Black History Month: Learning to read is a civil right
Parents in Massachusetts are stirring up “some good trouble” by suing the authors and publishing companies who “peddled a raft of products and curricula that sought to diminish and even exclude systematic and daily phonics instruction.”
Dear Mr. President, When teachers thrive, America thrives
Dear Mr. President, Congratulations on your inauguration. I write to you concerning a matter that is critical to the success of our great nation: teacher quality.
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.
Given how disruptive it is for schools to deal with even a single absent teacher, you’d think we would know such things as how many teachers are quitting.
COVID-related incentives for teachers during the 2021-22 school year
Teachers faced many difficulties last year due to the pandemic. Concerns about teachers not returning for the 2021-22 school year weren’t unfounded. We looked at the incentives that 148 large school districts in the U.S. used to attract and retain teachers during the Fall of 2021.
Working conditions play a crucial role in teachers’ wellbeing, especially after 18 taxing months of reinventing education due to the pandemic. A recent report uncovers that class sizes are a major contributing factor. In this month’s District Trendline, we examine the contractual obligations of 148 school districts for class sizes.
Reflections on Starbucks and rural teaching shortages
To attract teachers to rural areas we either have to come up with a significant and steady infusion of cash—or life in rural America needs to become a more attractive proposition.
Just as the U.S. managed one of the most successful rollouts of COVID vaccines of any nation, so too can we dramatically improve the literacy rate in the nation.
Of the 24 states that have released guidance on teacher evaluation for SY20-21 thus far, 21 are still requiring summative evaluations for all teachers.
Substitute teachers during the pandemic: requirements, benefits, and pay
Although districts reopening schools virtually may have less need for substitute teachers due to teachers’ reduced exposure to illness, districts reopening in-person need more substitutes than normal, as social distance measures reduce class sizes and teachers may be absent more often due to increased exposure to illness.
Never much a defender of local control in education, I now think we have nothing to lose by shifting some authority to local communities to put a plan in motion for educating kids.
What we’re reading: D.C. Voices: Teacher retention and recruitment during the pandemic
New analysis from Chelsea Coffin and Tanaz Meghjani at the D.C. Policy Center explores some of the teacher workforce data from D.C. public schools, and reports on how key education officials and educators there are thinking about teacher retention and recruitment during the COVID-19 crisis.
Supporting teachers through mentoring and collaboration
As school districts work out next year’s instructional format and take stock of their teacher workforce, districts in a position to hire are also readying themselves for a potentially unprepared influx of novice teachers.
Teacher layoff criteria during a pandemic-driven recession
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.
Update on districts’ teacher policy responses to COVID-19
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.
How are school districts adapting teacher work policies for emergency closures?
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.
