What can California, Texas, and Washington, D.C. teach us about how to diversify the teacher workforce?
Nationally, the diversification of the teacher workforce is slowing compared to the diversification of college-educated adults, but California, Texas, and Washington, D.C. are bucking that trend. Explore what factors contribute to their relatively high rates of teacher diversity and how their policies and practices will likely affect teacher quality.
Our classrooms haven’t kept pace with the changing world. The Ford Model T represented breakthrough technology in its day—more than 100 years ago—but it wouldn’t serve us well today. Likewise, our traditional classroom model from the same era doesn’t work well for far too many students and teachers. In fact, as a result of this outdated model, it is more difficult for schools to find and keep great teachers, which ultimately hurts student learning.
This interactive resource answers questions and provides guidance about reimagining teaching based on your leadership role. It contains a scan of state policies that impact whether districts can make strategic staffing a reality, case studies from innovative states and districts that are leading the way, and advice for leaders on how to get started.
Districts are facing hard choices: How can teacher evaluation help?
Teacher evaluation systems—if implemented well—can help districts make better workforce decisions. We examine whether large districts’ policies align with the research on what will likely make for effective and impactful evaluation systems.
Teacher layoffs may be coming. How do districts decide who to let go?
An analysis of layoff policies in 148 of the largest U.S. school districts explores how they may impact the teacher workforce and the student population
Teachers and students win from video-based professional coaching
Providing teachers with feedback—through a medium that allows them to explicitly see how they responded to various scenarios—could help teachers become more effective.
What do NASA scientists, historians, and strong readers have in common? Content knowledge
I was recently reading a NASA article with my 12-year-old child about the dynamics of flight and was struck by the important role content knowledge played in helping her make sense of the text.
Do States Have the Data they Need to Answer Important Questions about their Teacher Workforce?
States need accurate, detailed data to answer critical questions about their teacher workforce. This report reveals significant gaps in how states track and connect essential information, hindering efforts to understand and address staffing challenges.
While most states collect basic teacher demographics and credentials, many lack detailed, disaggregated data on teaching positions, regional shortages, and subject-specific needs. This disconnect prevents policymakers from pinpointing shortages; evaluating teacher preparation program outcomes; and crafting targeted, effective solutions. The report calls for investments in comprehensive data systems and stronger links between teacher preparation and K–12 employment data systems to build a diverse, well-supported teacher workforce.
Strong teacher evaluation systems have the potential to help teachers improve their practice, to exit teachers who are perennially ineffective, to retain teachers who are effective and learn from them, and to increase the overall quality of a district’s teacher workforce. Unfortunately, this report highlights a retreat from evidence-based practices in teacher and principal evaluations that once bolstered student learning. States are increasingly sidelining objective measures, like student growth data, while relying heavily on observations—often without the necessary frequency or qualified evaluators. Many states also do not explicitly require comprehensive feedback or link evaluation results to professional development.
The report calls for a reinvigoration of evaluation policies to ensure assessments truly support educator growth and drive improved student outcomes.
