Identifying Effective Teachers Policy
Providing comprehensive reporting may be the state's most important role for ensuring the equitable distribution of teachers among schools. Utah reports little school-level data that can help support the equitable distribution of teacher talent.
Utah 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. Utah also does not report on teacher absenteeism or turnover rates.
Utah does report on the percentage of highly qualified teachers by school. Commendably, these data are reported for each school, rather than aggregated by district. The state is commended for comparing highly qualified teachers based on poverty quartile.
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. Utah 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.
Utah 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 Utah 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.
Utah recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.