Some 70 percent of NCTQ staff once served as K-12 classroom teachers.  There is not a day that goes by that our collective teaching experience doesn't prove to be of inestimable value in our research and policy formation. If we sometimes seem like harsh critics of the institutions having so much authority over K-12 education—states, schools of education, teachers unions, school districts—it's only because we have grand ambitions for the teaching profession.

Out of our deep respect for many of our former colleagues still working in the classroom and our recognition that good teaching is very hard work, we salute teachers at the start of this National Teacher Appreciation Week.

Julie Greenberg