Research & Insights

Research shows that teachers of color positively impact all students, especially students of color, improving their academic achievement, discipline, attendance, graduation rates, and social-emotional outcomes. Despite their positive impact on students, the teaching workforce remains 80% white while students of color now comprise over 50% of public school students.

Teacher diversity is a policy area that will require sustained commitment from states to achieve progress and increase the number of teachers of color in the workforce. This report examines how states are responding to this challenge through policy and funding, providing the first comprehensive analysis of teacher diversity policies across all 50 states and D.C.

A recent working paper shows a simple hack school leaders can use to ease teaching vacancy woes: Automate data collection.  

Little is know about paraprofessionals in the classroom, but a recent study in Washington sheds some much-needed light on these important players.

Filling those hard-to-staff teacher vacancies doesn’t have to be so hard. Making a few straightforward adjustments to compensation, incentives, and partnerships can change the game.

What does the research say about measuring how great a teacher is other than their students’ test scores?

A new study examines a program in Dallas—Accelerating Campus Excellence or ACE—that sought to boost teacher pay for stellar educators willing to teach in high-poverty schools. Compared to similar schools where they didn’t attract high-performing teachers with higher pay, the ACE schools produced dramatic results for students. But those results didn’t last.

Teachers demand better training on how to teach reading. Teacher prep programs ought to do more

A four-day work week may seem like a good way to attract teachers and address tightening school budgets, but researchers say it might do more harm than good. 

What can districts do to secure teachers prepared to teach scientifically based reading instruction?

NCTQ examined the extent to which nearly 700 teacher preparation programs across the country prepare aspiring teachers to teach children to read.

Mention AI in a school setting and most people think of ChatGPT and cheating scandals. But AI in school settings isn’t all bad.

Teachers can choose from different instructional approaches, such as direct instruction, open discussion, and others, but which approach is the most effective? Does the best instructional approach depend on the subject?

As states quickly
shifted requirements for teacher licensure in the early days of the pandemic,
some also saw an opportunity to learn from the responses they put in place.

Together we can address the literacy crisis head-on, reversing historical patterns of inequity and changing the lives of millions of our children.

Lack of affordable housing exacerbates the teacher staffing challenges that many school districts face.

Challenging some assumptions, perhaps, new data shows that veteran teachers continue to improve late into their careers.

New research examines the impact of career and technical education teachers who entered the profession through different pathways.

Almost no one is tracking the impact recent policy decisions have on student learning and how they perpetuate educational inequity.

When a teacher needs to take time off, what paid leave is available to them?

What if states applied the “seat belt” policy approach to solving our current mathematics education crisis?

The answer (perhaps less satisfying than policy wonks would like) is that It depends on the school context.

Several school district leaders shared how they’ve accomplished recent gains in building a more diverse teacher workforce.

New research looks into how teachers select or are selected into positions based on their preferences and those of the principals hiring them.

New research from Illinois reiterates that the nature of the teacher shortage problem is one of inequity.

Policymakers are overlooking teacher prep as a critical force in promoting teacher quality and better outcomes for students.