Teacher quality matters.
Research shows an effective teacher has a bigger impact
on student performance than any other in-school variable, as the Bush
Foundation reports.
The trouble is defining teacher quality and knowing what
improves it.
The teacher quality challenge is driving public policy
debates about incentive pay for teachers, changes in teacher licensure, and new
approaches to teacher training, hiring and retention. In Minnesota, legislators are considering moves to allow
for teachers with less training or unconventional backgrounds. And some
community leaders have tangled with the Education Minnesota teachers' union over teacher quality ideas.
When compiling research and recommendations for the
Growth & Justice proposal on Smart Investments in Minnesota’s Students in 2008, we wrestled with the teacher quality question as we looked
for proven, cost-effective efforts to improve education.
In their paper for Growth & Justice on what works for
K-12 education in Minnesota, noted scholars Henry Levin and Clive
Belfield flag teacher quality as critical — “High quality teaching raises
student performance and its effect accumulates over the K-12 years” — but they
point out, too, that the evidence on how to improve teacher quality is
inadequate, at present, to drive policy changes.
One complication: There are a variety of qualities wrapped up in teaching, including:
- Teaching techniques — the mechanics of teaching, the
ability to capture the attention of students and control the classroom.
- Subject matter knowledge — an understanding or mastery
of the content of what's being taught.
- Motivation — how to promote and sustain high-quality
performance so as to boost student knowledge and achievement.
Each of these pops up in the ongoing public discussions
about teacher quality. Each is
important. But to date, we have very
little solid evidence about what systems and approaches improve quality in ways
that lead to better educational outcomes. And even less evidence exists, at present, for what’s cost-effective.
In an interesting article in the New York Times Magazine
about Building a Better Teacher, writer Elizabeth Green notes that
the evidence for improving teaching is thin when it comes to three common
approaches — merit pay, recruiting top talent for teaching, and teacher
training. The right approaches either
haven’t been studied carefully enough or haven’t been uncovered yet.
For this reason, our report on Smart Investments in
Minnesota’s Students focused on three effective, overarching strategies for
improving education and boosting educational attainment:
- Quality academic preparation and the
alignment of curriculum across grades;
- Social supports that foster
relationships between students and their teachers, parents, care-givers,
mentors, tutors and counselors; and
- Access to and financial support for
childcare, preschool and post-secondary education so that these learning
opportunities are available for Minnesotans of all income levels.
The Growth & Justice report does identify some
teacher quality efforts as promising, although not yet proven.
Lots of attention is being paid now to teacher quality
initiatives. Plenty of public debate, of
course. But in addition, The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation has funded – to the tune of $335 million – a Measures
of Effective Teaching project, run by a Harvard economist and designed to analyze
and identify what makes teachers great. And here in our region, the Bush Foundation
has embarked on a decade-long teacher effectiveness initiative to improve
teacher quality and measure effectiveness.
The results of these efforts and others aimed at
evidence-based, teacher quality improvements could — and should — change how we
foster excellence in our schools and success for our students. No doubt we could certainly use that.
— Matt Kane
Recent Comments