Teacher Quality Resources

The following is a list of resources, including publications and websites, that provide additional information on the latest research, policies and discussions focused on teacher quality. Check back regularly as we will periodically update this page with additional resources.

Publications

Teacher Recruitment and Retention

Building and Sustaining Talent: Creating Conditions in High-Poverty Schools That Support Effective Teaching and Learning

(The Education Trust, June 2012)
Released by The Education Trust, "Building and Sustaining Talent: Creating Conditions in High-Poverty Schools That Support Effective Teaching and Learning" outlines the need to pair efforts to improve outdated, inadequate teacher evaluation systems with the policy and culture changes that must accompany them. The report also highlights strategies that five school districts employ—including the implementation of the TAP system in the Ascension Parish Public School System—to help low-performing schools identify, attract, nurture, and keep talented teachers.

Ensuring Effective Teachers for All Students: Six State Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Effective Teachers in High-Poverty and High-Minority Schools

(Center for American Progress [CAP], May 2009)
This paper highlights six strategies that states can undertake to help ensure that every student has access to an effective teacher: 1) analyze and report on the distribution of teachers between schools using value-added estimates and other measures; 2) design a model evaluation system for measuring teacher effectiveness and improving teacher performance; 3) support programs that offer financial incentives to effective teachers in high-poverty schools; 4) provide funding and models for recruitment and preparation programs that are specifically targeted to high-needs schools; 5) provide an induction and mentoring program for new teachers in high-poverty schools; and 6) require schools to report their budgets by actual expenditures, rather than positions.

The Cost of Teacher Turnover in Five School Districts: A Pilot Study

(National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future [NCTAF], 2007)
In 2007, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) completed an 18-month study of the costs of teacher turnover in five school districts across the country. The study examines the costs of recruiting, hiring, processing and training teachers at both the school and district levels.

Federal Funding Opportunities

Prospective States
and Districts

Current TAP Schools

Donors

Peter Allen, Career Teacher, Algiers Technology Academy, New Orleans, Louisiana
"The multiple ongoing evaluations are key to my improvement as a teacher. The most helpful part of the process is the post-conference after the evaluation. In this environment, I receive valuable feedback to become a better teacher . . ."