Identifying Effective Teachers Policy
Providing comprehensive reporting may be the state's most important role for ensuring the equitable distribution of teachers among schools. Texas reports little school-level data that can help support the equitable distribution of teacher talent.
Texas does not collect or publicly report most of the data recommended by NCTQ. The state does not provide a school-level teacher quality index that demonstrates the academic backgrounds of a school's teachers and the ratio of new to veteran teachers. Texas also does not report on teacher absenteeism or turnover rates.
Texas does report on the percentage of teachers on emergency
credentials and the percentage of highly qualified teachers. Commendably, these data are reported for each school, rather than
aggregated by district. Texas' Plan for Equitable Distribution of Highly Qualified Teachers compares the percentage of highly qualified teachers and reports on the percentage of teachers based on the number of years of experience at high- and low-poverty schools.
Use a teacher quality index to report publicly about each school.
A teacher quality index, such as the one
developed by the Illinois Education Research Council, with data
including teachers' average SAT or ACT scores, the percentage of
teachers failing basic skills licensure tests at least once, the
selectivity of teachers' undergraduate colleges and the percentage of
new teachers, can shine a light on how equitably teachers are
distributed both across and within districts. Texas should
ensure that individual school report cards include such data in a
manner that translates these factors into something easily
understood by the public, such as a color-coded matrix indicating a school's
high or low score.
Publish other data that facilitate comparisons across schools.
Texas should
collect and report other school-level data that reflect the stability
of a school's faculty, including
the rates of teacher absenteeism and turnover.
Provide comparative data based on school demographics.
As Texas does with highly qualified teachers, the state should provide comparative data for schools with
similar poverty and minority populations. This would yield a more
comprehensive picture of gaps in the equitable distribution of
teachers.
Texas was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis. Texas also pointed out that the state has reports showing the percentage of highly qualified teachers disaggregated by both individual school and by teaching area. Current year information is available each November, with periodic updates through June, when reports are updated for the end-of-the-year status. These end-of-year reports are available for each school year, starting with 2002-2003.