National Academy of Education Releases White Paper on Teacher Quality

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Academy of
Education (NAEd) has released a new white paper on teacher quality calling for
improvements in teacher recruitment, preparation, and ongoing professional
development.

"It's clear that good teaching matters and that poor teaching harms students
academically," states Susan Fuhrman, current President of NAEd, and member of
the project Steering Committee. "We must," she adds, "take steps to improve
the quality of teaching in the United States by providing teachers with the
preparation and professional development that they need to succeed. It's
critical that we recruit the most talented people to the profession and figure
out the best ways to retain them."

Based on current research evidence, the paper outlines several recommendations
for improving teacher quality. According to the paper, the quality of teaching
is not simply determined by an individual's knowledge or ability, but also by
the preparation teachers receive and the environments in which teachers work.
Improving teacher quality thus entails policies concerning recruitment, early
preparation, and retention (including attention to working conditions), as
well as professional development.

The paper calls for school districts, states, and the federal government to
continue to experiment with various approaches to teacher recruitment, while
collecting data that can be used to improve approaches that are promising and
end those that are not. Tools should be developed that can reliably establish
that new recruits to teaching have the skills they need to be successful from
the start.

States, school districts, and the federal government should also support
research on a variety of approaches to teacher preparation. Investments should
be made in research and development on the core practices and skills that
early career teachers require, and preparation programs should then focus on
these skills.

The paper states that although teacher recruitment is important, retention is
of even greater concern. Thus, states and the federal government should
encourage and fund experimentation with a wide range of teacher retention
strategies. This should include strategies that target individual teachers,
such as financial incentives, as well as strategies that target schools and
districts through initiatives to improve school leadership, mentoring, and the
provision of high-quality opportunities for professional growth. The federal
government should also support the development of robust and valid measures of
teacher quality that can be used in identifying which teachers are effective
and should be retained.

Finally, the paper recommends that districts, states, and the federal
government take steps to improve teachers' access to high-quality professional
development that is appropriate to the grades, subjects, and students they are
teaching. In particular, the federal government should invest in research and
development to strengthen professional development strategies.

Additional detail about the recommendations is included in the white paper
(available on the NAEd website at www.naeducation.org).

The paper is one of a series of white papers produced by working groups of the
nation's top education scholars assembled by NAEd to connect policymakers in
the Administration and Congress with the best available evidence on selected
education policy issues. The Teacher Quality white paper reflects the careful
deliberations of the expert members of the working group, and has been
subjected to outside peer review.

The Teacher Quality working group was chaired by Suzanne Wilson, College of
Education, Michigan State University. Also serving on the working group were:
Deborah Loewenberg Ball, School of Education, University of Michigan; Anthony
Bryk, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; David Figlio,
Department of Economics, University of Florida; Pamela Grossman, School of
Education, Stanford University; Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Division of
Educational Studies, Emory University; Judith Warren Little, Graduate School
of Education, University of California, Berkeley; Susanna Loeb, School of
Education, Stanford University; and Andrew Porter, Graduate School of
Education, University of Pennsylvania.

The National Academy of Education advances the highest quality education
research and its use in policy formation and practice. Founded in 1965, the
NAEd consists of U.S. members and foreign associates who are elected on the
basis of outstanding scholarship or contributions to education. Since its
establishment, the academy has undertaken numerous commissions and study
panels, which typically include both NAEd members and other scholars with
expertise in a particular area of inquiry.

SOURCE National Academy of Education

Gregory White of NAEd, +1-202-334-2340, gwhite@naeducation.org