Ensuring that high performing teachers are equitably
distributed among schools is a tough challenge for many districts. A
meta-analysis of three Institute of Education Sciences funded studies confirms this challenge, but also shows
that some districts do a better job than others with the assignment and
distribution of effective teachers.
The three studies use value-added measures to evaluate whether
schools with higher proportions of free or reduced priced lunch (FRL) students
have less effective teachers.
Looking across the three studies, two major
findings emerge. Disadvantaged students
do, in fact, receive less effective teachers on average, but the disparity at
which effective teachers are available in low-income schools varies from
district to district.
Unfortunately, the studies do not further investigate these findings and the
meta-analysis doesn’t speculate about the differences among districts. This highlights
an opportunity for further research to investigate what factors and practices
contribute to high performing teachers staying in low income schools.
If you are interested in reading the actual studies, they
can be found here,
here, and here.
