Our Mission: Inform and influence Georgia leaders through research and non-partisan advocacy to impact education policies and practices for the improvement of student achievement.
Teacher ResourcesFrom time to time here we will add web sites that might provide interesting, helpful teacher information. What do some of Georgia's best teachers say are their keys to success? Check out the Georgia Partnership's 20th Anniversary web site "Recognizing Excellence" page for a variety of insights and lessons learned. Here's the latest from UGA Distinguished Education Research Professor of English Education Peter Smagorinsky as featured in Maureen Downey's 'Get Schooled' blog in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Seeing teachers as technicians ignores what else they give students: confidence, moral support and inspiration (April 2013) Other Smagorinsky 'Get Schooled' blog entries: Georgia Department of Education Launches Teacher Resource Link The Ignite Show (Teachers Ignite!) - Check out this new initiative. Here is what the organizers say about this online and Georgia Public Broadcasting- based effort: We are building a dynamic, fun, relevant, and entertaining show to support and uplift our nation's educators. Content is largely determined through teacher input with the goal to get us all talking more openly about relevant issues in education to parents, teachers, and students. The Ignite! team wants your opinion on education. Take their quick survey now! Teach Plus - This site offers a vareity of teacher based reports and information. The mission of Teach Plus is to improve outcomes for urban children by ensuring that a greater proportion of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. It is founded on the premise that teachers want to learn and grow in the profesion, and want to ensure that their development results in increased learning among their students. Teacher Leaders Network - This is a network of active communities populated by highly accomplished teacher leaders from across the nation who are dedicated to student success and the transformation of teaching into a true profession. EducationCareersInfo.com - This was suggested by a visitor to the web site. It has a wealth of information for anyone considering an education career. Equity Express - A weekly compilation of stories and other information for teachers. You can subscribe. Provided by Education Trust. Milken Family Foundation: Connections - "Linking talented educators" Ten great sites with free teacher resources Edutopia - There are many great ideas here as well as discussion. Educational Researcher - This presents scholarly articles that are of general significance to the education research community and that come from a wide range of areas of education research and related disciplines. Inspired Apple, a Teaching Blog by Babbling Abby - This Ohio elementary teacher has won national acclaim for her education blog. Here's the story. Masters in Education Online - Thinking about getting that masters degree? Here is an interesting resource to check out. If you visit, let us know what you think of it. National Center on Teacher Quality - Advocates for reforms in a broad range of teacher policies at the federal, state and local levels in order to increase the number of effective teachers. |
Teacher and Teaching IssuesHere you will find a variety of research/posting/stories/that pertain personally to teachers and the teaching profession. Posting here does not imply Georgia Partnership endorsement. Getting kids to learn is about relationships “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like,” says Rita Pierson, a veteran educator and recent TED Talks Education speaker. According to Pierson, connecting with students on a real, human level is the key to improving student performance. (May 2013) Teacher-Prep Programs Zero In on Effective 'Practice' One thing is immediately apparent when Erica Vuolle teaches: Not a moment of time is wasted. When she speaks to her class here at the Match Community Day Charter Public School, she expects all students' eyes to track hers. (March 2013) Six steps to effective teacher development and evaluation Some see us as education’s odd couple—one, the president of a democratic teachers’ union; the other, a director at the world’s largest philanthropy. (March 2013) Report of the 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education The report details the results of a survey of 7,752 science and mathematics teachers in schools across the U.S. Areas addressed include: teacher backgrounds and beliefs, teachers as professionals, science and mathematics courses, instructional objectives and activities, instructional resources, and factors affecting instruction. Related story. (March 2013) Do First Impressions Matter? Improvement in Early Career Teacher Effectiveness New teachers become much more effective with a few years of classroom experience, but a team of researchers suggests the most—and least—effective elementary teachers show their colors at the very start of their careers Related story. (March 2013) Survey of the American Teacher - Challenges for School Leadership Job satisfaction among principals and teachers has decreased in the past five years, with teacher satisfaction reaching its lowest levels in 25 years (ECS). Related story. Survey introduction. (February 2013) State Teacher Policy Yearbook - Improving Teacher Preparation In this 2012 edition, NCTQ explores the question: What are states doing to ensure that they are systematically preparing classroom-ready teachers? Related article. (January 2013) Ensuring Fair and Reliable Measures of Effective Teaching - Culminating Findings from the MET Projects Three-year Study This non-technical research brief for policymakers and practitioners summarizes recent analyses from the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project on identifying effective teaching while accounting for differences among teachers’ students, on combining measures into composites, and on assuring reliable classroom observations. Related stories: The Dartmouth, EdWeek and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (January 2013) Teaching Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force This exploratory research project attempted to discover what kinds of trends and changes have, or have not, occurred to the teaching force over the past few decades. Results: the teaching force has been and is greatly changing but even the most dramatic changes have not been noticed. Related story. (Published April 2012, posted here December 2012) What Teacher Preparation Programs Teach About K-12 Assessment This report examines the extent to which teacher preparation programs train teachers to understand assessment data and use that data to make informed instructional adjustments (ECS Connections). (November 2012) Keeping the Irreplaceables in D.C. Public Schools The paper explains how DCPS has moved toward smarter teacher retention, mainly by raising expectations and removing consistently low-performing teachers. It also shows that DPCS is missing some opportunities to make even more progress. (November 2012) How Strong Are Teachers’ Unions? A State-by-State Comparison This study concludes whether it's the right to strike, a flush membership, or an attentive legislature, the factors that build the political strength and reputation of a state's teachers' unions are multiple and interwoven. Related story. (November 2012) The State of Teacher Evaluation Reform This examines teacher evaluation reform in six early adopter states. While many state education departments are struggling to fully support the new systems, others have seen some success and are en route to developing a means of supporting districts in teacher evaluation work. Related story. (November 2012) State of the States' 2012: Teacher Effectivess Policies (NCTQ State Teacher Policy Yearbook Brief Area 3: Identifying Effective Teachers This brief includes the latest breaking and most up-to-date findings on how states are evaluating teacher performance and using the results for decisions of consequence such as granting teachers tenure. (October 2012) The hangover: Thinking about the unintended consequences of the nation's teacher evaluation binge There are many positives in teacher evaluation systems but there are pitfalls in states’ rush to legislate new systems, and there are real tensions and trade-offs in their design. Related story. (October 2012) Teacher Quality 2.0 - From Teacher Education to Student Progress - Teacher Quality Since NCLB This paper provides an overview of research and policy efforts surrounding teaching quality. The authors note that policymakers continue to experiment with many levers, including teacher preparation programs to achieve the highest-quality teacher workforce (ECS Connection). (September 2012) An Interview With Paul Tough On Character & Schools Should we teach "character" in our schools? If so, what does it look like? If not, why not? (September 2012) Recent State Action on Teacher Effectiveness: What's in State Laws and Regulations? This report gives what's probably the most comprehensive look to date at the teacher-quality legislative and regulatory action that has kept statehouses busy since 2009. Related story. (August 2012) The Sheepskin Effect and Student Achievement Teachers with master’s degrees generally earn additional salary or stipends-the so-called “master’s bump”-they are no more effective, on average, than their counterparts without master’s degrees. (August 2012) Trending Toward Reform: Teachers Speak on Unions and the Future of the Profession Last fall, Education Sector surveyed a nationally representative random sample of more than 1,100 K-12 public school teachers. The results of that survey are published here. (August 2012) The Irreplaceables: Understanding the Real Retention Crisis in America's Urban Schools This report documents the real teacher retention crisis in America’s schools: not only a failure to retain enough teachers, but a failure to retain the right teachers. (July 2012) Readers: Six resources every teacher should have We recently turned to our readers for help with this question, asking: “If you could recommend just one teaching resource to your colleagues, what would it be and why?” (July 2012) Trending Toward Reform: Teachers Speak on Unions and the Future of the Profession Over the past decade, teachers have seen changes in both their conditions of employment—from pay to retirement benefits—and their practice. Far too often, these policies have been made by people who talk about teachers, rather than talking to them. (July 2012) Why Are My Teachers Leaving - Retaining Public Charter Teachers for Student Success This report gives recommendations toward improving retention of teachers in public charter schools. The first is that Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) and school leaders must build a culture of feedback for continuous improvement. (July 2012) Building and Sustaining Talent - Creating Conditions in High Poverty Schools That Support Effective Learning and Teaching Report: Conditions for teaching and learning are critical to teacher satisfaction. Failure to improve conditions for teachers has real and often dramatic consequences for the students in high-poverty schools. Districts must take responsibility for making all their schools places where good teachers want to work. Related story. (July 2012) The Sheepskin Effect and Student Achievement Despite little research supporting the practice, paying teachers for earning advanced degrees continues to cost states billions of dollars-in 2008-09, an estimated $14 billion (ECS). Related story. (July 2012) Measuring Teacher Effectiveness A “look under the hood” of 10 different teacher evaluation systems operated by states, districts, charter schools, and one teacher preparation program. Related information. Related story. (June 2012) Despite Downturn, Few Men Sign Up to Teach The economic downturn seems to have worsened an already-vast gap between the numbers of men and women teachers, particularly in the early grades. (May 2012) Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century Lessons from Around the World This evaluates education systems around the world, identifies the best ways to improve the quality of teaching, provides available research about what can make educational reforms effective, and highlights examples of reforms. (April 2012) Moving Teachers: Implementation of Transfer Incentives in Seven Districts A new report describes implementation and intermediate impacts of an intervention designed to provide incentives to induce a school district's highest-performing teachers to work in its lowest-achieving schools. (April 2012) The Characteristics and Experiences of Beginning Teachers in Seven Northeast and Islands Region States and Nationally The study focuses on variables related to teachers' preparation and workplace supports that research suggests might be associated with their perceptions of preparedness, effectiveness and retention. (March 2012) Putting Students on the Path to Learning - The Case for Fully Guided Instruction The authors find that decades of research clearly demonstrate that for novices (virtually all students), direct, explicit instruction is more effective and efficient than partial guidance. Teachers should provide explicit direction accompanied by practice and feedback. (March 2012) How Teacher Turnover Harms Student Achievement This study concludes when teachers leave schools, overall morale appears to suffer enough that student achievement declines - both for those taught by the departed teachers and by students whose teachers stayed put. Relating article. (March 2012) 28th Annual Survey of the American Teacher The survey examines the views of teachers, parents and students about the teaching profession, parent and community engagement, and effects of the economy on teaching and learning in schools. Relating story. (March 2012) Parent-Teacher Home Visits This brief presents a model for parent-teacher home visits based on the experience of Seattle, Washington and Springfield, Massachusetts, two of the Foundation's Closing the Achievement Gaps Initiative sites. (March 2012) Evaluating Teacher Evaluations Popular modes of evaluating teachers are fraught with inaccuracies and inconsistencies, but the field has identified better approaches. (March 2012) Review of State Policies on Teacher Induction Built upon 10 critical policy criteria, this paper highlights leading state policies and offers policy recommendations to encourage the design and implementation of comprehensive, high-quality inducation and mentoring programs. Relating story. (February 2012) Rating Your Teaching Team Schools are now playing catch-up in the world of teaming, but just putting teachers into teams doesn’t always yield the hoped-for outcomes. (December 2011) Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers The teaching profession is crucial to America’s society and economy, but public-school teachers should receive compensation that is neither higher nor lower than market rates. Relating story. (November 2011) What's Missing from the Debate on Seniority? The role of seniority in teacher laoyoffs is a perennial subject of intense debate, with different states taking sharply different approaches. (October 2011) Blame Game: Let's Talk Honestly About Bad Teachers Removing the lowest performing educators would pay big dividends, but saying so invites charges of "teacher bashing." (October 2011) Stayers and Leavers - Early-Career Teacher Effectiveness and Attrition In this study of novice teachers in North Carolina public schools, the authors investigated the development of teachers’ effectiveness during their first five years in the classroom and contrasted the effectiveness of teachers who stayed with that of those who left. (October 2011) NOTE: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution devoted its Sunday, September 25, 2011 editorial page to teacher quality. Following is that lead editorial as well as commentary from three Georgia teachers: Educators' next chapter Great schools demand great teachers. And in recent years, Georgia has spent billions of dollars, in fits and starts, to increase teacher quality. Yet, we are not where we need to be. (September 2011) Newcomers need more support I have observed many first-year teachers enter the workforce. Often these novice teachers are given the most challenging students. (September 2011) Develop a relevant measure Today's kindergartners will begin retiring in the year 2061. Teachers have no idea what the world will look like in five years, much less 50, yet we're tasked with preparing students for life in that world. (September 2011) Raise GPA, required standards The best attainable and realistic way to improve teacher quality is simple: raise the qualifications for teachers entering the classroom. (September 2011) The Missing Link in School Reform In trying to improve American public schools, educators, policymakers, and philanthropists are overselling the role of the highly skilled individual teacher and undervaluing the benefits that come with teacher collaborations. Related story. (September 2011) Profile of Teachers in the U.S. 2011 This survey/report finds that an influx of individuals from non-traditional backgrounds and entering the profession through non-traditional programs has altered the teaching force. (August 2011) Ten things every new teacher should know In today's often volatile teaching environment, and with expectations heightened, it's critical to be prepared. In a recent Question of the Week, we asked readers: "What's the one thing you wish your education professors had told you about teaching or classroom management?" (August 2011) The State of Learning Disabilities Effective teaching makes a huge difference in student learning, but this new study finds that only 60 percent of students with learning disabilities have a general education teacher who's received specialized training to support the intruction of these students. (August 2011) Four Steps to Staying Sane As a Teacher Dear Young Teacher: I'd like to avoid telling you to listen to your heart. (August 2011) Professional Development for Teachers - What Two Rigorous Studies Tell Us This report synthesizes research from two recent studies on teacher professional development, one in reading and one in math, each of which shows the interventions were substantially less effective than had been hoped (PEN). August 2011 Why Digital Learning Will Liberate Teachers I spend a lot of time writing about how digital learning can transform our education system into a student-centric one. (August 2011) Teacher Effects in Early Grades: Evidence from a Randomized Study This study examines the enduring benefits of teacher effects on student achievement in early elementary grades using high quality experimental data from Project STAR. Related Story. (August 2011) New Teachers: Are You in It for the Long Haul? Welcome, newbies, to the wonderful world of education. You are now embarked upon that career for which you've been preparing for so long. (July 2011) Student Teaching in the United Sates This study looked at 134 student-teaching programs nationwide and found that three-quarters of them did nit meet five basic standards for high quality. Related Story. (July 2011) Kelly Stopp's Sunset Stories program brings home the parent-child experience of reading To encourage more reading, Stopp and her partners bring families with children ranging form babies to fourth grade together at 6:30 p.m. for what they call Sunset Stories (tagline: "A story read just before bed"). (July 2011) Critical Contributions: Philanthropic Investment in Teachers and Teaching This report analyzes historical and contemporary trends in philanthropic investment in teacher quality. (July 2011) A Modem for Success Who says it ain't easy being green? Kristen Drake (GA '06) first began exploring the world of online lectures with her own website in 2000, eventually adding assignments and quizzes for varying grade levels and subjects. (July 2011) Not a Part-Time Job Everyone thinks they know what it takes to be a teacher. Nearly all Americans have had first-hand experience being in a classroom for many years—as students. But teaching is so much more than what the public sees (or thinks they see). (May 2011) Passing Muster: Evaluating the Teacher Evaluation Systems Although much of the impetus for new approaches to teacher evaluation comes from policymakers at the state and national levels, the design of any particular teacher evaluation system falls to the roughly 16,000 school districts and 5,000 independent public charter schools in the country. (May 2011) 2011 Teacher of the Year Talks About Reform and More This year's top national teacher is a chemistry teacher from Maryland who has taught at the Maryland School for the Deaf. Read this question and answer session with her. (May 2011) Colorado State Council for Teacher Effectiveness The council has created a definition of an effective educator, as was required by state law. The definition consists of six quality standards, including showing content knowledge, demonstrating leadership and taking responsibility for student growth. (April 2011) Toward Increasing Teacher Diversity: Targeting and Intervention for Teacher Licensure Candidates This report focuses on the performance gap between White and minority teacher candidates and offers insight into possible strategies and interventions that can be employed to narrow the gap and better support minority candidates in meting full licensure requirements. (April 2011) What Does Washington State Get for Its Investment in Bonuses for Board Certified Teachers? Washington State is set to spend nearly $100 million in the next two years on pay bonuses for teachers who receive national board certification. This investment is supposed to improve the state's teaching force and encourage the most capable teachers to work in high-poverty schools. Does it accomplish those goals? (April 2011) MetLife Survey of the American Teacher This report, conducted by Harris Interactive, each year since 1984, explores teacher's opinions and brings them to the attention of educators, policy makers and the public. (March 2011) Toward Increasing Teacher Diversity: Targeting Support and Intervention for Teacher Licensure Candidates Minority teachers tend to take licensing exams later in their academic or professional careers than their white peers, which could partly explain their lower test scores and passing rates. Related article. (March 2011) The Extent of Late-Hiring and its Relationship with Teacher Turnover: Evidence from Michigan Teachers hired after the start of the school year are twice as likely to leave their schools - or the profession altogether - within a year, leading to higher staffing costs. (March 2011) What the U.S. Can Learn from Some of the World's Most Successful Education Reform Efforts Compared with more than 70 economies worldwide, America's high school students continue to rank only average in reading and science, and below average in math. But this sorry record for a wealthy nation can be broken if the US focuses on recruiting and keeping first-rate teachers (March 2011) Teacher and Leader Effectiveness in High Performing Education Systems This report examines highly effective lessons from education systems that develop and support teachers and leaders in Finland, Ontario, and Singapore. (March 2011) Study: $75 million teacher pay incentive did not improve achievement New York City’s heralded $75 million experiment in teacher incentive pay — deemed “transcendent” when it was announced in 2007 — did not increase student achievement at all, a new study by the Harvard economist Roland Fryer concludes. (March 2011) Ten great sites with free teacher resources With cuts to school budgets, teachers are often left searching for ways to innovate without breaking the bank. (February 2011) A Measured Approach to Teacher Education Over the next five years more than a million new teachers will enter U.S. classrooms. Are our teacher prep programs doing the job? This report takes a look. (January 2011) Status of Professional Learning Launched in 2008 by NSDC and a team of researchers from the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE), the three-part Status of Professional Learning research study aims to measure the effectiveness of professional learning in the United States. (January 2011) Successfully Teaching Boys - Results from an International Study In response to the mounting concern that boys are not thriving in many U.S. schools, it occurred to us that it might be possible to document the elements of successfully teaching boys in schools where the process was most clearly observable: in schools for boys. (December 2010) Learning About Teaching - Initial Findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project “Value added” gauges based on growth in student test scores and students’ perceptions of their teachers both hold promise as components of a system for identifying and promoting teacher effectiveness. Education Week story (December 2010) Professional Development: Sorting Through the Jumble to Achieve Success This special report aims to provide a fresh look at teacher professional development. The stories examine many facets of teacher training, including its research base, implementation in districts, cost, and evolution. (December 2010) Evaluating Teachers: The Important Role of Value-Added The evaluation of teachers based on the contribution they make to the learning of their students, value-added, is an increasingly popular but controversial education reform policy. The report highlights and tries to clarify four areas of confusion. (November 2010) Transforming Teacher Education Through Clinical Practice: A National Strategy to Prepare Effective Teachers The education of teachers in the United States needs to be turned upside down. To prepare effective teachers for 21st century classrooms, teacher education must shift away from a norm which emphasizes academic preparation and course work loosely linked to school-based experiences. (November 2010) Opportunity at the Top - How America's Best Teachers Could Close the Gaps, Raise the Bar and Keep Our Nation Great This report explores the potential impact that building an opportunity culture for America's teachers would have on public education (ECS). (November 2010) Retaining Teachers of Color: A Pressing Problem and a Potential Strategy for "Hard-to-Staff" Schools The focus of policies targeting the overall shortage of teachers and the underrepresentation of teachers of color has turned from recruitment to retention because studies reveal a "revolving door." (November 2010) e-Learning for Educators - Effects of On-Line Professional Development on Teachers and Their Students: Findings from Four Randomized Trials This study shows that English and math teachers who took professional development courses online improved their instructional practices and boosted their subject knowledge scores, producing modest performance gains for their students. (June 2010, posted November 2010) Special Report on Teacher Learning This aims to provide a fresh look at teacher professional development. The stories examine many facets of the training, including its research base, implementation in districts, cost and evolution (ECS). (November 2010) Ed Essentials: A Review of Illinois Teacher Preparation This study examines Illinois teacher programs and fins them ill-preparing teachers for their new classrooms. Could this happen in Georgia? (November 2010) Teacher Pay for Performance - Experimental Evidence from the Project on Incentives in Teaching This rigorous study of performance-based teacher compensation shows that a nationally watched bonus-pay system had no overall impact on student achievement. (September 2010) Closing the Talent Gap: Attracting and Retaining Top-third Graduates to Careers In Teaching This report examines teaching programs and strategies in some of the world’s best-performing nations and seeks to outline how adapting those strategies for practice in the United States might reap enormous benefits for the U.S. economy. eSchool News story (September 2010) Status of Professional Learning Launched in 2008 by NSDC and a team of researchers from the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE), the three-part Status of Professional Learning research study aims to measure the effectiveness of professional learning in the U.S. (September 2010) Problems with the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers Every classroom should have a well-educated, professional teacher, and school systems should recruit, prepare, and retain teachers who are qualified to do the job. Yet in practice, American public schools generally do a poor job of systematically developing and evaluating teachers. (September 2010) Impacts of Comprehensive Teacher Induction - Final Results from a Randomized Controlled Study This study finds teachers who received two years of comprehensive induction services boosted student scores in reading and math more than teachers in a comparison group who didn’t receive the support. (June 2010) The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher - Collaborating for Success Findings from a new study by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future show the importance of collaborative learning in developing 21st-century skills. (June 2010) A Quality Teacher in Every Classroom - Perspectives from Accomplished California Teachers - Creating a Teacher Evaluation System That Works for California Teachers This report says teacher evaluation systems need to be revamped to utilize more clearly elucidated professional standards and include bona fide assessments of both classroom practice and student work. (June 2010) An Evaluation of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) in Chicago: Year Two Input Report This analysis concludes that preliminary results from a Chicago program containing performance-based compensation for teachers show no evidence that it has boosted student achievement on math and reading tests, compared with a group of similar, nonparticipating schools. (May 2010) Primary Sources: America's Teachers on America's Schools 40,000 of our nation's public school teachers were asked for their thoughts on American education with the goal of placing teachers’ voices at the center of the discourse around education reform. (March 2010) 2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook This is the third annual review of state laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession. Associated Press headline: Report: States' policies protect ineffective teachers, shortchanging students. (January 2010) Teaching for a New World: Preparing High School Educators to Deliver College- and Career-Ready Instruction It is well established that teacher quality is one of the most significant school influences on student achievement. Unfortunately, it is less clear how teacher preparation programs can prepare and recruit effective educators for every classroom. (November 2009) Supporting Teacher Effectiveness: The View From Generation Y A new report from Learning Point Associates in partnership with Public Agenda is the second based on their mixed-method research on retaining teacher talent (Public Education Network). (November 2009) Texas Governor's Education Excellence Grant Program: Year Three Evaluation Report This report shows the Texas Educator Excellence Grant, teacher merit-pay plan,did not produce the academic improvements that proponents hoped for when the program was launched in 2006. (Novmber 2009) Teaching for a New World: Preparing High School Educators to Deliver College- and Career-Ready Instruction If high school students are to master the skills and knowledge they need to do well in college or good jobs, their teachers need to be up to the task. (November 2009) Taking Human Capital Seriously: Talented Teachers in Every Classroom, Talented Principals in Every School This report outlines the dramatic steps necessary to improve teacher and principal talent. It offers 20 policy recommendations to improve student achievement by recruiting, developing, evaluating, compensating and retaining more effective teachers and principals. (November 2009) The World's Largest English Department A Ning group for English teachers reveals the potential of online social networking to break the culture of professional isolation. (September 2009) Teacher Strategies to Help Fourth-Graders Having Difficulty in Reading: An International Perspective The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assesses the reading achievement of fourth-graders and collects data on their teachers’ reading instruction practices and strategies. (September 2009) The Changing Landscape of Teacher Learning An education-technology scholar discusses the current state and promise of online teacher professional development. (September 2009) Individual Teacher Incentives, Student Achievement and Grade Inflation This examines individual, performance-related teacher pay in Portugal's public schools, introduced seven years ago. The study matched student-school data for secondary school national exams, then analyzed the same for two control groups - PEN. (September 2009) Importing Educators - Causes and Consequences of International Teacher Recruitment This report focuses on the little-known but growing practice of international recruiting for jobs in America's primary and secondary schools. (September 2009) Achieving a Wealth of Riches: Delivering on the Promise of Data to Improve Teaching and Learning While many policy discus-sions focus on data-driven decisionmaking as the answer, too often these conversations do not in-clude how classroom teachers can and should use data to improve instruction. (August 2009) Teacher Quality in Educational Production: Tracking, Decay and Student Achievement Growing concerns over the inadequate achievement of U.S. students have led to proposals to reward good teachers and penalize (or fire) bad ones. Education Week story. (July 2009) The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness This report looks at incompetence in the classroom and why it continues to be tolerated nationally. (June 2009) Student Demographics, Teacher Sorting, and Teacher Quality: Evidence from the End of School Desegregation According to this study of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina school district, the best teachers tend to leave when their schools experience an influx of African-American students. (May 2009) Good Teaching Qualities: Inducing Interest and Positive Expectations For students to become self-motivated learners, a fervent interest for the subject has to be sparked among them. (May 2009) The Effectiveness of Selected Supplemental Reading Comprehension Interventions: Impacts on a First Cohort of Fifth Grade Students This study, that intended to provide insight on the effectiveness of programs for reading comprehension, has found that three such programs had no positive impact. A fourth had a negative effect on student achievement. (May 2009) Bullying and Violence in Schools - What Teachers Should Know This report has practical steps that teachers can follow to implement anti-bullying programs and stem "the tide of the international plague known as bullying." (May 2009) Playing Nice: Teachers Learn to Help Kids Behave in School When teacher Deena Randle took over a Portland, Ore., preschool class three years ago, behavior problems were so bad that "kids were bouncing off the walls, pushing and shoving, not listening -- it was wild," she says. (April 2009) Learning Teams: Creating What's Next Over the next four years, more than a third of the nation’s 3.2 million teachers could retire, depriving classrooms of experienced instructors and straining taxpayer-financed retirement systems. (April 2009) Surveying the Landscape of Teacher Education in New York City: Constrained Variation and the Challenge of Innovation The report examines methods for teacher preparation: traditional teacher-college programs, Teach for America, New York City's Teaching Fellows program, and teachers on a temporary license. The study reaches interesting conclusions. (April 2009) This three-part series takes a look inside the teaching profession. Change pay, change teaching? This series ran from March 17 - 27, 2009. Posted here in April 2009) At-a-glance: Still learning reading beyond grade three In a research prcis on reading development in American schools, The Center for Public Education examines "Reading beyond grade three" in its At-a-glance series. (March 2009) Professional Development: Tarnished Brand Could Use Polish Professional development (PD) in education is a "tarnished brand" whose consumers are "angry," "unsatisfied," and "resigned," according to this article. (PEN - March 2009) The Genteel Unteaching of America's Poor Not all schooling is equal. Too many poor kids encounter expectations that deem them worthy of discipline and "the basics" rather than nurturing high-level thinking. (March 2009) Writing for the 21st Century Today, in the 21st century, people write as never before—in print and online. This addresses face three challenges that are also opportunities. (March 2009) The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher - Past, Present and Future MetLife has issued its 25th annual Survey of the American Teacher, with findings that are "substantially more positive than they have been in the past." (February 2009) Professional Learning in the Learning Profession This report compares American teachers’ participation in professional development with that of teachers in the international community. The report finds that the United States is substantially behind. (February 2009) Educational Leadership: How Teachers Learn - Learning with Wikis and Blogs The author writes that the Internet has the potential to revolutionize professional development for teachers, which has been susceptible to business-driven reform fads that have little effect on student achievement. (February 2009) Ten Tips For Creating a 21st–Century Classroom Experience The firm’s work with Ormondale Elementary School, in Portola Valley, California, helped pioneer a special “investigative-learning” curriculum that inspires students to be seekers of knowledge. (February 2009) An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification This report says students who have teachers certified through alternative-training programs do no worse in math or reading achievement than students whose teachers have been certified by traditional programs. (February 2009) Teacher Training and Development Fragmented American teachers are not given as many opportunities for on-the-job training as their international peers, and their effectiveness appears to suffer as a result. (February 2009) State Teacher Policy Yearbook. How Does Georgia Stack Up Against Other States? This is a hard look at what states are doing to retain effective teachers. Georgia doesn't get a good grade (D) but, in comparison with other states and considering the lofty NCTQ standards, it is showing promise. (January 2009) Where Does Georgia Stand in the Number of Nationally Board Certified Teachers? Here are the latest 2008 numbers of how many teachers are now nationally certified and where they are teaching. (December 2008) The Impact of Two Professional Interventions on Early Reading Instruction and Intervention The notion that professional development programs for teachers can be effective in helping children improve their reading skills does not fare especially well in this federally commissioned report. (November 2008) $crap the $acrocanct $alary $chedule Schools should stop paying teachers to acquire more credentials, and should use the money instead to give them higher starting salaries and bigger raises in their first years on the job. (August 2008) Why are public schools so bad at hiring good teachers? Improving a school’s faculty should be easy -- hire good teachers, get rid of bad ones, and provide new training to those who remain. But it's not. (July 2008) No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America's Education Schools American students' chronically poor performance in mathematics on international tests may begin in the earliest grades, handicapped by the weak knowledge of mathematics of their own elementary teachers. (July 2008) Leveling Up: Narrowing the Teacher Academic Capital Gap in Illinois This report finds that teacher quality in disadvantaged Chicago schools has improved over this decade, largely because the district has focused on hiring inexperienced teachers with stronger academic backgrounds. (June 2008) City Scholarships Aim to Guarantee Future Workforce This story focuses on the new trend of cities across the nation to offer college and technical college scholarships to high school grads in an effort to guarantee a future home-grown, educated workforce. (May 2008) The Benwood Plan: A Lesson in Comprehensive Teacher Reform Hamilton County (Tenn.) is home to one of the nation's most widely touted school-reform success stories. (April 2008) Making a Difference? The Effects of Teach for America in High School This paper examines the effectiveness of Teach For America (TFA) teachers in North Carolina high schools, especially in math and science. (April 2008) |
© 2010 Georgia Partnership For Excellence In Education All Rights Reserved. Privacy policy. • Unsubscribe here.