Improving Staff Quality
Teacher Preparation, Professional Development
& Teacher Compensation

Teacher Preparation

The Teacher Gap
Education Week (2003)
This '"Quality Counts" report from Education Week examines states' efforts to recruit, prepare and retain a skilled teaching force.

"Lost at Sea": New Teachers' Experiences with
Curriculum and Assessment
Teachers College Record (2002)
Based on an interview study of fifty 1st- and 2nd-year teachers in Massachusetts, researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education describe a lack of curricular support for new teachers despite the progress of standards-based reform.

Beginning Teacher Induction: The Essential Bridge
American Federation of Teachers (2001)
This AFT Policy Brief provides the underlying research-based rationale for the AFT's policy on beginning teacher induction.  It then focuses on state statutes and regulations on induction, outlining the attributes of effective statutes and reporting on the results of a 50-state AFT analysis of induction policies, ending with a set of recommendations. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Lifelines to the Classroom: Designing Support for Beginning Teachers
WestEd (2001)
A third of beginning teachers quit within their first three years on the job. What does it take to adequately support novice teachers?   What lifelines can we offer so they will remain in the profession and develop into highly effective classroom educators? (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Quality Counts 2000: Who Should Teach?
Education Week and Pew Charitable Trusts (2000)
According to this report, states are "not doing enough to attract, screen, and retain competent teachers." Education Week found in this, their fourth annual fifty-state report that far too many teachers do not met the minimum requirements to teach. They also found that the incentives offered to new recruits were weak at best. Quality Counts 2000, which continues to mark the progress of educational improvement, also reports statistics on key educational issues such as: school climate, resources and standards and accountability.

Teaching the Teachers: Different Settings, Different Results
Educational Testing Service (2000)
Opinion is sharply divided on the question of the effectiveness of teacher education programs. Some policymakers contend that these programs are largely successful in preparing college students to become teachers. Others contend that these programs are largely failures. Yet, the empirical basis for either of these views is weak.  This study takes a step toward remedying the research gap by examining the links between the characteristics of teacher education institutions, their programs, and teacher effectiveness as measured by scores on teacher licensure exams for the southeast United States.(Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Beginning Teacher Mentoring Programs
Education Commission of the States (1999)
In an evaluation of national and state studies about student achievement, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) found that the most significant factor affecting achievement is teacher quality.  Based on their evaluation, the commission recommended that teacher preparation and professional development be reinvented, including the creation and funding of mentoring programs for beginning teachers.
Also available in MS Word Format

Building a Profession: Strengthening Teacher Preparation and Induction
American Federation of Teachers (1998)
This 1998 report, authored by an AFT appointed task force charged with investigating the issues of teacher preparation in the United States, examines three interrelated issues: (1) entry/exit standards (including licensure) for teacher candidates; (2) the clinical experience (including induction of new teachers); and (3) the curriculum in regard to both subject matter and pedagogy.  To uncover these issues, the task force conducted extensive literature reviews, state policies were analyzed and teacher training institutions were surveyed.  To find out what the task force uncovered and to view its recommendations for strengthening preservice teacher licensure and entry into the profession, click the above link. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future
National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1996)
The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future is striving for an awesome goal. By 2006, they want to provide every child with access to caring, competent teachers who can help them succeed. This report helps to identify the factors which are preventing this goal from becoming a reality, such as the major flaws found in teacher preparation programs. The Commission also offers proposals to remedy these situations, including getting serious about standards and encouraging and rewarding teachers with skill.

Professional Development

A Knowledge Base for the Teaching Profession
James Hiebert, Ronald Gallimore & James Stigler (2002)
To improve classroom teaching in a steady, lasting way, the teaching profession needs a knowledge base that grows and improves. Yet, say the authors, despite the continuing efforts of researchers, archived knowledge about effective practice has has had little effect in the i average classroom. They respond to this problem with a thoughtful proposal on how teachers and researchers can work together to build and continually improve the professional knowledge base. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Building a New Structure for School Leadership
Albert Shanker Institute (2000)
In a major research analysis, Richard F. Elmore explores the problems with the structure and leadership of public education, while explaining the dangers of public funding for private schools. He urges educators to study the schools whose leaders and best practices are succeeding in meeting high standards. The report features successful efforts in districts where exemplary superintendents and principals are making it possible for teachers to offer excellent instruction. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Or contact the Albert Shanker Institute to purchase copies of this publication.)

Professional Development: It's Union Work
American Federation of Teachers (2000)
Teachers unions have an integral role to play in ensuring that teachers receive meaningful, high-quality professional development. This booklet highlights examples of successful union-initiated or union-supported efforts to provide teachers with what they need and to open doors for constructive labor-management relationships. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

The Teaching Gap (Chapter 1)
James Stigler & James Hiebert (1999)
This book, which was written with a grant from the Albert Shanker Institute, explores the failure of U.S. school systems to support a culture of professional development for teachers. It compares what's lacking in teacher training in this country with what's working in Japan, where teachers spend time working together to improve their skills. Read the Shanker Institute's press release.

How Can Professional Development Help?
Mary M. Kennedy (1998)
This paper reviews the literature on professional development in math and science for evidence of effects on student learning.  It also examines many of the most common contentions about how inservice teacher education programs should be designed--i.e., claims such as that inservice programs should be integrated with practice, extended over time, work with whole schools, etc.  What it finds is revealing.(Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Teacher Compensation

The Teacher Compensation Project
Consortium for Policy Research in Education (2000)
The purpose the Teacher Compensation Project is to identify alternative salary approaches that provide strong incentives for enhancing the individual teaching capacity to teach students to high academic standards, and the reward groups of teachers for success. The Project uses a three-pronged approach to develop a well-rounded theoretical and practical knowledge base about the research interest areas. Traditional quantitative and qualitative research activities include case studies and surveys conducted at the national, state or district level. The project is engaged in conceptual development of new theories of action relating to teacher compensation and strategies to improve student achievement. Finally, staff provide technical assistance to select districts or states during the development and implementation phases of pay system redesign.

Pay-For-Performance in Education: An Issue Brief for Business Leaders
Business Roundtable and National Alliance of Business (2000)
How should teachers be compensated? Should compensation be directly linked to student performance? This type of "pay-for-performance" system is well known in the private sector, whereas a "single salary schedule" has prevailed in public school settings for over fifty years. This issue brief advocates the reform of school compensation methods and provides models from different cities around the country. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

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