Publications

Intensifying Implementation Support: An Interactive Guide to Successful Teacher Evaluation for Professional Growth

Teachers and leaders can find examples, strategies, and resources to strengthen their district’s teacher evaluation system to support professional learning. 

21st Century Educators: Developing and Supporting Great Career and Technical Education Teachers | February 2014

Learn three human capital management policies for supporting career and technical education (CTE) teachers: certification, performance evaluation, and professional development.

Leadership Matters: Investing in Sustained School-Systems Leadership

This Chiefs for Change report examines the need for strong, diverse school-system leaders to commit to student-focused change that also reflects the demographics of the students they serve. The report highlights leadership efforts in Louisiana, Colorado, and Tennessee and calls for additional systems to recruit and retain well-prepared, diverse leaders through stronger career pathways, development programs, and on-the job support and coaching.

Unleashing Teacher Leadership: How Formal Teacher Leader Roles Can Improve Instruction

This Teach Factor report, published by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), examines the demand teachers have for leadership opportunities, need for expanded instructional leadership in schools to support principals, and provides examples of formalized roles associated with The System for Teacher and Student Advancement (TAP). NIET also provides additional resources aligned to this report for major stakeholders, including policymakers, district officials, principals, and teachers.

Targeted Teacher Recruitment

This policy snapshot, published by the Education Commission of the States, provides a state-by-state comparison of recent legislation aimed to support targeted recruitment and retention of teachers in specific subjects (e.g., science, math, special education) and types of schools (e.g., urban, rural, high-poverty). The report highlights exemplar states’ efforts to target recruitment for educators and adequately prepare them to teach certain subjects or populations, as opposed to general recruitment efforts that often fall short for high-need subjects or specializations.

The Practice Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development

This Aspen Institute report shares the research base that all learning and teaching is social and emotional, and that this should be integrated with academic instruction to improve individual student outcomes and our overall education system. The report carries out a call to action from the National Commission’s Council of Distinguished Educators and lists ways that schools can ensure that social and emotional learning is integrated in academics.

Diversifying the Teaching Profession: How to Recruit and Retain Teachers of Color

This Learning Policy Institute report explains the positive impact of teacher diversity on outcomes for students of color, barriers to recruiting and retaining teachers of color, and promising practices to address these challenges. The report provides examples of how schools and districts attract and keep diverse educators, such as: building supportive pathways into teaching, revising and refining hiring strategies to be more proactive, strengthening induction programs, and improving teaching conditions through improved school leadership.    

High-Quality Curricula and Team-Based Professional Learning: A Perfect Partnership for Equity

This Learning Forward report explores the benefits of supporting educators to effectively collaborate in professional learning communities (PLCs) and to use standards-aligned, high-quality curricula. In an effort to address equity challenges within and across schools and districts, the report explores how a combination of high-quality teaching and instructional materials can positively impact student learning and achievement.

Measurement Instruments for Assessing the Performance of Professional Learning Communities

This tool, created by the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic, compiles nearly fifty quantitative and qualitative instruments to evaluate educator professional learning communities (PLCs) aimed to improve performance. Brief summaries are included for each instrument, including a short description of the tool, its availability and cost, and the population typically administered to.

School Leadership: A Primer for Policymakers

This brief, written by the Education Commission of the States, examines the necessity of strong school leadership and lists steps states can take to ensure that all schools have effective leaders. Key areas addressed in the brief are: school leadership standards, recruitment, preparation design and program approval, certification and licensure, mentoring, induction, and professional development, evaluation and ongoing support. The brief also provides additional state policy considerations and corresponding examples.  

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