Research & Insights

Given the importance of great teaching for student learning, including effectiveness data when making layoff decisions is essential.

Something doesn’t add up.

Angela Duckworth caught our collective
imagination a few years ago when she put forward the notion that grit is a
greater contributor to student success than more traditional intelligence measures.

Oftentimes research is way out ahead of the conventional wisdom. Occasionally though, common sense ends up being justified by research.

Teacher Effectiveness and Personnel Policies

Teacher evaluation systems, when implemented well, are coinciding with real and measurable benefits for students and teachers alike.

A new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research compares two approaches to incentivizing teacher performance and highlights the value of initiatives aimed at rewarding ability and effort.

The right incentives can motivate a student to do homework, an employee to hit a quota, and even a child to finish her vegetables.

In most job sectors,
employers use their compensation dollars to purchase what they most value.

Six Places Where Teacher Evaluation Systems are Getting Results

Teachers are not
interchangeable parts in a school district. That’s why principals need to have
the final say about the district’s decision to transfer a teacher into their
school.

Over the past century, science has revealed a great deal about how the brain functions.

Perhaps you can help me solve a puzzle.

Pay matters. The importance of pay generally isn’t disputed, except when it comes to teachers.

Coverage of teacher shortages tells of real struggles faced by districts, but it only tells part of the story.

Take your eyes off the pounding surf for a moment to read my top three interesting developments worth noting.

A new study adds to some evidence that, although a relatively reliable measure, teacher observations may be capturing more than we would like.

Strengthening Reading Instruction through Better Preparation of Elementary and Special Education Teachers

Among the largest districts in the country, 88 percent offer an increase in pay to teachers who earn master’s degrees.

It’s reasonable to assume that a master’s degree in teaching should provide new teachers with a leg up compared to those who go through training as an undergraduate. Not so.

There are new teacher evaluation systems that show substantial promise, but as with any systemic effort, we need to watch for and guard against any unintended consequences.

A new paper adds to the growing body of research pointing out just how difficult it is to tell teacher prep programs apart based on outputs.

The public may not have much noticed the Janus v. AFSCME decision from the US Supreme Court, but the unions are reeling and with good reason.

Time and again research has failed to find evidence that earning a master’s degree make a teacher more effective.