Today NCTQ released the seventh edition of our State Teacher Policy Yearbook. This year's report is a comprehensive edition, analyzing every state law, rule and regulation that shapes the effectiveness of the teaching profession, from teacher preparation, licensing and evaluation, to compensation, professional development and dismissal policy. 

States continue to make considerable progress in teacher policies that support teacher effectiveness, with 31 states raising their overall grades from 2011. And while we still haven't given any overall A grades, we are pleased to report that 37 states have raised their grades by at least one full grade level since 2009.   

Florida earned a B+, the highest overall teacher policy grade in the nation. Louisiana, Rhode Island and Tennessee earned Bs, and 10 other states earned B-.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are a handful of states falling increasingly out of step with important teacher reform trends across the nation. Montana has consistently earned an F in the Yearbook for its record of inaction on teacher policy.  Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming earned Ds or lower.

To assist in digesting the large volume of information included in the Yearbook, NCTQ has launched a redesigned website that provides searchable access to the entire Yearbook dataset, including topical pages with up-to-date data on state teacher policy, a customized search tool and user-friendly options for generating graphic results that can be exported and shared.  

We hope you'll explore the entire site, but for starters, we recommend checking out the State Yearbook Dashboard. And for Yearbook veterans who still want to be able to curl up with a full report, state reports and the national summary can be downloaded here.