacher evaluations.

States must now consider how these coronavirus-related closures are impacting student teaching and other licensure requirements.

When the COVID-19 crisis hit, we asked what, if anything, districts had spelled out in their existing policies relevant to teacher work, pay, and leave in situations of emergency school closures. Then we started collecting the new policies districts are adopting for teachers.

This is a grave time. As we try our best to weather this storm, we find ourselves asking a lot of questions that produce answers no more reliable than what we might expect from a Ouija board.

The settlement agreement in CA still tiptoes around the most likely reason these kids aren’t reading.

Student teaching may not be a magic bullet for combating the myriad problems that plague teacher preparation, but it sure comes close…

Believing that one’s students have potential—and treating them accordingly—helps them rise to their teacher’s expectations.

Reading is the gateway to educational achievement and lifelong success, especially for students who face seemingly insurmountable social and economic barriers.

While the success we see in adoption of reading science among teacher prep programs really is cause for celebration, I still can’t help but feel that it’s too early to pop the champagne.

Although Brexit and Megxit may be dominating headlines, politics and the royal family aren’t the only issues worth reading up on from across the pond.

Remember when we learned just how powerful a good cooperating teacher can be for a teacher-in-training?

Teacher Preparation to Teach Reading: Summary of findings on NCTQ’s Early Reading standard