175 results found
When teacher layoffs are necessary, districts with thoughtful policies can minimize disruptions to schools and students, especially those facing greater disadvantages.
The Ford Model T: revolutionary 100+ years ago, impractical now. Similarly, our outdated classroom model doesn't meet the needs of today's students and teachers. We explore the evidence driving schools...
Our classrooms haven't kept pace with innovation. The Ford Model T represented breakthrough technology in its day—more than 100 years ago—but it wouldn't serve us well today. Likewise, our traditional...
This Clinical Practice Action Guide tells the stories of prep programs, districts, and states that have made a concerted effort to build a strong clinical experience, and provides resources and...
Some suggest that teachers are "lured" out of the profession into more lucrative fields. But a new study of pre-pandemic data paints a more complex picture of who leaves the...
New research examining ESSER's impact on school district hiring in Washington state confirms potential teacher layoffs as the funding wanes.
As districts face impending fiscal cuts and teacher layoffs, states and districts should take this opportunity to reexamine their approaches to attracting and retaining teachers—especially those who do the most...
The proportion of individuals in educator-support roles (paraprofessionals, counselors, etc.) has consistently grown over the last decade. Compare state and national changes in school staffing across support and teaching roles.
As ESSER funding depletes and teacher layoffs set in, school districts should consider teacher performance and other alternatives to last-in-first-out.
Researchers say Chicago Public Schools ultimately assigns students to teachers known to be low-performing and unlikely to improve.
In March 2023, Arkansas passed the Literacy, Empowerment, Accountability, Readiness, Networking and School Safety Act (LEARNS). A recent research brief from the University of Arkansas analyzes how LEARNS has influenced...
Non-teaching staff can have a big impact on student outcomes, yet little research explores how their turnover rates vary and what effects that could have on the school. New research...
Explore the most popular District Trendline posts of 2023, spotlighting topics like paid parental leave benefits, housing costs in relation to teaching salaries, the diversification of the teacher workforce, and...
Districts nationally are struggling to build strong pools of substitute teachers. Yet in 40% of the large districts we analyzed, entry-level substitute teachers are paid less than what they would...
Pipelines, incentives, retention strategies, and data tracking lead to greater diversity.
To learn about state priorities in the coming years, NCTQ surveyed education leaders, advocacy groups, and researchers across the country.
Do state leaders suffer from a lack of strategy? To really connect the dots and make an impact, states need to simultaneously prioritize teacher quality and learning outcomes.
Despite robust research that shows that teachers of color increase positive academic, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes for all students, particularly students of color, new data and analysis from the National...
Filling those hard-to-staff teacher vacancies doesn't have to be so hard. Making a few straightforward adjustments to compensation, incentives, and partnerships can change the game.
A recent working paper shows a simple hack school leaders can use to ease teaching vacancy woes: Automate data collection.
Little is know about paraprofessionals in the classroom, but a recent study in Washington sheds some much-needed light on these important players.
The answer (perhaps less satisfying than policy wonks would like) is that It depends on the school context.
Several school district leaders shared how they've accomplished recent gains in building a more diverse teacher workforce.
New research looks into how teachers select or are selected into positions based on their preferences and those of the principals hiring them.
An analysis of layoff policies in 148 of the largest U.S. school districts explores how they may impact the teacher workforce and the student population
The most popular District Trendline posts of 2022, with topics ranging from pay increases for substitutes to building a positive school climate
Given both the importance—and dearth—of nuanced, local data on teacher supply and demand, NCTQ set out to understand the key data elements states are currently collecting, which data is missing,...
A new study finds sizable gains for students when they are assigned to a teacher for the second time.
Every family sends their child off to school, hoping the teacher will effectively meet their child's unique needs.
We examine if and how 148 large U.S. school districts use strategic pay to recruit and retain teachers.
Beyond the important areas outlined in the Secretary's remarks, we see two big challenges to the goal of access and equity to quality teachers that have yet to be addressed.
Insights on what school districts can do to ensure every classroom is staffed with an effective teacher.
One thing we know for certain: K-12 educator workforce data is lagging, lacking, and limited.
Investing in resources, such as school guidance counselors, that help shape a positive school environment can set the stage for building and sustaining a stronger teacher workforce.
How school districts can use NCTQ's Teacher Prep Review Elementary Math standard findings in their recruiting and hiring decisions
Do teachers who return to the district they graduated from have a competitive edge over other beginning teachers?
One concrete step districts can take to build a stronger teacher workforce is to move up their hiring timelines.
A look at the role that the quality and character of school life plays in teacher success and retention.
How states have responded to a 2015 federal law that they collect and report on the equitable distribution of teacher talent across their schools.
It's time to show our substitute teachers that we value them—and the time they spend with our students.
Assigning elementary teachers to teach only their best subjects, also known as "teacher specialization," holds a lot of appeal...
A new study makes the case that a $23 billion investment in California schools didn't just fail but backfired.
https://www.nctq.org/blog/Its-taking-a-really-long-time-to-get-state-longitudinal-data-systems-right
While most states have made progress in building out their data systems, key data connections are missing.
How several large school districts are revisiting policies surrounding pay and health benefits to attract prospective substitute teachers.
Teachers faced many difficulties last year due to the pandemic. Concerns about teachers not returning for the 2021-22 school year weren't unfounded. We looked at the incentives that 148 large...
What data do states collect and report on the teacher labor market? Do states connect data on supply and demand to better understand and address teacher shortages? Explore state policies...
A new working paper adds additional insight into the important question of how race impacts teacher hiring decisions.
Why should anyone care that schools take a little break, especially given all that teachers have been through over the past 18 months?
An analysis of state rules on collective bargaining for teachers and the content of school districts' policies across 148 districts nationwide.
For school districts looking to fulfill staffing needs, hosting student teachers offers many advantages to creating a pool of effective new teachers.
New data show the extent of the mismatch between teachers' certification and the area in which teachers are needed.
For school district leaders, a crucial strategy for hiring a strong, effective teacher workforce is to offer competitive salaries.
Are some teacher absences more likely to be covered than others? And what can be learned from the situations when it is not possible to find a sub?
Teacher candidates' clinical placements should represent an environment similar to what they'll experience in their first teaching job.
What if districts could significantly improve student outcomes by moving around the teachers they already have?
Pervasive late hiring processes hinder districts'ability to hire high-quality teacher candidates, yet still many districts can'tseem to rise out of this rut. One large district figured out something to doabout...
Although districts reopening schools virtually may have less need for substitute teachers due to teachers' reduced exposure to illness, districts reopening in-person need more substitutes than normal, as social distance...
A recent study from CALDER provides some insight into how a lack of information may contribute to the challenge of achieving equitable outcomes for students with and without disabilities.
New analysis from Chelsea Coffin and Tanaz Meghjani at the D.C. Policy Center explores some of the teacher workforce data from D.C. public schools, and reports on how key education...
Researchers have spent decades investigating the most valid predictors and measures of teacher quality, with one of the hopes being that school districts will know exactly what to look for...
No district wants to lay off personnel. But if it ought to be done, NCTQ (along with other education researchers and policy advocates) has laid out ways to make layoff...
What do substitute teacher pools look like across the largest school districts in the country and how can districts use strategic compensation and other innovative practices to ensure a strong...
Here's a legitimately scary topic never far from teachers' minds when the economy takes a downturn: the threat of being laid off.
Districts report the most difficulty not only filling STEM and special ed vacancies but keeping them filled with strong, effective teachers. Given these shortages, what can districts do to recruit...
"First, do no harm" is a good dictum for doctors, and may be one for policymakers as well. Even the best-intended policies can cause an unintended ripple of harm.
"This should work!" Reading between the lines of a new study looking at how to make the most of effective elementary teachers, it seemed pretty clear that even its dispassionate...
In spite of a federal law requiring states to take action to ameliorate the inequitable distribution of teacher talent, many states (and consequently their districts) aren't doing much.
We all know that new teachers are more apt to get handed the toughest classrooms, a double whammy on student growth (where it's most needed) and teacher attrition rates. What's...
It's safe to say that recessions are bad – people lose jobs, investments lose value, politicians lose elections. However, it turns out there's one group that benefits from an economic...
I know teacher evaluation is now considered toxic, but I've never been one to shy away from tilting at windmills.
How can we fix well-documented disparities in the education experiences of children living in poverty?
A new study confirms, yet again, the positive benefits of students of color having a teacher of the same race.
Given the importance of great teaching for student learning, including effectiveness data when making layoff decisions is essential.
Deciding under what circumstances teachers are laid off during a reduction in force or dismissed will always be a tightrope. Teachers deserve a fair process and one that respects their...
In most job sectors,employers use their compensation dollars to purchase what they most value.
A new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research compares two approaches to incentivizing teacher performance and highlights the value of initiatives aimed at rewarding ability and...
Teachers are notinterchangeable parts in a school district. That's why principals need to havethe final say about the district's decision to transfer a teacher into theirschool.
Coverage of teacher shortages tells of real struggles faced by districts, but it only tells part of the story.
The nation has taken steps toward giving all students, regardless of their background, equal access to great teachers. By more equitably distributing teachers, can schools actually get more equitable results,...
It's teacher hiring season, and school districts are out in full force working to recruit teachers.
In Tennessee schools, accountability starts at the top - and that might be making all the difference.
As school districts plan for the coming school year, many are already considering where to recruit a fresh crop of new teachers - teachers eager to put everything they've learned...
About 20 school districts have adopted new staffing models known collectively as Opportunity Culture, each designed to maximize the impact of great teachers. Makes sense, but does it work? Thanks...
Without first understanding a problem, it's next-to-impossible to fix it. A new policy brief demonstrates how one state looked first to data to better understand its schools' inequitable assignment of...
As many states struggle to staff all their classrooms, they might want to examine the degree to which their own policies discourage qualified teachers from applying.
A great deal of attention has been given to the learning loss that can take place under brand new teachers, but there is a growing body of research that shows...
The Teacher Shortages and Surpluses Databurst is an analysis of states' work to track teacher shortages and surpluses, and to implement the policy solutions to address these challenges. This resource...
Even today, high-needs schools struggle to attract and, more critically, retain effective and experienced teachers. We think teacher prep programs are missing a huge opportunity to tackle this issue, through...
There is a cautionary lesson from a new working paper examining Houston's bold talent initiative. In many ways, it yielded the results intended by retaining a higher number of great...
See how states fared on our policy goals for dismissing teachers for poor performance in 2017.
Learn more about best practices in state layoff policies from our 2017 State Teacher Policy Yearbook.
Learn more about state's policies for licensing substitute teachers.
NCTQ's bi-annual 2017 State Teacher Policy Yearbook grades states on how well their programs and policies raise the quality of the teachers in their schools. The 2017 Yearbook evaluates states...
This Best Practices Guide highlights exemplary work to meet the ESSA's educator equity requirements from the 17 state plans we analyzed in spring 2017.
The Best Practice Guide highlights exemplary work to meet the ESSA's educator equity requirements among the 34 state plans analyzed in fall 2017. The guide is designed to recognize and...
Despite how some organizations tend to discuss teacher supply, the United States doesn't have just one teacher labor market, but at least 50. Why is the labor market so fragmented?...
Permit me to draw my inspiration from scripture, referencing the basic human needs of clothes on our backs, food to eat, and a shelter over our heads. How better to...
Explore school district teacher transfer policies, including the use of mutual consent, with NCTQ's Teacher Contract Database data.
Teacher salaries are always in the news, but in the last few months we've noticed that housing affordability for teachers is in the spotlight, with many school districts exploring ways...
Like all of us, principals respond to performance pressures by seeking to alleviate them as quickly and simply as possible. Unfortunately, when it comes to the pressure to improve test...
As students around the country return to class, far too many will find a substitute teacher at the helm. Here we take a look at districts' qualifications for their substitutes...
Should schools of education steer their students to fields where they have the highest chances of being hired? Or should they allow students to major in fields in which the...
Dig into the data on substitute teacher education requirements, pay, and more from the Teacher Contract Database.
Explore district layoff policies in NCTQ's Teacher Contract Database.
Every year, shifts in school enrollment,programs, or other factors require schools to transfer some teachers out of theircurrent position at a school. But how do those teachers find a new...
The New York City Education Department recently announced plans to reduce the pool of paid teachers who do not have a classroom position by now assigning these teachers to vacancies...
There has been substantial media attention recently regarding states' Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans, much of which has focused on states' efforts to meet ESSA's accountability requirements. Here at...
In light of this change in the layoff landscape, this month we examine how districts around the country handle teacher layoffs and which teachers are the first to go when...
Data, data everywhere but not a drop to drink.
In the search for your perfect teaching job, there are a lot of compensation-related factors to consider.
Choosing the right district for you is not easy if you don't have the right information.
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) and TNTP submitted an amicus brief today in support of four Minnesota parents challenging the state's laws on teacher tenure, dismissal, and layoffs....
For teachers, finding satisfaction in their classroom, school, and district is key to longevity and success.
Studies have shown teachers who have strong academic backgrounds tend to be more successful in the classroom.
Do low-income students have the same access to effective teachers as their more affluent peers? A new study from Eric Isenberg and his colleagues at Mathematica Policy Research and the...
Teacher quality researchers made plenty of provocative headlines in 2016. They identified trends to monitor, new tips for the trade, and a few wins worth celebrating. Here are the papers...
If there's one thing that research has shown us time and again, it's that being a brand new teacher is hard—and being one of their first students is not all...
Every consumer knows how the law of supply and demand affects prices. When demand is higher than supply, the price goes up. As suppliers increase production to match the demand,...
For most students, the start of middle school representssome newfound independence. For the first time, they get to travel the hallsfrom class to class without being led by an adult....
One feature of an ideal school environment, webelieve, is that both students and their teachers reflect America in all of itsdiversity. Everyone, including children coming from privilege, benefits from adiverse...
Public schools are suffering from a well-publicized diversity problem. Students of color make up nearly half of all public school students, yet teachers of color comprise just 18 percent of...
This month, the Trendline takes a look at substitute teachers' required qualifications, salary, and benefits. We find some significant changes in the pay and benefits provided to substitute teachers since...
In this edition of the District Trendline, we take a look atthe policies that govern voluntary and involuntary transfers, plus we take adeeper look at districts that use mutual consent...
No one's happy about laying off teachers during an economicdownturn, but some approaches to deciding who to lay off may yield betterresults than others. Breaking away from the many districts...
What happens in DC has the potential toimpact districts across the entire nation.
The first Trendline of 2016 takes a fresh look at our most popular topic from 2015: layoffs.
Uneven Playing Field? Assessing the Teacher Quality GapBetween Advantaged and Disadvantaged Students by Goldhaber, Lavery, &Theobald
As eternal optimists, we're choosing to look on the bright sideof a disheartening new study.
Learn more about state layoff policies in our 2015 State Teacher Policy Yearbook.
See how states fared on our policy goals for dismissing teachers for poor performance in 2015.
This month, the Trendline takes a look at the role of student growth in evaluation ratings and how districts connect evaluation ratings with compensation and dismissal policies.
Rather than looking for the next big reform to improve teacher quality, a new study considers whether it's time for things to stay the same. Researcher David Blazar of the...
Welcometo a new school year! A chance to learn new subjects, make new friends and be remindedanew of the disparities in education.
People have offered many reasons for the inequitable distribution of teacher talentand experience across schools: salary, the desirability of thelocale, recruitment, the student teacher pipeline, to name some. A new...
Substitute teachers have been in the news frequently as of late. In our most recent Teacher Trendline we laid out what we know about substitute teacher policies from the...
In May's edition of the Trendline we explore substitute teacher policies, including education and licensing requirements, pay and health benefits.
Thisyear, Clark County School District in Las Vegas started the year ina pinch: district-wide, there were over 600 teaching vacancies and studentenrollment continued to grow. In response, the district pulled...
Somestudents are more apt to be assigned better or more experienced teachers thanother students. That's not news. Past studies have found that lower-income and minority students tend to be assigned...
April's Trendline is all about transfers and excessing, highlighting how districts prioritize transfers and how they decide where to place teachers when excessing occurs. Plus, we take a detailed look...
Our Trendline series kicks off 2015 with a look at teacher layoff policies in the largest districts across the country.
Way backin 2010, NCTQ released Human Capital in BostonPublic Schools: Rethinking How to Attract, Develop and Retain EffectiveTeachers in partnership with the MassachusettsAlliance for Business Education. The typical life span...
Every district HR department looks to findways to limit the number of time-consuming interviews of new teacherapplicants. A few weeks ago, Politicoran a story about "Big Data" toolsdesigned to give...
Dallas IndependentSchool Districthires approximately 2,000 new teachers each year. It is transforming the wayits human capital team works, adopting data-driven strategies for recruitment,selection and hiring. One of the many sources...
If one Teach For America (TFA) corps member can boost studenttest scores at a higher rate than other teachers in the same school, wouldmultiple TFA corps members in the same...
As teachers and students settle into the new school year, we turn our attention to a group of teachers who often are overlooked: substitutes
While the recent landmark Vergara v. California court case focused on teachers who are or should be dismissed, the greatest portion of teachers are still those who don't stick around...
This report analyzes the distribution of teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
This report examines teacher quality policies and practices Pittsburgh Public Schools and provides Pittsburgh with a tailored analysis of the teacher policy areas most in need of critical attention, as...
Read about the latest trends when it comes to how teachers are excessed and how excessed teachers are placed in schools.
This is a follow-up study of teacher policies in Springfield Public Schools as a complement to the original report which was released in October 2011. The follow-up study focuses primarily...
A National Council on Teacher Quality survey of 74 large, urban school districts across the country finds that the districts laid off approximately 2.5 percent of their teaching forces for...
Substitute teachers spend a lot of time with students, yet policies governing their work don't often make it into the spotlight. This month we compare districts' requirements for becoming a...
https://www.nctq.org/publications/Bumping-HR:-Giving-Principals-More-Say-Over-Staffing-Press-Release
This report breaks down how some of the nation's largest districts adjusted their pay schemes to account for tightened budgets. The report finds that teacher raises for experience and market...
In this month's Tr3 Trends, we take a look at teacher excessing: what factors determine which teachers to excess, how excessed teachers are assigned to schools, and what happens to...
Interim editions of the Yearbook provide shorter briefs for each state that include a state-specific action plan, updating states' progress on Yearbook goals and giving advice on how to prioritize...
Interim editions of the Yearbook provide shorter briefs for each state that include a state-specific action plan, updating states' progress on Yearbook goals and giving advice on how to prioritize...
The State Teacher Policy Yearbook provides detailed analysis of any and every state policy that impacts the teaching profession. The Yearbook is a 52-volume encyclopedia (51 state reports including the...
https://www.nctq.org/publications/Teacher-Quality-Roadmap:-Improving-Policies-and-Practices-in-LAUSD
Designed as a tool to highlight what is and is not working in our local schools, the report compares LAUSD's policies with both surrounding districts and similar districts around the...
Joining the chorus of advocates calling for moving from highly qualified to highly effective teachers, NCTQ offers recommendations for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) so...
As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized Blueprint for Change, building off last year's Yearbook goals and recommendations.
A report on Baltimore City Public Schools policies that praises the district for hiring new teachers with strong academic backgrounds, but criticizes it for not doing all it can to...
In this paper, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) taps into its TR3 (Teacher Rules, Roles and Rights; www.nctq.org/tr3) database to examine district policies, some mandated by state law,...
A report on Boston Public School policies that have an impact on teacher quality, concluding that while the district has many smart, strategic policies already in place, improving teacher rules...
In too many school districts, principals have little say over which teachers work in their buildings. NCTQ's new policy brief explores the staffing policies in 101 school districts and points...
State laws and regulations can either help or hinder the ability of school districts to hire effective teachers for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. State officials wanting to...
This report, which examines the alignment of Hartford's teacher policies with its goals for improving teacher quality, represents the first in a number of similar analyses which NCTQ is undertaking...
This booklet from the National Council on Teacher Quality summarizes briefly what the research says about the attributes of an effective teacher. NCTQ has combed through the research, good and...
The focus of the country background reports is on the aspects of teacher policy that deal with how to attract, recruit, develop, and retain effective teachers. The report has the...
The importance of good teaching to the academic success of students is intuitively obvious to any parent and is well substantiated by a body of sound research. Correspondingly, ensuring that...
Explore district-level data on teacher dismissal from NCTQ's Teacher Contract Database