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Teacher Preparation and Performance

Teacher training other teachers

A strong education system is built upon effective teachers. Effective teachers must be supported by effective policies and practices across their entire career, beginning with preparation and recruitment, continuing through professional growth, evaluation, environment, and compensation through teacher leadership.

Related Topics

Principal Preparation and Performance

Our Work

AIR works in a number of areas to develop effective educators. We work to achieve solutions to complex policy and practice problems and to support effective approaches that help teachers thrive:

Teacher Preparation

Preparation programs provide teachers with the skills and experiences needed to be effective educators from the beginning of their career. Learn more

Recruitment, Supply and Demand, and Teacher Shortages

Teacher quality is impacted when there are shortage areas and job supply does not match the demand. Learn more

Professional Development, Growth, and Learning

Effective professional learning can improve teacher practice. Learn more

Teacher Evaluation

A well-designed evaluation system can serve to identify highly effective teachers, generate meaningful data and feedback, and improve teaching and learning. Learn more

Teacher Compensation and Incentives

An effective compensation system should directly support district recruitment, hiring, and retention goals by recognizing and rewarding effective teachers and teacher candidates. Learn more

Teacher Leadership and Career Pathways

Teachers shouldn’t have to leave the classroom and become administrators to advance in their career. Effective teachers need opportunities to grow in their role across their entire career. Learn more

Educator Environment

Teachers are more satisfied and excel when they teach in a supportive school environment. Learn more

Latest Work

19 Jan 2021
Spotlight

Teaching in the Time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted education system across the country and around the world, changing what classrooms and learning look like on a day-to-day basis. Educators are navigating a constantly shifting landscape, with the health of students, teachers, and the community at large at stake. Explore our research, resources, and webinar recordings to better understand the challenges teachers are facing and find tools and resources educators can use as they move forward.
Image of kindergarten teacher and student
11 Jan 2021
Video

REL Midwest Videos and Documentaries

The Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest (REL Midwest), one of ten regional educational laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, serves the educational needs of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Explore these vidoes and documentaries to learn more about the topics we cover.
Image of students at computers with masks
7 Dec 2020
Spotlight

Computer Science for Educators and Students

AIR has built a strong portfolio of computer science (CS) projects through our CS@AIR initiative. We support more than a dozen projects—all with a focus on ensuring that every student gets access to a high-quality computer science education.
17 Nov 2020
Brief

Why They Stay: Teach For America Alumni in Eastern North Carolina Rural Schools

Teach for America’s theory of change centers on leadership and partnerships with broad and diverse coalitions to change systems that perpetuate educational inequity. This study was commissioned to gather alumni perspectives about their work and impact in a small, purposeful sample of rural communities in Eastern North Carolina.
Image of graphic showing importance of staffing qualified teachers during the COVID pandemic
24 Sep 2020
In the Field

Addressing Teacher Shortages with Differentiated Staffing Models

As the COVID-19 pandemic turns into a longer-term crisis with no end in sight, planning for the fall raises even more questions for teachers about school policies and their own futures. In this final installment of a series, Gretchen Weber discusses how the pandemic could be the force that finally drives us to permanent, much needed staffing solutions.
31 Aug 2020
Report

Personalized Student Learning with Station Rotation: A Descriptive Study

In "station rotation" classrooms, groups of students rotate among different types of learning modalities, such as computer-based instruction, group projects, individual tutoring, or paper-and-pencil assignments. To learn more about station rotation, the AIR study team conducted a descriptive study. As part of this study, we reviewed the research literature on station rotation and personalized learning more generally and developed a theory of action that illustrates key features and hypothesized outcomes of station rotation.
11 Aug 2020
Q & A

How Can Schools Provide Quality Professional Learning Remotely?

As the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged teachers to shift instruction to distance learning platforms, it also has exposed the need for professional learning opportunities to help teachers adapt to this “new normal.” Lynn Holdheide answered a few questions about how districts and schools can turn this crisis into an opportunity for robust professional learning.
Teacher teaching virtually to students
5 Aug 2020
Q & A

Promising Strategies to Prepare New Teachers in a COVID-19 World

Lynn Holdheide, managing technical assistance consultant at AIR, and senior advisor and former director for the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, explains how teacher preparation programs are responding to the coronavirus pandemic. She also shares some innovative ways that school districts and programs are preparing teachers during uncertain times.
Image of empty desks in a classroom
27 Jul 2020
In the Field

Why Retaining Deeply Experienced Teachers Is Critical During a Global Pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic turns into a longer-term crisis with no end in sight, planning for the fall raises even more questions for teachers about school policies and their own futures. This is the first installment of a new series in which AIR experts discuss how to facilitate quality instruction in the midst of a pandemic, from attracting, preparing, and retaining teachers to providing them with professional learning opportunities.
Image of man doing math on a whiteboard
9 Jul 2020
Q & A

In Conversation: How an International Survey Can Help Us Understand the Challenges the Coronavirus Poses for Educators

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, teachers, principals, and students have had to quickly adjust to distance learning or e-learning. Although data were gathered before the pandemic, the results of the spring 2020 release of Volume 2 of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) offer insights about teachers and principals that may help us better understand the challenges they are experiencing now and about how to support them.
4 May 2020
In the Field

Teacher Appreciation Takes on New Meaning in COVID-19 Era and Beyond

Gretchen Weber, former vice president for Policy, Practice, and Systems Change at AIR, has always championed teachers and advocated for meaningful teacher appreciation every day of the year. In this post, she discusses the challenges teachers are facing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Image of boy distance learning on his laptop
4 May 2020
In the Field

Teacher Appreciation in the Time of Coronavirus

Right now, teachers must navigate additional challenges to accommodate the coronavirus pandemic and school shutdowns. For Teacher Appreciation Week 2020, we are honored to showcase the ingenuity, creativity, and care that teachers are bringing to their virtual classrooms, and to families and communities, as shared by AIR’s experts.

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Image of young boy and girl looking at a tablet together
Project

National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19

To improve services to students and families, we need information on what districts and charter management organizations are doing and plan to do to address COVID-19. From mid-May through July 2020, we are asking school district and charter management organization leaders to respond to a nationally representative survey of school districts and charter management organizations—more than 2,500 in total—about the actions they have taken and the challenges they have encountered during the COVID-19-related school closures.
Teacher taking selfie with students
30 Apr 2020
Spotlight

Preparing and Evaluating Effective Teachers and Leaders

Teacher performance evaluation systems are one potential tool for improving student success. Emerging research points to some promising features of performance evaluation measures. Explore our most recent resources in teacher and leader development and effectiveness to discover what we are learning and how it is contributing to successful schools.
23 Apr 2020
Webinar

Webinar Series: Teaching and Leading in the Time of COVID-19

Teachers and principals across the country are surprising students, caregivers, and their communities with innovative practices and thoughtful solutions to the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders is collaborating with national partners and leading educators to produce an ongoing webinar series focused on the needs of educators during this unprecedented time.
Image of teacher in classroom with students on tablets
29 Oct 2019
In the Field

Three Strategies for Preparing Teachers of Computer Science

Teachers are the number-one factor in student learning, so preparing and supporting high-quality teachers of computer science is critical. AIR is working with states, districts, and teachers to implement and test three promising strategies to strengthen teacher preparation and development:
23 Oct 2019
Spotlight

Addressing Challenges and Elevating Opportunities in Rural Education

Rural school districts, educators, and students have different experiences than their urban and suburban counterparts. The Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) are designed to help fill this gap. These labs, which are funded by the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, serve as research alliances that examine and address high-priority regional needs, such as college and career readiness, educational equity, and teacher preparation and performance.
Image of young children looking at bugs in a field
23 Oct 2019
Q & A

Q&A: The Unique Assets and Challenges of Rural Education

As the Indiana State Liaison for REL Midwest, AIR Researcher Billie Day helps maximize opportunities for rural students, schools, and communities. She answered some questions about what assets and challenges affect rural education, some misconceptions about it, and her personal connection to the work.
22 Oct 2019 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Event

Addressing the Talent Problem: Recruiting and Retaining Effective Educators for All Schools

Join AIR and WestEd for a special panel discussion, where education practitioners and experts will showcase effective talent retention strategies linked to rapid school improvement, as well as overview strategies that federal policymakers can authorize and fund under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Infographic: How do U.S. teachers and principals compare with teachers and principals internationally?
7 Oct 2019
Q & A

In Conversation: Insights on U.S. Teachers and Principals from an International Survey

How does the U.S. education workforce compare to other countries in terms of demographics, attitudes, and beliefs? Do they spend more time on instruction and other tasks than international educators? AIR provides technical and substantive support for the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), which provides a barometer of the profession every five years. AIR Principal Researchers Matthew Clifford, Ebru Erberber, and Lisa Lachlan discussed TALIS 2018 key findings and policy and practice implications from a U.S. perspective.
30 Sep 2019
In the Field

Southeast Comprehensive Center Impact Stories

The Southeast Comprehensive Center developed a series of impact stories to highlight key technical assistance support and positive outcomes related to improving teaching, learning, and capacity building in the five states served in its region: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Young teachers
10 Sep 2019
Spotlight

Teacher Shortages: Trends, Projections, and What Experts Say

Teacher shortages are widely reported across the United States. But is there more to the story? Research sheds light on the widely-debated questions of shortages, their causes, severity, and ways to respond.
Image of man and school-aged boy on a bench
6 Sep 2019
In the Field

Chronic Absence: Busting Myths and Helping Educators Develop More Effective Responses

The simple act of not attending school consistently increases the likelihood that children will be unable to read well by grade 3, fail classes in middle school, and drop out of high school. Standing in the way of truly addressing chronic absence are three harmful myths.
Project

Past and Projected Trends in Teacher Demand and Supply in Michigan

State and school district leaders in Michigan are concerned about the challenges some districts are facing in filling certain classroom teacher vacancies and about the harmful impact of teacher shortages on students, schools, and communities. This study provides a systematic analysis of trends in teacher demand, supply, and shortages in Michigan between 2013/14 and 2017/18 and projects shortages and surpluses for 2018/19–2022/23.
BARR Model classroom with students
30 Jul 2019
Report

Building Assets and Reducing Risks (BARR) Validation Study: Final Report

BARR is a comprehensive, strength-based approach that uses eight interlocking strategies to build intentional staff-to-staff, staff-to-student, and student-to-student relationships in secondary schools. Read the final report of a large-scale independent evaluation of the BARR model in ninth grade in eleven high schools.
22 Jul 2019
Commentary

Aspiring Teachers Deserve Time with a Mentor Before Going It Alone

In this commentary published in the Hill, Dan Goldhaber, AIR vice president and director of CALDER, and John C. White, Louisiana state superintendent of education, discuss the importance of formal mentoring for teachers during their career training.
19 Jun 2019
Blog Post

Improving Teacher Retention in Chicago Public Schools

In this blog post, published as part of the work of the Midwest Comprehensive Center, Chris Times and Fausto López describe how educators and students in Chicago are proving that diligence and data-informed decision making can lead to positive changes.
22 May 2019
Journal Article

How Responsive Is a Teacher’s Classroom Practice to Intervention? A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Field Studies

While teacher effectiveness has been a particular focus of federal education policy, and districts allocate significant resources toward professional development for teachers, these efforts are guided by an unexplored assumption that classroom practice can be improved through intervention. This study examines the question of responsiveness by conducting a meta-analysis of randomized experiments of interventions directed at classroom practice.
Image of Gretchen Weber
3 May 2019
Q & A

How to Truly Appreciate Teachers: A Q&A With Gretchen Weber, AIR Managing Director

Gretchen Weber is still a teacher at heart. A National Board Certified Teacher, she thinks of herself as a voice for teachers—someone who has walked in their shoes and now hammers on the issues teachers face every day. In our latest Q&A, she explains how we can recognize teachers not just this week, but throughout the year.
Project

Rethinking Special Education Certification in Texas

Texas public schools provide special education services to almost 500,000 students. Despite these services, students with disabilities perform significantly lower on state assessments in reading and mathematics than their same-aged peers.
13 Mar 2019
Infographic

Infographic: Seven Years of Supporting the Midwest (2012-2019)

The Midwest Comprehensive Center (MWCC) at AIR, funded through a U.S. Department of Education grant from October 2012 to September 2019, provides technical assistance for the state education agencies of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Image of map of Arizona showing Chinle
11 Mar 2019
In the Field

Building Leadership Skills to Strengthen Schools in Chinle, Arizona

The Chinle Unified School District faced both leadership challenges and teacher retention problems prior to the 2016-2017 school year. In fall 2017, AIR began providing competency-based turnaround leadership coaching, focusing on the patterns of thinking, feeling, acting, or speaking that cause a principal to be successful.
Project

Grow Your Own (GYO): A Systematic Approach to Securing an Effective Educator Talent Pool Modules

GYO is one strategy to address local teacher shortages and recruit future teachers of color. By leveraging local talent, GYO programs can promote a more diverse workforce while supporting college and career readiness development in high school students. The learning series, Grow Your Own: A Systemic Approach to Securing an Effective Educator Talent Pool, helps those interested in developing and implementing GYO programs through four short modules.
Illustration of Monique Chism
28 Feb 2019
Q & A

Meet the Expert: Monique M. Chism

Monique M. Chism, Ph.D., a vice president for technical assistance, leads AIR’s six federally funded comprehensive and content centers and District and School Improvement portfolios. Prior to joining AIR, she served as deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. She also brings experience from the Illinois State Board of Education, Learning Point Associates (now AIR), and her time as a teacher.
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16 Feb 2019
Report

Improving Instruction for All Students Through Meaningful Support in Educator Evaluation

This resource details what six states consider essential for the continuous improvement of educator effectiveness systems. Based on lessons learned as they worked to solve their own problems of practice and improve systems, the six guiding principles and vignettes presented here offer both inspiration and knowledge for other states and districts interested in stronger systems to support educators.
12 Feb 2019
ESSA

Navigating ESSA with the AIR Co-Pilot: 13 Key Resources

State and school district leaders, whether relative newcomers to ESSA or entrenched in implementation, will find detailed information on states’ plans, policy, and research on educational practices in AIR’s ESSA Co-Pilot. The following 13 resources were chosen by AIR experts as the best entry point into this broad and deep topic.

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Image of Hispanic teacher and student
Project

Promoting Success for Teachers of English Learners Through Structured Observations

ESSA recognizes the important role educators play in improving education outcomes for students of color and students from low-income families—groups that historically have included large numbers of English learners. The Council of Chief State School Officers, Education Northwest, and AIR jointly published a report and tools to promote success for teachers of English learners.
GTL Center Teacher Leadership Toolkit 2.0
16 Jan 2019
Toolkit

Teacher Leadership Toolkit 2.0: Strategies to Build, Support, and Sustain Teacher Leadership Opportunities

Teacher leadership is one strategy many states and districts are pursuing to facilitate meaningful change and support better outcomes for their students. To support these efforts, the Teacher Leadership Toolkit 2.0 includes a synthesis of research on teacher leadership, current examples, and useful tools for designing, implementing, and supporting teacher leadership initiatives.
Project

MyTeachingPartner-Secondary: Scaling and Sustaining a Research-Based Teacher Professional Development Program

Effective approaches to improving teacher quality are hard to find—particularly teacher professional development programs. AIR is leading an effort to scale, refine, and test MyTeachingPartner-Secondary, a teacher professional development program created by researchers at the University of Virginia.
19 Dec 2018
In the Field

Identifying and Applying Evidence-Based Practices: Training for State Education Staff

How can state education agencies identify and apply effective practices to achieve their goals? Education research can point to beneficial practices, but finding relevant research can be a difficult and time-consuming process. The Midwest Comprehensive Center partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education leadership to help state education staff understand research design and identify evidence-based practices aligned to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) tiers of evidence.
12 Dec 2018
Service

IL-EMPOWER Launch Package │ The District and School Improvement Center at AIR

Many district and school leaders find it challenging to chart a course to meet continuous improvement goals. AIR’s IL-EMPOWER Launch Package was developed to help Illinois district and school leaders assess their continuous improvement needs and put plans into action to improve educator effectiveness and outcomes for students.
26 Oct 2018
Report

Beyond Accountability: Improving the Use of Information to Support Teaching and Learning Through Continuous Improvement Cycles

States and school districts have made significant investments in systems to measure teacher performance, with the ultimate goal of improving student learning. In this report, AIR experts share their findings from the two-year Beyond Accountability project, in which four school districts identified a specific problem of practice and used plan-do-study-act cycles, an iterative process, to develop, test, and revise their strategies to address that challenge.
24 Sep 2018
Brief

Strategies for Implementing the Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program in Iowa School Districts

The Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) system was designed to provide career pathways and compensation structures to attract, retain, and reward effective teachers; to promote continuous improvement in Iowa’s teaching workforce; and to increase student academic achievement. As part of an independent evaluation, AIR conducted these case studies of six Iowa school districts to identify promising local strategies for implementing TLC.
3 Aug 2018
Report

South Carolina Expanded ADEPT Survey and Focus Groups: Findings Report

The South Carolina Department of Education’s ADEPT (Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching) system is the vehicle for teacher evaluation, licensure, and training in the state. The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) assisted with determining educator experiences and perspectives relevant to implementation of the student learning objectives process, a component of the ADEPT system.
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22 Jun 2018
Report

Improving Teaching Effectiveness: Final Report

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative was a multiyear effort to dramatically improve student outcomes by increasing students' access to effective teaching. This final report is the result of a six-year evaluation of the initiative conducted by AIR and RAND Corporation.
Image of teacher at chalkboard smiling at student raising hand
12 Jun 2018
In the Field

Better Data May Equal Better Prepared Teachers

The lack of easy data sharing between K–12 systems and teacher preparation may be costly, in terms of the quality of instruction by new teachers. In this report from the field, Jenny DeMonte describes the efforts of some states to actively share data.
Image of teacher and student
7 May 2018
Blog Post

Tracking Teacher Effectiveness Gaps Between Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools

Are teachers working in charter schools more effective in improving student outcomes compared to teachers working in traditional public schools? In this blog post, Umut Özek, a principal researcher at AIR, describes a new study in which he and his fellow authors examined the disparities in teacher effectiveness between charter schools and traditional public schools in Florida.
12 Apr 2018 | 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Event

Coaching to Support the Conditions for a Well-Rounded Education

Learning conditions that support a well-rounded education for all students are key ingredients within state’s ESSA plans. At times, creating a positive school climate and supporting student social and emotional development can be daunting challenges. In this webinar, AIR staff introduce the Leadership Competency Self-Reflection Tool and a coaching toolkit that administrators and instructional coaches can use to support teacher implementation of social and emotional learning practices.
Image of teacher and students in BARR classroom
30 Mar 2018
Video

Improving Student Outcomes and Building Positive Relationships through the BARR Model

Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) is an evidence-based strategy that uses research and real-time data to increase teacher effectiveness and improve student outcomes. Hans Bos explains the methodology behind an AIR evaluation that found the model leads to better academic performance, fewer course failures, more courses attained, and better relationships.
Image of smiling African American teacher with student
21 Mar 2018
Brief

Promoting Educator Effectiveness: The Effect of Two Key Strategies

Having a more effective teacher or principal can substantially improve students’ academic outcomes. This brief examines the effects of using research-based performance measures to evaluate educators and provide them with feedback, and of offering them bonuses based on their performance ratings.
20 Mar 2018
Report

Teacher Professional Learning Through Teacher Network Programs

Despite large investments and efforts, schools and districts have long struggled to provide ongoing, effective, and sustained support for teachers’ professional development. This study examined the experiences of teachers in six schools participating in one of three teacher network programs during the 2016–17 school year.
7 Mar 2018
Report

New Collaborations, New Approaches: Research for Improvement in Teacher Preparation

Although there is a growing body of evidence designed to facilitate understanding of teacher preparation, the study outcomes emerge long after teacher candidates have left preparation programs. AIR brought together 35 researchers, teacher preparation providers, and school leaders to discuss what kind of research designs would help teacher preparation providers improve their programs; this report shares the results of this effort.
Image of teacher with middle school students
2 Mar 2018
Spotlight

Social and Emotional Learning: Creating Supportive Learning Environments for All

Recent research has demonstrated that when schools and districts focus on social and emotional learning (SEL), students’ academic achievement, prosocial behaviors, and positive attitudes improve, while their behavior problems and emotional distress decrease. Explore these selected resources, tools, and reports to discover our research and technical assistance on SEL practices.
Project

Studying Teacher Effectiveness in Adult Education

Despite the important role that adult education can play in students’ lives, research on teachers of adult education is limited. AIR produced four research briefs to provide descriptive information about the characteristics of teachers in adult education and to explore whether teacher characteristics are associated with student achievement in adult education.
Image of high school teacher student at computer
25 Jan 2018
Report

Teacher Value-Added in Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools

Over the past three decades, charter schools have become the most popular form of school choice, especially in urban school districts. Using data from Florida, this study investigates the degree to which differences in teacher quality explain the effectiveness of charter schools.
Homepage Image for What Happens When Educators Get More Feedback? In This Study, Student Math Scores Improved
19 Dec 2017
Blog Post

What Happens When Educators Get More Feedback? In This Study, Student Math Scores Improved.

A study released today by AIR and the Institute of Education Sciences shows that even small amounts of the right kind of feedback to teachers and principals can have an effect on student achievement in math. As Andrew Wayne explains in this blog post, the findings are important for states and districts looking for ways to boost educator effectiveness.
19 Dec 2017
Report

The Impact of Providing Performance Feedback to Teachers and Principals

Educator performance evaluation systems are a potential tool for improving student achievement by increasing the effectiveness of the educator workforce. This report is based on a study on the implementation of teacher and principal performance measures highlighted by recent research, as well as the impact of providing feedback based on these measures.
21 Nov 2017
Brief

Iowa’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program: Findings From 2016–17

The Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) system was designed to provide career pathways and compensation structures to attract, retain and reward effective teachers; to promote continuous improvement in Iowa’s teaching workforce; and to increase student academic achievement. This report updates the Year 1 implementation and outcome findings based on 2015–16 data.
Project

Simulated Instruction in Mathematics Professional Development Study (SIM PD Study)

The Simulated Instruction in Mathematics Study is a pilot study of a new professional development program which leverages new technologies for virtual classroom simulation and tests its use in professional development to support strong instructional practice in middle school mathematics.
26 Oct 2017 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Event

Do Teachers Teach Less in Classrooms with Students with Special Needs? Trends and Predictors from International Data

On October 26, 2017, AIR hosted a presentation and discussion on the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms, a cornerstone of special education policy in the United States and many countries. Using 2013 data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), the presentation addressed some parents' concern that, due to the additional needs of students with disabilities, teachers may spend less time teaching in inclusive classrooms.
15 Oct 2017
Brief

Indiana Revises Its Formula for Teacher Performance Pay

The Indiana House of Representatives proposed eliminating all performance pay grants for teachers, which would exclude a total of $40 million that would go to Indiana’s well-performing educators. Intent upon rescuing the funding for teacher performance grants, the state's department of education went into action to develop a fairer and more objective alternative, asking the Great Lakes Comprehensive Center to analyze the current performance pay formula, research examples from other states, and develop ideas for revising the formula.
13 Sep 2017
Report

Micro-credentials for Teachers: What Three Early Adopters Have Learned So Far

Research on professional development has shown that its effects on teaching and learning are uneven. Micro-credentials are an approach to professional learning that provides teachers with the opportunity to learn and demonstrate competency in new skills, while also getting feedback from an outside evaluator and earning recognition for mastery. In this report, three early adopter states share what they have learned so far.
Image of SEL coaching toolkit cover
30 Aug 2017
Toolkit

Social and Emotional Learning Coaching Toolkit

Teachers recognize the importance of student social and emotional skill development; however, they often feel as though they do not have the time to support social and emotional learning (SEL). The purpose of this toolkit is to support coaches and administrators as they observe practices that support the development of social and emotional skills in classrooms, and hold critical conversations that include SEL.
Image of young male student at a desk
8 Aug 2017
In the Field

Sharing Lessons From Reward Schools to Improve Learning in Texas

Decades of research have shown the harmful effects of poverty on student performance. Title I schools in Texas face particular challenges, including high rates of students living in poverty, high student mobility, and large proportions of English learners. Working closely with the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Comprehensive Center set out to answer this question and share lessons learned to benefit students throughout the state.
Image of female student with teacher
8 Aug 2017
In the Field

North Carolina Partnership Supports Stronger Teaching for English Learners

With 100,000 English learners spread across more than 2,500 schools and more than 130 charter schools in 115 school districts, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction needed to ensure that teachers of ELs received the latest professional development available. State officials instead relied on a select group of teachers to train other educators within their regions. This support network of teacher-trainers delivered professional development locally, increasing the Department’s capacity to reach schools and students throughout the state.
19 Jul 2017
Brief

Fostering a New Approach to Research on Teacher Preparation: Results of the First Convening of Researchers, Practitioners, and K–12 Educators

What kind of research designs would help teacher preparation providers improve their programs? On April 11, 2017 AIR brought together 35 researchers, teacher educators, school district leaders, and other stakeholders to discuss research designs that would answer the kinds of questions that providers have about their programs and how to improve them.
Project

Student Engagement in Math Blended Learning Study

Increasingly, schools across the United States are using innovative educational technologies to increase students’ learning. However, there is still a lot to learn about these tools and their impact on teaching and learning in the classroom. AIR is conducting a study to better understand student engagement and learning when math instruction combines teacher-directed instruction and a digital learning tool called LearnBop.
24 Jun 2017
Brief

Leading on Leadership: A Profile of the New York City Teacher Incentive Fund Grant That Created Teacher Career Pathways

To address the familiar problem of high-need schools with inadequate resources, the New York City Department of Education created a program to allow the most effective teachers to stay in the classroom while taking on leadership roles to help other teachers. This brief quotes extensively from interviews with the teachers involved to describe the program's challenges and successes.
20 Jun 2017
Brief

Iowa’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program: Findings From 2015–16

The Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) system was designed to provide career pathways and compensation structures to attract, retain and reward effective teachers; to promote continuous improvement in Iowa’s teaching workforce; and to increase student academic achievement. This report presents findings on the implementation progress of the TLC.
Alternative Teacher Certification: Does It Work?
4 May 2017
Blog Post

Alternative Teacher Certification: Does It Work?

There is a growing evidence base on the effectiveness of selective alternative certification programs like Teach for America and TNTP. In this blog post, Hans Bos and Dean Gerdeman draw on a recent AIR report to examine how teachers who receive credentials through TNTP’s alternative certification program compare to their counterparts with more traditional credentials.
4 May 2017
Report

Impact of TNTP’s Teaching Fellows in Urban School Districts

Urban school districts often rely on alternative teacher certification programs to help address ongoing demands for recruiting and hiring qualified teachers. These programs offer pathways into teaching outside of traditional university-based teacher education programs. This report summarizes a multi-year evaluation of the implementation and impacts of one of those programs, the TNTP’s Teaching Fellows program, in seven large urban districts.
3 May 2017 | 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Event

Investing in What it Takes to Move from Good to Great: Exemplary Educators Identify Their Most Important Learning Experiences

How can policy lead to smart investments in PD that works? Please join NNSTOY, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders for a conversation about how the findings from the latest research in Our Good to Great series can inform your national, state, and district policy to strengthen professional development.
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2 May 2017
Blog Post

What Will It Take to Meet New Mandate for Students with Disabilities?

In the more than 40 years since the IDEA was passed, educational outcomes for students with disabilities have improved, but large achievement gaps remain between students with and without disabilities. In this blog post, Allison Gandhi and Louis Danielson explore how states can ensure that students with disabilities receive meaningful educational benefits, as guaranteed by IDEA—and now required by a Supreme Court decision.
Teachers at whiteboard
10 Apr 2017
Podcast

Learning from Mixed Results: What's Next for Teacher Professional Development?

Recent research suggests that intensive, content-focused professional development improves teachers’ knowledge and some aspects of their practice, but not student achievement. Kirk Walters sat down with Mike Garet, who led the research, and three other experts to get their reactions to these findings.
18 Jan 2017
Report

School Improvement Grants: Implementation and Effectiveness

The School Improvement Grant program awarded grants to states that agreed to implement one of four school intervention models—transformation, turnaround, restart, or closure—in their lowest-performing schools. This final report builds on the earlier briefs and report by including an additional year of data and by examining whether receipt of SIG funding had an impact on student outcomes.
17 Jan 2017
ESSA

ESSA │Developing and Supporting Educators

ESSA offers states the opportunity to take a new approach to using federal funds to better prepare, recruit, develop, and retain great educators for all students. By engaging in this critical work, states can align with existing efforts and improve the overall equity of their state education systems. The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders in particular is at the forefront of supporting states with this work, and offers recommendations for high-leverage educator effectiveness strategies for use within ESSA.
2 Jan 2017
Report

I3 BARR Validation Study Impact Findings: Cohorts 1 and 2

The Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) model is a comprehensive, strength-based approach to education that aims to improve achievement for all students by improving a school’s effectiveness at building relationships, leveraging real-time student data, and capitalizing on the strengths of each student. This report provides findings from the first two years of an evaluation of the BARR program in six schools divided into two cohorts.
1 Jan 2017
ESSA

ESSA │5. Supporting Excellent Educators

In this section, SEAs that intend to use funds under one or more of the included programs for certification and licensure systems, educator preparation program strategies, or educator growth and development systems, must provide a description with the necessary information.

1 Jan 2017
ESSA

ESSA │Access to Quality Educators

Every student deserves teachers and leaders who can help them achieve their potential. Yet research consistently shows that many students, particularly those from low-income families or rural backgrounds, those with special needs, English learners, and other disadvantaged subgroups, lack access to excellent educators. AIR has a strong reputation for supporting practitioners and stakeholders in education to develop and implement plans to improve equitable access to excellent educators.
1 Dec 2016
Report

Strategies for Estimating Teacher Supply and Demand Using Student and Teacher Data

Every year the U.S. Department of Education reports for each state in the country the grade levels, subject areas, and geographic areas that have experienced teacher shortages. By law the Minnesota Department of Education must conduct a multimethod teacher supply and demand study every two years. This report, a joint effort of the Midwest Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance and REL Midwest, describes the steps in more detail, emphasizing the methods for addressing each research question.
Image of Teacher Effectiveness in ESSA guide cover
29 Nov 2016
Guide

Teacher Effectiveness in the Every Student Succeeds Act: A Discussion Guide

Systemic challenges in the educator workforce require thoughtful and bold actions, and ESSA presents a unique opportunity for states to reaffirm, modify, or improve their vision of educator effectiveness. This discussion guide focuses on one challenge that states face as part of this work: defining ineffective teacher in the absence of highly qualified teacher requirements.
17 Nov 2016
Report

An Examination of the Movement of Educators Within and Across Three Midwest Region States

Education leaders have expressed concern about educators’ moving to different schools—within the same state or in another state—because these moves create costs for the home district and have potential impacts on the equitable distribution of effective educators among schools. This study's findings provide initial insights into the intrastate and interstate mobility of educators and whether educators are more likely to move away from certain types of schools, whether some states are losing substantial numbers of teachers to neighboring states, and whether states are obtaining substantial numbers of educators from neighboring states.
6 Nov 2016
Brief

Does Content-Focused Teacher Professional Development Work?

Federal and local governments continue to invest billions of dollars each year in professional development for teachers. Until recently, there has been little rigorous evidence to inform the design and delivery of these programs. This brief outlines the key findings from three random assignment PD evaluation studies and proposes areas for further research.
2 Nov 2016
Report

Early Implementation Findings From a Study of Teacher and Principal Performance Measurement and Feedback: Year 1 Report

Emerging research suggests some promising features of educator performance evaluation measures, such as additional observations of the same teacher and providing more frequent, specific feedback on classroom practice. This report, which discusses first year results of an evaluation of three performance measures for evaluating teachers and principals, found that the measures provided some information to distinguish educator performance and led to increased feedback.
Matthew Welch
31 Oct 2016
Blog Post

The Right Stuff: What Many Teacher Evaluations Are Missing

AIR recently analyzed 45 teacher evaluation rubrics to see if they aligned with the messages teachers are receiving about improving instruction to support students in achieving higher and deeper standards. Spoiler-alert: as many teachers likely already know—they don’t align and they are often too generic to provide useful guidance for growth. In this blog post, Matt Welch shares the study’s findings and offers three recommendations for policymakers on improving teacher evaluation instruments.
25 Oct 2016
Brief

Aligning Evaluation: How Much Do Teacher Evaluation Rubrics Emphasize Common Core Instruction?

Two efforts that have impacted teachers across the country in recent years are state-mandated teacher evaluation and support systems and statewide adoption of new, more rigorous and focused student learning standards based on the Common Core State Standards. In this brief, AIR explores the level of alignment that exists between these two policies.
19 Oct 2016
Report

The Every Student Succeeds Act in Pennsylvania: Recommendations From Stakeholder Work Groups and Associated Research

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, requires that states develop and submit a State Plan to the U.S. Department of Education. To ensure a solid foundation for State Plan development and further stakeholder engagement, the Pennsylvania Department of Education asked AIR summarize working groups’ recommendations and relevant state policy and research in assessment, accountability, educator preparation, and educator evaluation.
Jenny DeMonte
14 Oct 2016
Blog Post

Can More Data Help Improve Teacher Preparation?

The U.S. Department of Education’s new regulations for teacher preparation programs ask states and organizations that prepare teachers to provide much more data about graduates’ competence, their persistence in the teacher workforce, and their impact on student learning. But is this the right data needed to improve teaching? In this blog post, Jenny DeMonte gives an overview of the new requirements and examines whether they are likely to improve teaching.
Project

Beyond Accountability: Improving the Use of Information to Support Teaching and Learning

States and school districts have made significant investments in systems to measure teacher performance, with the ultimate goal of improving student learning. The Beyond Accountability project aimed to improve instructional quality, increase teacher satisfaction with opportunities or mechanisms to improve their practice, and increase district capacity to engage in improvement efforts.
28 Sep 2016
Report

Focusing on Mathematical Knowledge: The Impact of Content-Intensive Teacher Professional Development

In an era of increasingly rigorous state standards, teachers at all grade levels face heightened expectations to deepen their students’ understanding of mathematical concepts. This report examines the impact of content-intensive professional development on teachers’ math content knowledge, their instructional practice, and their students’ achievement.
Project

Professional Learning Communities in Corrections Education

Prison education programs have some unique characteristics that require creative thinking. To focus on increasing equity for all inmates receiving education services, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation created the Student Success Initiative, a three-pronged approach to improving instruction. AIR developed and implemented a professional learning community in each of California’s 35 prisons.
11 Aug 2016
Service

Client Services: Educator Environment

Promoting and ensuring a positive educator environment is one approach to retaining highly effective educators.

11 Aug 2016
Service

Client Services: Teacher Leadership and Career Pathways

Teachers shouldn’t have to leave the classroom and become administrators to advance in their career. Effective teachers need opportunities to grow in their role across their entire career.

11 Aug 2016
Service

Client Services: Teacher Compensation and Incentives

An effective compensation system should directly support district recruitment, hiring, and retention goals by recognizing and rewarding effective teachers and teacher candidates. AIR understands that any adjustments to the structure of educator compensation must be closely tied to robust evaluation, hiring practices, opportunities for ongoing professional development, and opportunities for career advancement.
11 Aug 2016
Service

Client Services: Teacher Evaluation

AIR’s approach to evaluation and growth is to make the performance evaluation process a meaningful experience rather than simply an exercise in compliance. An effective performance management system should

11 Aug 2016
Service

Client Services: Professional Development, Growth, and Learning

AIR assists states and districts in providing high-quality, comprehensive support for teachers to help them become more effective. Educator development is one approach to retaining highly effective educators in the profession.
11 Aug 2016
Service

Client Services: Recruitment, Supply and Demand, and Teacher Shortages

AIR supports districts’ efforts to strategically market their unique characteristics to attract highly effective educators.

9 Aug 2016
Service

Client Services in Teacher Preparation and Performance

A student can’t get a bad school year back. AIR works in a number of areas to develop effective educators. We work to achieve solutions to complex policy and practice problems and to support effective approaches that help teachers thrive.

Teacher shortage report cover
30 Jun 2016
Brief

Creating Coherence in the Teacher Shortage Debate: What Policymakers Should Know and Do

Recent media attention has raised significant concerns about our public school system’s capability to staff all classrooms; yet remarkably little research details the nature of teacher shortages. This brief provides a roadmap for policy leaders to hold better informed dialogues on the nature of teacher shortages, and target interventions to rectify teacher shortages where they exist.
22 Jun 2016
Report

Improving Teaching Effectiveness: Implementation

The Intensive Partnership initiative is based on the premise that efforts to improve instruction can benefit from high-quality measures of teaching effectiveness. The present report summarizes the implementation of the initiative from 2010 through 2014, and it should be of interest to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who want to understand the potential benefits and challenges of adopting new teacher-evaluation systems and related reforms.
21 May 2016
Report

Evaluating Prospective Teachers: Testing the Predictive Validity of the edTPA

Given the rapid policy diffusion of the edTPA, a performance-based, subject-specific assessment of teacher candidates, it is surprising that there is currently no existing large-scale research linking it to outcomes for inservice teachers and their students. This report uses longitudinal data from Washington State that include information on teacher candidates’ scores on the edTPA to provide estimates of the extent to which edTPA performance is predictive of the likelihood of employment in the teacher workforce and value-added measures of teacher effectiveness.
17 May 2016
Service

MQI Coaching: Improving the Mathematical Quality of Instruction

Achieving Common Core-aligned mathematics instruction is not easy. AIR has teamed up with the Center for Education Policy at Harvard University to offer high-quality professional development to help teachers, schools, and districts improve their mathematics instruction.
Project

Wisconsin’s Academic & Career Planning Initiative

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requested support from the Midwest Comprehensive Center in implementing its Academic & Career Planning initiative, including creating professional development competencies and a framework for project evaluation. As a result of this work, Wisconsin DPI is piloting ACP in 25 school districts in the 2015–16 school year.
28 Apr 2016
Commentary

Despite Ruling, Tenure Laws are Bad for Students

This month, a California appeals court overturned a judge’s decision that challenged the state's tenure laws, teacher dismissal practices, and the widespread practice of “last in, first out” layoffs. But, the authors of this commentary contend, research shows that for the sake of students, principals and school leaders require flexibility to make many staffing decisions on their own.
Project

Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) Evaluation

The Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) model is a comprehensive, strength-based approach to education that aims to improve achievement for all students by improving a school’s effectiveness at building relationships, leveraging real-time student data, and capitalizing on the strengths of each student. AIR conducted an evaluation in eleven high schools, divided into three annual cohorts.
31 Mar 2016
Report

The Common Core Conundrum: To What Extent Should We Worry That Changes to Assessments and Standards Will Affect Test-Based Measures of Teacher Performance?

Using administrative longitudinal data from five states, this report looks at how value-added measures of teacher performance are affected by changes in state standards and assessments. In most cases, the researchers found that measures of teacher value added are similarly stable in transition years and nontransition years.
20 Mar 2016
Report

Great to Influential: Teacher Leaders’ Roles in Supporting Instruction

For years, education leaders have sought to pinpoint how teachers become effective in order to better leverage teachers’ impact on student learning and improve student outcomes. This report describes the characteristics of teacher leaders, the roles teacher leaders take in improving teacher practice, and the supports and barriers to teacher leadership, concluding with specific policy recommendations for supporting teacher leadership in state and local contexts.
report cover
9 Mar 2016
Brief

Want to Improve Low-Performing Schools? Focus on the Adults

School improvement policy for the past few decades has been characterized by mandated lists of activities designed to stimulate a dramatic turnaround in student achievement. In the long run, this policy approach did not engender the necessary school-level changes. This brief demonstrates why new policies must aim to get the right people in our schools and to create district and state systems that retain those people and build their knowledge and skills.
2 Mar 2016 | 8:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Event

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Twitter logo

Twitter Chat: What Research Shows and What We Can Do About Teacher Shortages

Communities across the country are reporting teacher shortages. But what does it mean, and what does research tell us about how to solve the problem? We’ve shared our perspective on this issue and now we want to hear yours. Join @EdPolicyAIR and AIR experts @JennyDeMonte and @EllenSherratt for a Twitter chat on Wednesday, March 2 at 8:00 PM Eastern using #EPCchat.
Jenny DeMonte
29 Feb 2016
Video

Long Story Short: Why is Teacher Preparation Critical for the Next Decade?

In the next decade, almost half of the teaching workforce will be comprised of new teachers. In this video interview, AIR's Jenny DeMonte talks about teacher preparation and the ways we can enhance programs to improve teacher quality.
26 Feb 2016
Report

Newark Public Schools and Newark Teachers Union Teacher Contract Evaluation

In 2012–13, Newark Public Schools ratified a new teacher contract, the main goal of which is to implement a high-quality measure of teaching effectiveness and use it to support and manage teachers in ways that improve student outcomes. An evaluation of the contract and associated initiatives found that teachers and leaders were supportive of the overhauled evaluation system, but that there was mixed support for the new compensation structure.
17 Feb 2016
Commentary

Using Research to Improve Practice: Which Research Makes a Difference?

In this commentary (part of our longform essay, Applying Social Science in the Real World), Bea Birman asks why simply identifying effective practices in education hasn’t yielded widespread or system-wide improvement outcomes.
17 Feb 2016
Blog Post

Critical Shortages in Special Education Teachers. Sound Familiar?

Teacher shortages may be the most acute problem in special education. In this blog post, Lynn Holdheide and Jenny DeMonte explore the issue and ask, "What drives special education teachers out of that role? And how can we keep them?"
Jane Coggshall
11 Feb 2016
Blog Post

The New Title IIA: Scrapped, Diluted, or Fixed?

Did Congress make the right fixes to the rules governing funding for teaching and learning in ESSA? Kind of, according to AIR expert Jane Coggshall, in this blog post.
Jenny DeMonte
4 Feb 2016
Blog Post

The Leaky Pipeline: Why Don't New Teachers Teach?

Between a quarter and a half of those who complete a teacher preparation program don’t end up teaching after graduation. In our latest blog post, AIR’s Jenny DeMonte encourages policymakers to start tracking this data to help address teacher shortages and improve the teacher pipeline.
3 Feb 2016
Report

Does the Match Matter? Exploring Whether Student Teaching Experiences Affect Teacher Effectiveness and Attrition

It is well documented that teacher quality is the most important school-based factor associated with improving student achievement. Researchers found that the school context in which student teaching occurs has important implications for the later outcomes of teachers and their students.
19 Jan 2016 | 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Event

Event Highlights - California's Emerging Teacher Shortage: New Evidence and Policy Responses

California’s supply of teachers is at a 12-year low. The trend continues as enrollment in educator preparation programs has dropped by more than 70 percent in the last decade.

19 Jan 2016
Toolkit

ED School Climate Surveys (EDSCS)

Measuring school climate is critical for improving school climate because high quality school climate data allow you to understand the perceptions of the students, staff, and parents in your school or district; monitor progress; make data-driven decisions; involve stakeholders; and adapt to shifting needs related to school climate. The U.S. Department of Education has developed the new, high-quality, adaptable ED School Climate Surveys, which allows states, local districts, and schools to collect and act on reliable, nationally-validated school climate data in real-time.
13 Jan 2016
Blog Post

It’s 2016: Do You Know Where the Teachers Are?

Enrollment in teacher preparation programs has been declining since 2010 and the teacher workforce is aging; meanwhile, K-12 enrollment is growing. But, AIR's Alex Berg-Jacobson, Jesse Levin, and Jim Lindsay argue in this blog post that those commonly quoted statistics about teacher supply and demand don't tell the whole story.
9 Jan 2016
Podcast

EdCast: Speaking of Equity #1 - A Better Education Workforce

In this podcast, Peter Cookson talks with Education Policy Center and Center on Great Teachers and Leaders Director Angela Minnici about the importance of providing all students with access to effective teachers and school leaders. The GTL Center is currently working closely with states to design and implement State Plans to Ensure Equitable Access, including identifying the root causes of inequitable access to effective educators in each state’s context.
9 Jan 2016
Infographic

A Teacher Workforce Snapshot in Infographics

How much experience do U.S. public school teachers have? And how often do they move between schools or leave the profession? Using the Schools and Staffing Survey from the National Center for Education Statistics, we answer those questions and more.
19 Dec 2015
Report

What We Think Matters Most in Evaluating Teachers May Not Be So Important: Surprising Lessons from Redesigning an Educator Evaluation System

Evaluation systems appear to be one of the most rapidly changing policy issues affecting teachers in recent years. This paper provides a brief synopsis of the process of dissecting the evaluation system.
14 Dec 2015
Journal Article

Underresourced, Undervalued, and Underutilized: Making the Case for Teachers in Refugee and Emergency Contexts

Teachers are a critical resource for children in refugee and emergency settings. This article explores field research conducted in Algeria and Ethiopia, finding that cost-effective policies and technical responses that begin to address teacher retention challenges will affect student achievement, reinvigorate teaching forces, and attract new teachers to serve in even the most difficult contexts.
11 Dec 2015
Report

Teacher Retention in Refugee and Emergency Settings: The State of the Literature

Teacher quality is recognized as a primary driver of variation in student learning outcomes, particularly in refugee and emergency settings, but few studies have examined the factors that motivate or demotivate teachers in these contexts. This article examines secondary source materials from academic experts and gray literature from United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations to identify seven key areas that affect teacher retention in refugee and emergency settings.
8 Dec 2015
Service

CBAM: The Concerns-Based Adoption Model

CBAM is a conceptual framework that provides tools and techniques for facilitating and assessing the implementation of new innovations or reform initiatives. The underlying premise of CBAM is implementing a new initiative requires more than the provision of materials, resources, and training; it requires the understanding that each person involved will respond to the new initiative with unique attitudes and beliefs. The three diagnostic dimensions of CBAM provide tools and techniques that enable leaders to gauge staff concerns and program use.
15 Nov 2015
Guide

Uncommon Measures: Teacher Self-Evaluation to Encourage Professional Growth

In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This guidance document focuses on the use of teacher self-evaluations as an alternative measure, including background information on self-evaluation, information on its use in teacher evaluation systems, and recommendations, resources, and references to support districts in their decision-making and implementation of this measure.
15 Nov 2015
Guide

Uncommon Measures: Using Teacher Portfolios in Educator Evaluation

In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This guidance document focuses on the use of teacher portfolios as an alternative measure, including background information on portfolios, information on their use in teacher evaluation systems, and recommendations, resources and references to support districts in their decision-making and implementation of this measure.
15 Nov 2015
Guide

Uncommon Measures: Student Surveys and Their Use in Measuring Teaching Effectiveness

In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This document provides guidance regarding the use of student surveys, including benefits and limitations of their use, summaries of vendor-developed student surveys and how they have been used in other contexts, and guidance around implementing surveys and using student perception data effectively.
15 Nov 2015
Guide

Uncommon Measures: Using Peer Evaluation to Leverage Teacher Talent

In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This guidance document focuses on the use of teacher peer-evaluation as an alternative measure, including background information, information on its use in teacher evaluation systems, and recommendations, resources and references to support districts in their decision making and implementation of peer evaluation.
Jenny DeMonte
12 Nov 2015
Blog Post

Make Sure New Teachers Are Ready Before They Graduate

The federal regulations on teacher preparation, scheduled to be released next month, ask for a lot of new data about how well graduates perform in schools. But for students in those schools that might be too late. What's missing is a measure that can signal weakness or problems before candidates graduate and start teaching. Jenny DeMonte discusses how some states are addressing this problem.
11 Nov 2015
Report

Teacher Attrition and Mobility During the Teach For America Clustering Strategy in Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Teach For America (TFA), the alternative certification program that places intensively selected recent college graduates and midcareer professionals into classrooms serving high-need students, requires a two-year commitment from the corps members it places in regions across the country. This report examines low retention, a major point of criticism directed at the program.
3 Nov 2015
Blog Post

There's No "I" in Team: Rebooting Teacher Evaluation

We know that instructional quality exerts a key factor in influencing student achievement. In this blog post, Angela Minnici and Jenni Fipaza argue the need to better leverage teacher expertise to improve outcomes for all students by shifting the focus away from individual teacher performance to the collective performance of teacher teams, schools, and districts. Rich, high-quality instruction for all students can be achieved by teams of educators working together—not by individual teachers working on their own..
22 Oct 2015
Blog Post

The Future of Teaching Starts Now

What does the classroom of the future look like? In this blog post, Gretchen Weber explores educator roles that go beyond teacher and principal, arguing that new roles that emphasize leadership skills and precise expertise can motivate current and future teachers to stay in the profession and help them thrive and flourish.
3 Oct 2015
Infographic

Reimagining a Professional Teaching Career

What would an ideal professional teaching career look like? This Connected Educator Month infographic describes the strong preparation and ongoing support necessary for beginning teachers to become effective teachers to become teacher leaders.
3 Oct 2015
Brief

Teachers of Adult Education and the Students They Serve: A Snapshot From Three States

Participants in adult education come from diverse educational and linguistic backgrounds and have a wide range of goals and needs. Despite the important role that adult education can play in students’ outcomes, little is known about the approximately 55,000 teachers providing the instruction that students depend on to achieve their goals. This brief is the first of a series of briefs that explore data on adult education teachers from three states in program year 2010–11.
2 Oct 2015
Report

Teacher Effectiveness in Adult Education: The Importance of Teacher Background Qualifications for Student Learning

The federal adult education program serves more than two million eligible adults who lack basic literacy and English language skills. Although numerous studies in K–12 have shown that measurable teacher characteristics can be related to student achievement, no such research exists that examines teacher effectiveness in adult education. To explore whether indicators of teacher quality are associated with student achievement in adult education, this second brief in a series examines the relationships between teacher characteristics and student achievement.
1 Oct 2015
Report

Teacher Effectiveness in Adult Education: The Relationship Between Teacher Characteristics and Students’ Transitions Into Postsecondary Education

One of the roles of the U.S. adult education system is to increase the number of nontraditional learners who transition to postsecondary education. Unlike transition services for high school graduates, the transformation of adult education programs to include transition services for adults is an emerging area of concern for the field of adult education. This brief examines the relationships between teacher characteristics and student transitioning into postsecondary education and finds that they were often not consistent across students with different educational functioning levels or were not substantively meaningful.
30 Sep 2015
Report

Lessons Learned: Working with Administrative Data in Adult Education

Currently, the only large-scale source of data on adult education teachers and students comes from state data systems designed for federal accountability reporting through the National Reporting System, which requires all states to have a student-level record system for reporting the outcomes, attendance, and characteristics of students who attend federally funded adult education and literacy programs; however, using this data for the purposes of analysis and research is not straightforward. This brief focuses on communicating these common issues with administrative data and provides recommendations that may help states maintain a data system that can be better used for their own analysis and program evaluation as well as for outside research.
19 Sep 2015
Toolkit

The SEL School: Connecting Social and Emotional Learning to Effective Teaching

Great teachers do more than promote the student's academic learning–they teach the whole child. The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders' Social and Emotional Learning School helps teachers, school and district leaders, and state education agencies collaborate in connecting social and emotional learning to effective teaching.
Ellen Sherratt
16 Sep 2015
Blog Post

We Need More Testing...Of Our Assumptions

Teacher shortages are making headlines. In this blog post, AIR senior researcher Ellen Sherratt asks, Do we really know why fewer college students are interested in becoming educators?
Jane Coggshall
14 Sep 2015
Blog Post

Getting Beyond the Mirage of Professional Development

While a new report concludes that “most teachers do not appear to improve substantially from year to year," Jane Coggshall argues we should not conclude that we should throw out all teacher professional development because it’s a waste of money. What’s needed instead, she says, is a broad set of practical measures that assess the quality and immediate impact of professional learning activities and resources on individual teachers, on teams of teachers, and on their administrators.
14 Sep 2015
Toolkit

Social and Emotional Learning Practices: A Self-Reflection Tool for Afterschool Staff

Both the formal and informal education communities are increasingly focused on fostering opportunities for social and emotional learning (SEL) and the link between SEL and youth outcomes. This self-reflection tool is designed to help afterschool program staff reflect upon their own social and emotional competencies and their ability to support young people's SEL through program practices.
10 Sep 2015
Report

Crossing the Border? Exploring the Cross-State Mobility of the Teacher Workforce

A considerable amount of research exists on the mobility of teachers within states, but very little is known about the extent to which teachers move from employment in public schools in one state to another. This paper shows levels of cross-state mobility that are drastically lower than levels of within-state mobility, even when accounting for proximity to the border. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that there are significant penalties to cross-state mobility that may be attributable to state-specific licensure regulations, seniority rules, and pension structures.
10 Sep 2015
Report

A Foot in the Door: Exploring the Role of Student Teaching Assignments in Teachers’ Initial Job Placements

The federal government recently directed states to develop plans to reduce inequity in the distribution of teacher quality across schools. Examination of data from Washington state suggests that prospective teachers’ student teaching positions are much more predictive of their first teaching positions than their hometowns, and that more qualified prospective teachers tend to student teach in more advantaged districts.
Project

Evaluation of Iowa’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program

The Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) System rewards effective teachers with leadership opportunities and higher pay, attracts promising new teachers with competitive starting salaries and more support, and fosters greater collaboration for all teachers to learn from each other. The Iowa Department of Education contracted AIR to evaluate TLC with respect to its effectiveness in meeting its goals.
Project

Promoting Teacher Effectiveness in Adult Education

Global competitiveness relies on closing the achievement gap, such that all learners are prepared to meet the demands of the 21st Century. Because an important component of learning is the quality of instruction, AIR developed an adult educator induction model and toolkit, teacher competencies, and research briefs, all to support improvements to teacher effectiveness in adult education.
Ellen Sherratt
20 Aug 2015
Blog Post

Forgive Teachers’ Student Loans? First Find Out If It Works

On July 30, the Teacher Loan Repayment Act was introduced in the Senate and House to consolidate current loan repayment programs and give teachers in high-needs schools between $250 and $400 a month in payments to their lenders. But, asks Ellen Sherratt, does loan forgiveness for teachers really keep the best teachers in the toughest schools?
18 Aug 2015
Commentary

Research vs. Conventional Wisdom: Teachers and Teacher Labor Markets

Research findings about teachers and teacher labor markets sometimes seem to defy conventional wisdom. Dan Goldhaber, director of CALDER at the American Institutes for Research and the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington, explores common assumptions in three Education Week guest blog posts.
Dan Goldhaber
14 Aug 2015
Blog Post

Research vs. Conventional Wisdom III: Competition for Teacher Labor

Research findings about teachers and teacher labor markets sometimes seem to defy conventional wisdom. Dan Goldhaber, director of CALDER at the American Institutes for Research and the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington, explores competition for teacher labor in this last of three Education Week guest blog posts.
12 Aug 2015
Blog Post

Research vs. Conventional Wisdom II: Teacher Jobs Lost During the Great Recession

Research findings about teachers and teacher labor markets sometimes seem to defy conventional wisdom. Dan Goldhaber, director of CALDER at the American Institutes for Research and the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington, and Katharine Strunk, associate professor of education and policy at the University of Southern California, explore teacher job loss in this second of three Education Week guest blog posts.
10 Aug 2015
Blog Post

Research vs. Conventional Wisdom I: Teacher Attrition

Research findings about teachers and teacher labor markets sometimes seem to defy conventional wisdom. Dan Goldhaber, director of CALDER at the American Institutes for Research and the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington, explores teacher attrition in this first of three Education Week guest blog posts.
7 Jul 2015
Service

International Education Systems and Teachers

Making education a true engine for human and social development requires evidence-based instructional strategies and systems for students, families, and teachers. AIR integrates the science of what works with the equally complex science of implementing what works on a global scale.
23 Jun 2015
Blog Post

Teacher Leaders: Many Titles, Big Impacts

In this blog post, the second in a series about teacher leadership, AIR's Gretchen Weber describes the complexity of defining "teacher leaders."
Jenny DeMonte
8 Jun 2015
Blog Post

Lighting the Fuse on Teacher Preparation 2.0

One of the most enduring myths about teaching is that it’s easy. In this blog post, Jenny DeMonte, a senior technical assistance consultant at AIR, debunks that myth and suggests coaching in essential practices, providing immediate feedback, and conveying common knowledge and competences as critical elements of successful teacher preparation programs.
1 Jun 2015
Toolkit

Equitable Access Supports: Implementation Playbook and Equitable Access Toolkit

To help education leaders ensure that all students receive equitable access to excellent educators, the U.S. Department of Education has launched the Excellent Educators for All initiative, which requires each state, alongside stakeholders, to create and implement a State Plan to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators. To support states as they develop and implement these high-quality plans, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders has created the Implementation Playbook and the Equitable Access Toolkit.
29 May 2015
Policy Brief

A Million New Teachers Are Coming: Will They Be Ready to Teach?

Research shows that the most powerful, in-school influence on learning is the quality of instruction that teachers bring to their students. In the next decade, more than 1.5 million new teachers will be hired for our schools; unfortunately, teacher preparation programs may not be up to the task of delivering the teacher workforce we need. This brief describes elements of an effective start-to-finish look at teacher preparation.
26 May 2015
Infographic

Infographic: The Who and How of Instructional Feedback

The third in a series of three infographics explores the results of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Our first infographic in the series, Do U.S. Teachers Learn from One Another?, explores differences across the world in teacher-to-teacher supports and opportunities for collaboration. The second infographic in the series, Teachers' Professional Development Barriers, looks at the various factors that prevent teachers from participating in their professional development.
19 May 2015
Brief

Essential Components of Student Learning Objectives Implementation: A Practice Brief

Student learning objectives (SLOs) have become the preferred measure of student growth in many new systems of teacher evaluation and compensation. This SLO practice brief aims to assist states and districts in the implementation of SLOs by providing practical steps for building a sustainable system of developing and measuring student growth.
18 May 2015
Brief

The Art and Science of Student Learning Objectives: A Research Synthesis

Student learning measures have rapidly become common in teacher evaluation systems across the United States. This report provides an overview of key findings from the nearly 20 studies of SLO measures that have been conducted to date, along with considerations for future research and for practice.
16 May 2015
Report

Misattribution of Teacher Value-Added

The federal Race to the Top competition provided significant impetus for states to adopt “value-added” models as a part of their teacher evaluation systems. This study examines how teacher evaluations are affected by incorrectly attributing changes in student's test scores to the value-added of teachers in spring classrooms, and explores methods that can provide the best approximation in the absence of more detailed data.
12 May 2015
Blog Post

Real Teacher Appreciation: Let Them Lead

In the first in a series of blog posts on teacher leadership, Gretchen Weber, managing researcher at AIR, argues that we honor teachers by letting them lead. Teacher appreciation, she argues, means schools and districts must commit to creating teacher leadership structures that are strong, authentic, and valued.
11 May 2015
Video

2015 National Teacher of the Year Talks Education Policy, Practice

State Teachers of the Year from across the country joined in a special workshop April 28 at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the American Institutes for Research. Working with AIR’s Education Policy Center, the teachers discussed ways to engage policymakers on major education issues. The visit was part of a series of activities honoring State Teachers of the Year, sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers. In this video, Shanna Peoples, 2015 National Teacher of the Year, discusses education policy and practice.
Project

Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is an international comparative study of teachers, their working conditions, and the learning environment in schools. TALIS is organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and aims to provide internationally comparable data on teaching and learning environments around the world, with the goal of informing education policy. AIR provides technical and analytical support for U.S. participation in TALIS.
30 Apr 2015
Report

New Science Standards: A Readiness Assessment for State Boards of Education

State implementation of new standards (revising, adapting, and adopting new standards) is a significant undertaking. Many states are just beginning to consider whether to modify existing science standards, adapt standards being used in other states, or develop new ones. This document is intended to guide state boards of education through this complex process.
26 Apr 2015
Infographic

Infographic: Teachers' Professional Development Barriers

The second in a series of three infographics explores the results of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Our first infographic in the series, Do U.S. Teachers Learn from One Another?, explores differences across the world in teacher-to-teacher supports and opportunities for collaboration.
19 Apr 2015
Guide

What We Know About SLOs: An Annotated Bibliography of Research on and Evaluations of Student Learning Objectives

A companion piece to The Art and Science of Student Learning Objectives: A Research Synthesis, this annotated bibliography provides brief summaries of individual studies conducted in nine states and districts, highlighting general research context and questions, study methodology, and key findings.
15 Apr 2015
Report

Proficiency or Growth? An Exploration of Two Approaches for Writing Student Learning Targets

Student learning and growth have become important factors in measuring educator effectiveness. In this report, concrete examples of both approaches are highlighted to provide clarity and particular attention is paid to the benefits and drawbacks of each approach.
Angela Minnici
9 Apr 2015
Blog Post

From the Boardroom to the Classroom: Can Corporate America Inform Teacher Evaluation?

In this blog post, Angela Minnici and Jenny Fipaza discuss how corporate findings about performance evaluation could work in the education world by creating an approach to performance management that gives school and district leaders the continuous feedback, talent management, and information they need to capitalize on their teachers’ strengths.
Jane Coggshall
2 Apr 2015
Blog Post

Up for Vote #4: Title IIA: What a Better Version Might Look Like in Your Neighborhood School System

Title II, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act aims to increase academic achievement by improving teacher and principal quality. In this blog post, Jane Coggshall describes her recommendations to ensure that states, regions, and districts work more strategically both to develop individual teachers and leaders and to develop—and continuously improve—whole schools and districts.
12 Mar 2015
Report

Quality Online Resources and Supports for Educators Teaching the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

Rural educators in the Northeast Region are beginning to implement the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. For the implementation to be successful, teachers reported needing more time to collaborate and increased access to high-quality curricula and professional development opportunities.
11 Mar 2015
Blog Post

How Can We Hire and Keep High Quality Teachers in Struggling Schools?

For years, the job of drawing high quality teachers to struggling schools has relied mostly on incentives: money, prestige or better professional development. In this blog post, Kelly Hallberg and Glenance Green describe another option: teacher residency programs, which provide a reliable pipeline of high-quality teachers committed to hard-to-staff schools and subject areas.
teacher and student examining a problem
9 Mar 2015
Commentary

Investing in Teacher Pay Could Spur Big Gains for California Students

In an OpEd for the Los Angeles Times, AIR expert Dan Goldhaber advises that "Educational opportunity is knocking," urging California to try out the high-pay/high-performance teacher model. "If results here match those in New York, California will have a path forward to achieve big student gains for a fairly small taxpayer investment."
Project

UNHCR Teacher Retention Project in Algeria, Ethiopia, and Pakistan

Teachers are a critical resource for children in refugee and emergency settings. Teacher quality is recognized as a primary driver of variation in student learning outcomes, particularly in refugee and emergency settings, but few studies have examined the factors that motivate or demotivate teachers in these contexts. AIR was contracted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to conduct a literature review on teacher retention as well as three field studies in refugee populated areas of Algeria, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.
26 Feb 2015
Infographic

Infographic: Do U.S. Teachers Learn from One Another?

The first in a series of three infographics explores the results of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS).
25 Feb 2015 | 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Event

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RISE logo

International Contrasts in the Teaching Profession: Results from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

On February 25, 2015, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) hosted a webinar that looked at international contrasts in the teaching profession using recent data from the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). TALIS represents the voice of teachers, a critical component to a meaningful conversation about education.
25 Feb 2015
In the Field

Research in Action: Beyond Evaluation - Improving a Teacher Residency Program to Increase Student Achievement

What happens when a public school district partners with a team of experts deeply experienced in local and state program evaluation and just as committed as the district to school reform? In AIR, Denver Public Schools found a team of experts who empowered their leaders to address some of the toughest issues in education reform.
20 Feb 2015 | 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Event

8th Annual CALDER Conference - Two Way Street: Research and Research Users

On Friday, February 20, 2015 the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) will hold its Eighth Annual Research Conference.

Catherine Jacques
20 Feb 2015
Blog Post

What All Educators Can Learn From CTE Teachers

Where can a math or English or history teacher go to discover ways to integrate and assess college and career readiness standards and skills in their classes? In this blog post, AIR's Catherine Jacques suggests working with career and technical education teachers, who have used this kind of instruction for decades to bring real-world learning into their classrooms.
Report cover
30 Jan 2015
Report

How Can We Ensure That All Children Have Excellent Teachers?

The U.S. Department of Education has renewed its focus on ensuring that all students—especially those in under-resourced communities—have access to excellent educators. By June of 2015, all states must engage education stakeholders on locally-developed solutions to ensure every student has effective educators. This discussion guide is designed to help educators, administrators, and other school and district employees work through how their school, community, district, and state can best tackle equal access to excellent educators.
27 Jan 2015
Testimony

Fixing No Child Left Behind: Supporting Teachers and School Leaders

In January 27, 2015 testimony before a U.S. Senate committee considering revisions to the No Child Left Behind Act, Dan Goldhaber cautions that moving away from annual student testing could make it harder to accurately measure teacher effectiveness.
Sara Wraight
15 Jan 2015
Blog Post

Up for Vote #1: Think Big and Give Educators the Tools to Succeed

The 114th Congress needs to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—but this time, no silver bullets or artificial deadlines. As Sara Wraight argues in this blog post, real education reform will take many years, and it’s time to go long.
Math teacher working with student
6 Jan 2015
Video

The Art of Coaching Better Math Instruction

Instructional coaching can promote more effective and engaging learning in the classroom. In this video, Kirk Walters, AIR principal researcher and instructional math coach, shows how to support teachers and help students learn critical math skills-and why it’s important to teach students not only how to do mathematical procedures but also to understand the concepts behind them.
1 Jan 2015
Service

Reading: Global Focus on Science and Solutions

There has been a significant increase in school enrollment globally, yet millions of children across the world are unable to read a single word even after up to four years of schooling. AIR is focused on improving the quality of learning outcomes by enhancing the science of reading, while developing solutions for the global learning crisis.
10 Dec 2014
Blog Post

Proposed Teacher Prep Accountability: Pros, Cons, and Challenges

New U.S. Department of Education draft rules aim to hold teacher-training programs accountable for the quality of their graduates. In this blog post, Marianne Lemke discusses what's at stake.
1 Dec 2014
Report

Building Leadership Capacity in California’s Public Education Systems: Lessons From the SCALE Initiative

Educators and other stakeholders in the education field recognize the power of school systems to create the conditions for student success in our public schools; however, these approaches rarely focus on the capacity of system leaders themselves. The Stuart Foundation California Leaders in Education (SCALE) Initiative is an effort to build the individual leadership capacity of system leaders in several of California’s traditional public school districts and charter management organizations. This paper describes how SCALE evolved and what we can learn from it.
17 Nov 2014
Report

Combining Multiple Performance Measures: Do Common Approaches Undermine Districts’ Personnel Evaluation Systems?

Teacher and principal evaluation systems now emerging in response to federal, state, and/or local policy initiatives typically require that a component of teacher evaluation be based on multiple performance metrics, which must be combined to produce summative ratings of teacher effectiveness. This paper investigates whether the bias and error introduced by these approaches erodes the ability of evaluation systems to reliably identify high- and low-performing teachers.
Jane Coggshall
6 Oct 2014
Blog Post

Time to Reboot Educator Equity Plans

In this blog post, Jane Coggshall explains that inequitable access is not just the result of neglect or funding disparities, but the result of a series of systemic failures, from how we prepare teachers to work in high-need schools to how we design teachers’ jobs.
19 Sep 2014
Guide

Guide to Educator Evaluation Resources

Accurately measuring an educator's effectiveness is a complex and difficult task. This guide can be used by states and districts to explore various evaluation methods and tools that represent the "puzzle pieces" of an evaluation system. The guide includes detailed descriptions of more than 75 educator evaluation tools that are currently implemented and tested in districts and states throughout the country.
19 Sep 2014
Service

Student Learning Objectives Fact Sheet

New educator evaluation systems require measures of teacher effectiveness that are timely and meaningful, and many new systems specifically require measures of student growth. Student learning objectives (SLOs) are emerging as innovative measures of student growth because of their versatility and potential for promoting good teaching practices. This fact sheet describes AIR's four-phase approach to strategically implementing SLOs.
Dan Goldhaber
19 Sep 2014
Blog Post

It’s Getting Harder and Harder to Attract Talent Into the Teaching Profession. Nope, That’s Not What Evidence Suggests.

Is adopting academic standards and increasing pressure on teachers has made it more difficult to attract academically talented people into teaching? Not according to Dan Goldhaber, who cites his own research in this blog post, showing that the average SAT score of college graduates who went on to become teachers in 2008 was greater than that of college graduates who opted for other occupations, reversing a long-term trend.
Teacher reading to students
17 Sep 2014
Commentary

Think Again: It’s Getting Harder and Harder to Attract Talent Into the Teaching Profession. Nope, That’s Not What Evidence Suggests.

American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten is on record saying that teaching is “harder now than ever before, with less and less respect.” The view that teaching’s curb appeal isn’t what it used to be is widely shared, but is it right?
10 Sep 2014
Report

Promoting Excellence for All: A Report from the State Superintendent’s Task Force on Wisconsin’s Achievement Gap

In 2014, the Midwest Comprehensive Center facilitated the meetings of a task force focused on closing achievement gaps in Wisconsin. The center worked in partnership with the Department of Public Instruction to help task force members identify relevant strategies used within their schools and districts. The work culminated in this report, which has served as a guidepost as the agency continues to tackle this issue.
2 Sep 2014
Commentary

Principles of Sound Teacher Engagement

Renewing the conversation on teachers’ role in educational reform, the U.S. Department of Education’s new Excellent Educators for All Initiative requires states to consult with teachers when creating new plans to ensure students have equitable access to educators. The Department also recently launched a website to encourage educators to share ideas for teacher leadership. AIR's Ellen Sherratt notes that teacher voices are left out of conversations over major policy changes and provides core principles for collaborative problem-solving for sustainable policies.
1 Sep 2014
Service

Client Services in State and Local Evaluation

AIR’s state and local evaluation projects marshal a broad range of expertise and resources to support state education agencies and district offices as they decide whether to retain, revise, or end a policy or program. The projects address challenges in district and school reform, educator quality, special education, school financing, STEM, literacy, virtual learning, extended learning, English learning, early childhood education, and college and career readiness.
Rachel Garrett
1 Jul 2014
Blog Post

The Uncertain Promise of Classroom Observations

How well do classroom observation scores help us understand how much a teacher has added to his or her students’ achievement? As Rachel Garrett describes in this blog post, new research raises questions about the wisdom of basing high-stakes, summative teacher evaluations chiefly on classroom observations.
1 Jul 2014
Blog Post

Classroom Observations: Rating the Raters

In this blog post, David Manzeske discusses his research on principal observation and contends that peer evaluators and principals need careful training in advance and a system to check or calibrate their results as they rate teachers through classroom observations.
Project

Jacksonville Teacher Incentives Program Evaluation

Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) is administering a five-year, $50 million multifaceted initiative called Quality Education for All, the goal of which is to implement programs that help recruit and retain high-quality teachers and leaders for Duval County Public Schools. The Jacksonville Teacher Incentives Program is a part of this effort. AIR will provide JPEF with ongoing formative feedback about the implementation successes and challenges, and summative feedback about the program’s impact on teacher and student outcomes.
Teacher with students
19 Jun 2014
Report

Examining Spillover Effects from Teach for America Corps Members in Miami-Dade County Public Schools

What impact do Teach for America (TFA) members have on other teachers' performance? A strategy to "cluster" TFA members in high-need schools contributed to large gains in math achievement, but was found to have little effect on reading skills and no spillover effect on other teachers.
7 May 2014
Blog Post

Supporting Teachers as They Grow From Good to Great

How do good teachers transform into great ones? This blog post refers to a study from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, which surveyed more than 300 top teachers, to advise state education agencies about how to enhance teacher development.
30 Apr 2014
Report

From Good to Great: Exemplary Teachers Share Perspectives on Increasing Teacher Effectiveness Across the Career Continuum

Recognizing that teachers are the single most important school-level factor influencing student achievement, policy leaders have invested tremendous public resources in new systems to both assess and address teacher effectiveness. Yet the research that informs teacher effectiveness policy leaves many important questions unanswered. This report helps to fill these gaps through a first-of-its-kind exploratory survey of National and State Teachers of the Year.
27 Apr 2014
Guide

Taking Charge of Change

The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) offers tools and techniques that enable leaders to gauge staff concerns and program use in order to give each person the necessary supports to ensure success. Taking Charge of Change is a readable introduction to this method of predicting teacher behavior during a change process.
11 Apr 2014 | 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Event

Equitable Access: Assuring That All Children Have a Great Teacher

Please join the Center for American Progress and the American Institutes for Research on Friday, April 11, 2014 for the launch of three new products intended to help states and school districts identify and close gaps in access to effective teaching—a key step in making sure all children achieve.
8 Apr 2014
Report

The Mind Shift in Teacher Evaluation: Where We Stand—and Where We Need to Go

State teacher evaluation policies have undergone sweeping changes since 2008, spurred forward heavily by federal competitive funding opportunities like Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation.

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Project

Education Support Program - Egypt

The Education Support Program builds on the institutional achievements made by ERP 1 in strengthening the local educational structures in Egypt. The Program will support teacher professional development and community involvement in educational decision-making and quality improvement.
14 Mar 2014
Spotlight

Regional Educational Laboratories

Regional Educational Laboratories serve the education needs of designated regions, using applied research, development, dissemination, and training and technical assistance, to bring the latest and best research and proven practices into school improvement efforts.
10 Mar 2014
Brief

Common Core Implementation: Units of Study in Sacramento City

As district leaders search for the best ways to improve student learning with the Common Core State Standards, some early implementers are giving us an opportunity to learn from their experience.

Project

Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (REL Southeast)

The states in REL Southeast's region include schools in rural, suburban, and urban settings which face high poverty, growing populations of English learners, and low graduation rates. At the same time, states are committed to meeting the challenge of higher student standards.
21 Feb 2014
Brief

21st Century Educators: Developing and Supporting Great Career and Technical Education Teachers

Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers are uniquely positioned to improve college and career readiness for all students, and yet major federal and state education reforms, such as the Common Core State Standards, teacher evaluation and ESEA flexibility have paid insufficient attention to d

Michael Hansen
21 Feb 2014
Video

Long Story Short: Which Matters More, Class Size or Teacher Quality?

Many people assume that smaller classes lead to more individualized instruction and hence to better student achievement. But do they? In this 90-second video interview, senior researcher Michael Hansen argues that's not always the case.
20 Feb 2014 | 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Event

Expanding Access to Great Teachers

As the U.S. Department of Education prepares to mandate a more “equitable distribution” of teachers (as excellent educators are encouraged or forced to go from one school to another), what is the best path forward? Join AIR and the Fordham Institute on Feb. 20, 2014 for a debate on the merits of such a policy and on other ways to increase student access to high-quality teachers. AIR Senior Researcher Michael Hansen will present his findings from 'Right-Sizing the Classroom: Making the Most of Great Teachers,' which examines giving excellent teachers more students—and rewarding them appropriately.
book cover improving teacher quality
16 Feb 2014
Book

Improving Teacher Quality: A Guide for Education Leaders

Improving Teacher Quality: A Guide for Education Leaders addresses the specific roles education leaders have in ensuring that each classroom has the most effective teacher. Each chapter is tailored to an individual audience and focuses on the key policies they can influence. Improving Teacher Quality includes vignettes, strategies, and realistic action steps to give readers a jumping off point to begin what can seem like an overwhelming endeavor. Every chapter ends with a checklist to facilitate next steps.
7 Feb 2014
Commentary

Considerations Regarding Release of Individual Teacher Value-Added Scores

AIR provides background on value-added modeling, AIR’s value-added work, and why individual teacher value-added scores should not be publicly released.
4 Feb 2014
Blog Post

Don’t Stress about the Class Sizes. Focus on the Teachers

Many schools across America must take the budget bull by the horns and decide whether cutting class size is the right way to do it. In this blog post, Michael Hansen suggests how creating larger classes with smart teacher-assignment policies, may make students better off while simultaneously reducing costs.
1 Feb 2014
Toolkit

Self-Assessing Social and Emotional Instruction and Competencies: A Tool for Teachers

The educational community is increasingly focused on the development of students’ social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies and the link between SEL and improved educational attainment and achievement. This self-assessment tool is designed to help educators reflect upon (1) their current teaching practices that impact student SEL, and (2) their own SEL competencies to implement those teaching practices.
31 Jan 2014
Brief

Teaching the Whole Child: Instructional Practices That Support Social-Emotional Learning in Three Teacher Evaluation Frameworks

Although teachers understand the critical importance of social-emotional learning for their students’ overall development, few educator evaluation systems explicitly address that type of learning. This brief identifies the instructional practices that promote student social-emotional learning, which in turn are critical for student academic learning; and showcases how three popular teacher evaluation frameworks embed practices that influence not only student academic learning but also student social and emotional competencies.
15 Jan 2014
Report

Right-sizing the Classroom: Making the Most of Great Teachers

This CALDER Center paper examines the value of strategically assigning disproportionately larger classes to the strongest teachers in order to optimize student learning in the face of differential teacher effectiveness.

7 Jan 2014
Spotlight

Research, Policy, and Practice Connections: Conversations on Educator Quality

Research, Policy, and Practice Connections is series of conversations among AIR experts on emerging topics related to improving teacher and school leader effectiveness. Each video interview explores three questions: Why is this topic relevant right now? What are the key challenges and innovations? What is AIR learning through research and practice?
19 Oct 2013
Brief

Creating Coherence: Connecting Teacher Evaluation and Support Systems to the Common Core

This Special Issues Brief, and related materials, from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders aims to help state and regional staff engage districts to create coherence between the Common Core State Standards, teacher evaluation, and professional learning. The process of making meaning builds an understanding of the reforms and increases district capacity to support high-quality implementation.
Project

Oklahoma Rural Schools Research Alliance

The Oklahoma Rural Schools Research Alliance sought to investigate three research topics: effective professional development strategies in rural schools, use of data to inform instruction in rural schools, and challenges American Indian students face in rural schools. This research focus will be applied to identify and address the factors that contribute to or impede school performance in rural areas, with particular attention to challenges and solutions for strengthening college and career readiness among rural students.
20 Sep 2013
Video

CBAM 101: Getting Your Feet Wet

This webinar provides an overview of the process of using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model for managing the implementation and impact of reform initiatives. During the webinar, center staff introduce you to the CBAM tools and their uses. You will also hear from a school district representative who uses these tools in her district's reform efforts.
17 Sep 2013
Report

Value-Added Measures in Education

To assess teacher effectiveness in accordance with state and federal policies—such as the Race to the Top program—many states and districts are using growth and value-added models as one component of a comprehensive teacher evaluation system. 

Project

Improving Adult English Language Instruction (ESL Pro)

Currently, English language learners (ELLs) comprise over 40% of students served by adult basic education programs. Therefore, it is critical that instructors are equipped with the training and tools to meet their learning needs. From 2013-2016, through its Improving Adult English Language Instruction initiative, the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education contracted with AIR to build on and extend its previous investments to improve the knowledge, skills, and abilities of teachers working with adult ELLs by providing collaborative, evidence-based, and technology-enhanced professional development opportunities.
1 Sep 2013
Report

You'll Never Be Better Than Your Teachers: The Garden Grove Approach to Human Capital Development

Teachers matter. Educators, policymakers and the general public alike agree that great teachers are vital to a thriving K-12 education system, yet the pathways to assembling a high quality teaching force remain elusive. This case study of Garden Grove Unified School District, winner of the 2004 Broad Prize for Urban Education, demonstrates what a comprehensive approach to maximizing teacher quality can look like in practice.
1 Sep 2013 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

Education Week Webinar: “Leadership Coaching: Building Strong Leaders for District and School Improvement”

Join AIR at 11 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, Sept. 18 for a one-hour webinar hosted by Education Week on the importance of leadership coaching and leadership academies as part of the larger school turnaround effort.

25 Aug 2013
Report

Estimating Teacher Contributions to Student Learning: The Role of the School Component

Teachers’ individual contributions to student learning and schools’ contributions are typically intertwined. This paper explores the key issues related to strategies for identifying a value-added model to account for school and teacher contributions that create appropriate incentives for teachers. The authors recommend estimating between-school differences and then considering what part of those
differences should be attributed to teachers.

24 Aug 2013
Report

Determining Attribution: Holding Teachers Accountable for Student Growth

New state and federal policies, such as the Race to the Top program, have redefined accountability to require that states develop and use performance-based teacher evaluation systems to inform decisions on professional development, employment, and compensation. The authors summarize key issues to consider, along with practical examples of options for implementation.
9 Aug 2013
Video

Authors and Policy Experts Discuss Engaging Teachers in Designing Evaluation Systems

AIR and Public Agenda co-hosted a June 20, 2013 discussion on how education leaders can avoid frustration and arrive at sustainable teacher evaluation systems by engaging teachers in design and implementation. Watch what teachers and policy experts had to say about current evaluation systems, efforts to include teachers in evaluation reform, and ways to expand these efforts nationwide.

Project

Measuring the Impact of Teacher and Leader Evaluation Systems on Student Learning and Performance

This project for the U.S. Department of Education will conduct a randomized control trial to study the implementation of a package of teacher and leader evaluation system practices in which teachers and principals receive feedback on their practices and their contributions to student growth.

15 Jul 2013
Toolkit

Student Learning Objectives Database

Student learning objectives (SLOs) are emerging as one measure to assess teachers' contributions to student growth in educator evaluation systems. To support states and districts in developing and implementing SLOs, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders is curating a searchable collection of SLO resources.

15 Jul 2013
Brief

Educator Effectiveness - Ask the Team Briefs

Ask the Team briefs, developed by the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, summarize key examples, strategies, and research findings. Included: Investing in Evaluation Training; Peer Observation in Educator Evaluation; How to Work Smart in Teacher Evaluation
Project

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Network to Transform Teaching Project

The Network to Transform Teaching (NT3) initiative is designed to (1) increase the number of candidates submitting their first certification component and (2) increase the percentage of National Board Certified Teachers in instructional leadership roles. The initiative aims to establish collaborative processes for continuous improvement in the partner sites that will be sustained beyond the grant period. AIR is charged with providing a formative evaluation of program implementation and an outcomes evaluation of the instructional leadership of National Board Certified Teachers.
Project

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards ATLAS Evaluation

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards launched Accomplished Teaching, Learning, and Schools (ATLAS), an online platform to provide video exemplars and corresponding written reflections of National Board Certified Teachers to help train new teachers. American Institutes for Research is conducting a formative evaluation to study ATLAS implementation and a summative evaluation to estimate the impact of ATLAS use on teacher performance and student achievement.

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Project

Book: Everyone at the Table Focuses on Engaging Teachers in Evaluation Reform

Everyone at the Table: Engaging Teachers in Evaluation Reform is a research-based and field-tested practical guide for teachers and school and district leaders that provides materials to genuinely engage teachers in the evaluation process.

28 Apr 2013
Service

Publications │ Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM)

CBAM is a conceptual framework that provides tools and techniques for facilitating and assessing the implementation of new innovations or reform initiatives. Since its development in the 1970s and 1980s, it has been used to help leaders, evaluators, and researchers understand, monitor, and guide the complex process of implementing new and innovative practices. Explore these resources to learn more.
Project

Indiana Diagnostic Assessments Study

In 2008, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) launched a diagnostic assessment program in which teachers in Grades K–8 classrooms administered commercially available interim assessments to their students. Results from each test were available to teachers, who were expected to use them to diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses and adjust their instruction accordingly. AIR's evaluation of the program provided mixed evidence regarding the value of using interim assessments to monitor student progress to guide instruction and increase student achievement.
19 Mar 2013
Report

Teacher Practice and Student Outcomes in Arts-Integrated Learning Settings: A Review of Literature

AIR conducted a review of key literature in 2011-12 exploring the measurement of teacher practice and student learning in arts-integrated settings through a project funded by the Department of Education and offered by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.
Project

PowerUp WHAT WORKS

The PowerUp WHAT WORKS website offers free resources, materials and information to help educators ensure that their students, especially those with disabilities, meet the Common Core State Standards. PowerUp offers support for ongoing personal and professional learning through its resource library, which includes instructional strategy guides in English language arts and math, professional development facilitator guides, technology implementation guides and more.
Project

Evaluation of the TEACh Initiative

AIR is conducting the independent evaluation of The New Teacher Project’s Teacher Effectiveness and Certification (TEACh) Initiative. The initiative focuses on preparing teachers for high-needs placements in urban schools and includes pre-service training, in-service training, and assessments of teacher effectiveness.
Project

Evaluation of the Massachusetts Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners (RETELL) Initiative

In order to improve instruction for ELLs, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has recently an initiative under which all core academic teachers in the state are required to complete comprehensive professional development in Sheltered English Instruction methods by July 2016. AIR has evaluated the pilot professional development program and will be evaluating the implementation of the first year of the full roll-out of the program.

20 Nov 2012
Commentary

CALDER Conversations: Test-Based Measures of Teacher Effectiveness

The use of student test-based measures of teacher effectiveness in personnel decisions, such as tenure, is controversial. It is a major bone of contention in the recent Chicago teacher strike. The conversation here focuses on the uses, value and limitations of these measures, often called value-added measures.

20 Nov 2012
Commentary

NPR Interview: What the Chicago Strike Taught Teachers Unions

The strike in Chicago, the nation's third-largest school district, raises questions about teachers unions nationwide. Jane Hannaway, a vice president of AIR, and Andrew Rotherham, co-founder of Bellwether Education, explain how different teachers unions work.

15 Nov 2012
Report

Student Learning Objectives: Benefits, Challenges, and Solutions

Not all student growth measures are alike, nor are they designed to be. But when student growth measures are used for educator evaluation, fairness and comparability become critical.

1 Nov 2012
Report

Student Learning Objectives as Measures of Educator Effectiveness: The Basics

Student learning objectives (SLOs) have emerged as a novel approach to measuring student growth, particularly for the majority of educators not covered by a state standardized assessment. This report offers some ideas for states and districts that are considering the use of SLOs to measure student growth, including a basic description of SLOs, highlights of the SLO development process, and a discussion of their function within the evaluation cycle.
1 Nov 2012
Report

Implementing Student Learning Objectives: Core Elements for Sustainability

To support the student learning objective (SLO) implementation and sustainability process, states and districts can provide resources for teachers, evaluators, and SLO leaders that improve the quality of SLOs, rigor of assessments, and consistency of scoring. This report outlines the importance of these resources while considering the variety of implementation supports that can be offered and the trade-offs for states and districts that have limited resources.
25 Oct 2012
Commentary

Does "Won't Back Down" Square with Research?

AIR educational experts provide quick reviews of a popular new film exploring parental responses to a failing school.

Project

Linking Teacher Evaluations in Ohio to Professional Learning

Since October 2012, the Great Lakes Comprehensive Center has been building the organizational capacity of the Ohio Department of Education to support districts and schools in the design and implementation of professional learning opportunities for teachers based on teacher performance evaluation results.
19 Sep 2012
Report

Retaining Teacher Talent: Convergence and Contradictions in Teachers’ Perceptions of Policy Reform Ideas

What do teachers themselves think of policies that address identifying and retaining effective teachers? What conclusions should reformers draw from teachers’ perceptions? This report suggests that what teachers think are good indicators of effectiveness—and what they think will make them more effective—are not always aligned with what policymakers or researchers think.
16 Sep 2012
Report

Sustaining Alternative Compensation Models in Education: A Summary of Research and Practice

Creating an alternative compensation system requires a significant investment of states’ and local education agencies’ financial and human resources. This report explores the importance of program integration and financial sustainability, and provide examples of how states and LEAs are addressing sustainability challenges and concludes with recommendations to ensure that systems can last beyond initial implementation and funding.
16 Sep 2012
Report

Combining Multiple Measures in Performance-Based Compensation Systems

Because no single measure of educator practice or student outcomes can adequately capture the wide range of knowledge and skills an educator employs to demonstrate effectiveness, states and districts should consider incorporating multiple measures of performance and outcomes into their performance-based compensation systems. This report offers a broad overview of the measures available to be used in a compensation system as well as different potential approaches to combining measures in a performance-based compensation system.
16 Sep 2012
Report

Options for Including Teachers of Nontested Grades and Subjects in Performance-Based Compensation Systems

Many performance-based compensation systems use standardized test scores to calculate student growth, but for teachers of nontested grades and subjects (those without standardized assessments), alternative approaches may be needed. This report discusses different performance-based compensation structures that include teachers of nontested grades and subjects and explores different options for measuring student growth in nontested grades and subjects.
16 Sep 2012
Report

Compensation Models for Central Office and School Support Staff

Given the importance of central office and school support staff to student learning and the school environment, this report provides examples of performance-based compensations systems that acknowledge the work of those who help to create healthy, safe, clean, and supportive learning environments for students.
15 Sep 2012
Report

Capacity to Change: Data, Information Technology, and Payroll Needs in Alternative Compensation Systems

Successful implementation of alternative compensation is contingent upon having accurate data. Recognizing these critical activities, this report draws upon literature regarding the challenges associated with developing data systems and guides local education agencies through key questions associated with data capacity, information technology, and payroll practices.
15 Sep 2012
Brief

Indirect Compensation for Teachers

It is hard not to notice the persistent and often controversial discussions taking place in states and cities across the country around how to pay teachers—who should get what for how much and when. This brief begins with an overview of the total compensation package typical for teachers as well as a variety of definitions of indirect compensation. Following that is a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of offering indirect compensation as well as strategies for implementation, both taken from noneducation-based literature.
15 Sep 2012
Report

Using Student Learning Objectives in Performance-Based Compensation Systems: A Guide for Successful Implementation

Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) have recently come to the forefront as a potential solution for measuring student growth, particularly for educators in subjects or grades not covered by a state standardized assessment. This paper discusses the steps for using SLOs as a measure of growth, identifies key considerations for successful implementation, and highlights two districts that have successfully integrated SLOs into their performance-based compensation programs.

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Project

AIR Convenes the U.S. Department of Education’s Connected Educator Month

August is Connected Educator Month, an effort by the U.S. Department of Education to encourage teachers and school administrators across the country to participate in online learning communities and networks to enhance their professional development. AIR is supporting the month-long endeavor by coordinating more than 250 events, including online forums, webinars, blog discussions, online chats, podcasts, and other interactive options that explore online learning issues.

Project

Open Educational Resources to Support STEM Teaching and Learning in Adult Education (OER STEM)

As the national economy expands in areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the teaching of this content has become vital for adults to succeed in the workplace. AIR developed new and innovative ways to improve the teaching of STEM content to adult education students using open educational resources (OER).
19 May 2012
Brief

Linking Teacher Evaluation to Professional Development: Focusing on Improving Teaching and Learning

The recent increased attention to teacher evaluation has raised questions about the relationship between evaluation and student outcomes. This research and policy brief lays out an informal framework for using evaluation results to target professional growth opportunities for teachers within an aligned system of evaluation, leading to higher levels of teacher practice and student learning.
2 Apr 2012
Report

Teachers' Perspectives on Educational Research

This paper addresses the teachers’ use of educational research to improve their instructional practice. Based on two qualitative, exploratory studies AIR conducted in the Chicago metropolitan area between 2008 and 2011, researchers found that teachers do appreciate and use research when there is a pressing need.

Project

Wisconsin Reading Excellence and Demonstration of Success Initiative (READS)

The Wisconsin Reading Excellence and Demonstration of Success (READS) initiative was launched by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in 1999–2000 in an effort to positively affect student reading achievement and reduce the number of referrals to special education in READS-funded schools through the implementation of comprehensive reading programs. This four-year comprehensive evaluation of the READS initiative includes both qualitative case studies and longitudinal analysis of student demographic and achievement data and special education referral rates.

19 Mar 2012
Report

Creating Summative Educator Effectiveness Scores: Approaches to Combining Measures

Recognizing that human capital is the most important asset to teaching and learning, states and districts are rethinking their approaches to evaluating teachers’ performance. This white paper is intended to assist states and districts in strategically combining measures into a summative score in a way that reflects their goals and priorities while accurately and consistently representing teacher effectiveness.
4 Jan 2012 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

Fifth Annual CALDER Research Conference January 27, 2012

On Friday, January 27th 2012, the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) will hold its Sixth Annual Conference, Human Capital Policies in Education: Further Research on Teachers and Principals.

Project

Analysis of the Title III Professional Development Program

The National Professional Development Program (NPDP) supports projects designed to increase the pool of teachers who are highly qualified to work with ELLs and to improve the skills of teachers who are currently serving these students. On behalf of the Program and Policy Studies Service at the U.S. Department of Education, AIR is gathering lessons learned about characteristics of pre-service and in-service teacher education programs, courses, and activities intended to improve instruction for ELLs, both by reviewing the literature and by conducting case studies of current and former NPDP grantees.

Project

Jefferson County Strategic Compensation Evaluation

In 2010, Jefferson County (Jeffco) Public Schools in Colorado was awarded a five-year grant to implement the Jeffco Strategic Compensation (StratComp) Initiative. StratComp, which provides professional supports to all educators, is a new teacher evaluation observation system in which administrators and peers conduct observations, job-embedded professional development is aligned to observation ratings and delivered by master teachers and instructional coaches, and groups of teachers work together in teacher-teaming activities to improve instructional and student achievement goals. AIR is conducting a formative evaluation to study StratComp implementation and a summative evaluation to estimate the impact of the StratComp program on teacher performance and student achievement.
Project

Evaluation of Amarillo Independent School District’s Vision 2020 Grant Program

Amarillo Independent School District’s federally funded Vision 2020 Virtual Learning Strand grant program provides funding to increase participation in the Texas Virtual School Network. The primary goal of Vision 2020 was to provide staff development and technology-based resources and support aimed at increasing the district’s technology content knowledge as well as access to and use of technological resources, all with the goal of improving student outcomes. AIR's comprehensive, district-focused evaluation helped the school district determine the fidelity of program implementation and the impact of the program on content knowledge and instructional practices of high school teachers.

Project

Denver Teacher Residency Program Evaluation

The Denver Teacher Residency program is a preservice, alternative certification program designed to train teachers to serve in high-need Denver Public Schools. AIR is conducting a five-year evaluation of this program, which is designed to monitor program implementation, measure program effectiveness, and explore program mechanisms.
Project

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Project Lead Strong

The Miami-Dade County Public Schools Project Lead Strong was designed to develop leadership capacity in chronically low-performing schools. Assistant principals and principals in higher performing schools are formally trained to lead turnaround schools by participating in professional development and job-shadowing experiences. AIR is conducting an evaluation of this initiative, tracking program implementation and measuring program effectiveness in improving student performance. Evaluators are using surveys, interviews, and extant program documents to examine program implementation and to track program effectiveness in improving intermediary outcomes, including school working conditions and quality of instructional leadership.

1 Sep 2011
Report

Wisconsin Culturally Responsive Education for All (CREATE) Initiative - Training and Enhancement Initiative

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction contracted with AIR to provide a comprehensive evaluation of its Culturally Responsive Education for All: Training and Enhancement (CREATE) initiative during its first three years of implementation. AIR employed a qualitative case study design to assess program implementation and to determine the effect participation in the CREATE initiative had on districts’ capacities to provide culturally responsive education and to implement policies and practices designed to close achievement gaps and reduce disproportionality in special education.

Project

Retaining Teacher Talent

AIR staff partnered with Public Agenda to gain insights into the workplace characteristics that appeal to teachers today and the factors that may lead them to leave the teaching profession.

Project

Educational Innovation in Teacher Incentive Fund Grants

Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants support the use of performance-based compensation and other human capital strategies that enhance and sustain performance-based compensation, in order to increase students’ access to effective educators in high-need schools. AIR provides technical support to the Center for Educational Innovation in New York City, which manages four TIF grants that serve groups of independent charter schools in New York City, Buffalo, and New Jersey.
27 Jun 2011
Guide

Educator Effectiveness Pocket Guide

The Reauthorizing ESEA Pocket Guides are written by AIR experts to assist policymakers and educators as they consider changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

21 Jun 2011
Brochure

Good Behavior Game Research, Training and Support

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a team-based classroom behavior management strategy that helps young children master the role of student while developing the discipline needed to sit still, pay attention and complete their school work. AIR works with school districts and communities on all aspects of GBG implementation.

15 Jun 2011
Report

Performance-Based Compensation Structures: Considerations for Individual, Group, and Hybrid Programs

A significant number of educator compensation reform efforts are underway throughout the country. The purpose of this report is to assist the stakeholders in alternative compensation initiatives to better understand the ways in which they can structure performance incentives in the context of their intended outcomes, local culture, and available options for measuring educator and student performance.
25 May 2011
Report

Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study: Findings After the Second Year of Implementation

This study examines the impact of intensive mathematics professional development (PD) on teachers' knowledge and teaching skills for 7th grade mathematics in rational number topics such as fractions, decimals, percent, ratio, and proportion. The intensive PD studied includes over 100 hours of support in the form of summer institutes, seminars, and in-school coaching.

17 May 2011
Report

Exploratory Study of the HOPE Foundation© Courageous Leadership Academy: Summary of Findings

This report, authored by AIR and funded by the HOPE Foundation, introduces the school reform model, describes the study methodology, presents findings for each of the three research questions explored, and discusses the implications for the intervention and additional research.

14 Apr 2011 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

World Premiere of American Teacher, featuring AIR Expert Sabrina Laine

AIR is a sponsor of American Teacher, which features AIR expert Sabrina Laine and footage from our teacher center. She and other education experts, along with Academy Award–winner Vanessa Roth and writer Dave Eggers, will attend the world premiere of the film on May 3 at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival.

1 Apr 2011
Report

Workplaces That Support High-Performing Teaching and Learning: Insights From Generation Y Teachers

Generation Y public school teachers—those born between 1977 and 1995—have been serving students for nearly a decade now, represent an increasingly large proportion of the teaching workforce. Five key insights about Gen Y require workplaces that ensure teachers receive regular feedback on their effectiveness; support peer learning and shared practice; recognize (and reward) high performance; have fair, rigorous, and meaningful evaluation systems; and leverage technology intelligently to enhance performance.

19 Mar 2011
Brief

Measuring Teachers' Contributions to Student Learning Growth for Nontested Grades and Subjects

This research and policy brief was developed to help states consider options for assessing student learning growth for the majority of teachers who teach content not assessed through standardized tests. It provides information about options for states to explore as well as factors to consider when identifying and implementing measures.
1 Jan 2011
Report

Is the Supply in Demand? Exploring How, When, and Why Teachers Use Research

While teachers have mixed opinions—both positive and negative—of research, they tend to seek out research when they have an immediate, pressing concern. This paper explores the demand side of the market for educational research, particularly the types of educational research that teachers find useful for advancing their instructional practice and the conditions under which they access the research that is currently available.
Project

Rider 42 Professional Development Academies

AIR, along with several partners, recently completed a large-scale evaluation of statewide professional development academies in Texas. The study provided the Texas Education Agency with critical information about the implementation of the professional development academies provided to teachers through the regional education service centers.

1 Sep 2010
Report

Managing Educator Talent: Promising Practices and Lessons from Midwestern States

Between 2009 and 2010, seven Midwestern states—Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin—passed significant legislation addressing teacher preparation, licensure, and evaluation. AIR conducted a review of this legislation, analyzing each state’s system for developing, recruiting, and retaining effective teachers and leaders.

1 Sep 2010
Report

Study of Teacher Preparation in Early Reading Instruction

The final report of a study of teacher preparation in early reading instruction describes pre-service teachers' perceptions about the content of their training programs and summarizes their scores on an assessment of their knowledge of the essential components of reading instruction, as defined in the Reading First legislation.

1 May 2010
Report

Charter and Innovative Schools: Emerging Trends Reflected in the State Phase 1 Race to the Top Applications

This report examines state methods of promoting charter and innovative schools, as mentioned in the Race to the Top applications.

Project

Early Language and Literacy Classroom Evaluation

The Ohio Department of Education wanted to assess the quality of the literacy instruction received by students in state-funded early learning and preschool programs and to provide teachers with information to improve their practice. AIR conducted more than 1,400 observations of early learning environments across the state using the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit.
1 Nov 2009
Report

Toward the Structural Transformation of Schools: Innovations in Staffing

American education is undergoing considerable change from improvements in information technology to increased efforts to tie teacher performance to student achievement. This thought paper proposes steps to embrace that change, primarily through fundamentally reconsidering the teacher’s role in education.
Project

Florida Literacy and Reading Excellence (FLaRE)

The Florida Literacy and Reading Excellence (FLaRE) professional development (PD) study examined the effects of receiving FLaRE support vs. not, and receiving high vs. low levels of support.
Project

The Mathematics Professional Development (PD) Impact Study

AIR and partners are conducting a large-scale study of the impact of teacher professional development in mathematics. The Mathematics Professional Development (PD) Impact Study is a randomized controlled trial designed to test the impact of a scalable program of professional development that holds promise for improving mathematics instruction and student achievement at the seventh grade.

Project

Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality under NCLB (SSI-NCLB)

Over the past five years, AIR staff has developed an in-depth, state-by-state understanding of academic and ELP standards, assessments, and accountability systems through their work leading ED’s SSI-NCLB, which examines states’ implementation of the accountability and teacher quality provisions outlined in Title I, Title II, and Title III of NCLB. The core data collection for the SSI-NCLB, which serves as one of the major sources of data for the National Assessment of Title I, involved two waves of extant data collection and interviews with state education officials—including directors of Title III, as well as directors of accountability and assessment—in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Project

Professional Development Interventions on Early Reading Instruction and Achievement

AIR and MDRC, along with three small-business subcontractors, designed a randomized field trial to examine the impact of professional development (PD) on reading instruction and student achievement. The study combined scientific rigor with an understanding of how schools operate and what schools were doing in an attempt to improve reading instruction and performance.

19 Sep 2009
Report

Holding on to a New Generation of Teachers

Like school districts across the nation, Vancouver School District is confronting the challenge of finding, employing, and retaining great teachers in an extremely challenging and competitive labor market. This report describes the systemic model it is using, consisting of changes in compensation, extended duties, assessment and evaluation, professional growth and development, recruitment, interviewing, and mentoring and induction.
Project

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching

Research suggests that effective teaching is the single most important school-based factor influencing student achievement and other student outcomes. And it may be particularly important to low-income and minority students. AIR and RAND are evaluating the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative, which aims to improve teaching effectiveness by changing the way districts recruit, retain, and reward teachers.
19 Feb 2009
Report

Leading Gen Y Teachers: Emerging Strategies for School Leaders

As Baby Boom teachers begin to retire, a new generation of teachers is taking on the classroom. Generation Y teachers—those born between 1977 and 1995—are young, technologically savvy, and interested in global outcomes.

2 Jan 2009
Report

Title I Implementation: Update on Recent Evaluation Findings

This report provides a summary of findings from Title I evaluation studies that have become available after the publication of the National Assessment of Title I final report in 2007.

Project

Teacher Excellence in Adult Literacy (TEAL)

At present, over 70% of employers want to hire people with good writing abilities, and it’s been estimated that by 2020, 70% of occupations will require math skills to be successful. The TEAL project developed materials to increase the knowledge, skills, and abilities of instructors, administrators, and other adult education staff for adult learners with diverse backgrounds and needs. There were two iterations of this project, one that focused on writing instruction and another on math instruction.
Project

Iowa—Every Learner Inquires

Iowa launched Every Learner Inquires, a K–12 professional development initiative to promote inquiry-based science instruction, with the goals of improving student learning, building the necessary teacher leadership and content expertise, and establishing a structure for sustained implementation. The AIR evaluation team conducted a formative and summative evaluation—using surveys, interviews, classroom observations, and instruction logs—to offer timely feedback regarding reactions to professional development, teacher learning, level and fidelity of implementation, and factors that facilitate and inhibit implementation.

15 Sep 2008
Report

State Systems of Support Under NCLB: Design Components and Quality Considerations

This brief presents data from a national survey of state administrators to describe trends in the implementation of the NCLB mandate for states to provide system to support to schools identified for improvement.

2 Sep 2008
Report

Impact of Two Professional Development Interventions on Early Reading Instruction and Achievement Report

To help states and districts make informed decisions about the professional development (PD) they implement to improve reading instruction, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned the Early Reading PD Interventions Study to examine the impact of two research-based PD interventions for reading instruction. This report describes the implementation of the PD interventions tested, and examines their impacts at the end of the year the PD was delivered.
1 Jul 2008
Report

A Network for Educational Change in the Great Lakes Region: A View Through the Lens of Educational Service Agencies

The main purpose of this descriptive report—based exclusively on self-reported data collected from responses to a survey administered to state educational service agency (ESA) leaders in five Great Lakes states—is to provide an overview of the structure, capacity, and roles of ESAs in the region, within the context of the broader statewide systems of support for educational improvement and progress.

 

1 Jun 2008
Report

Approaches to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: A Research Synthesis

This research synthesis provides practical guidance for evaluating teacher effectiveness that extends beyond teachers' contribution to student achievement gains.

28 Feb 2008
Report

Enhancing Leadership Quality

Effective school leaders may be the linchpin of a successful school system. Research has identified school leadership quality as second only to teacher quality in its influence on student achievement.

28 Feb 2008
Report

Enhancing Leadership Quality

Effective school leaders may be the linchpin of a successful school system. Research has identified school leadership quality as second only to teacher quality in its influence on student achievement.

11 Dec 2007 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

American Institutes for Research and Education Week Co-Host a Forum on Teacher Quality

Education Week and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) co-sponsored a forum on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 entitled “Searching for Solutions: An Evidence-Based Dialogue on Teacher Quality.” Panelists included Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, leading education researchers and senior staff members of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor.

29 Oct 2007
Report

Reviewing the Evidence on How Teacher Professional Development Affects Student Achievement

This report finds that teachers who receive substantial professional development—an average of 49 hours in the nine studies—can boost their students’ achievement by about 21 percentile points.

1 Oct 2007
Brief

California Collaborative on District Reform: Policy Briefs on California Education Finance and Governance

This collection of policy briefs was prepared for Getting from Facts to Policy: A California Education Policy Convening, hosted by EdSource in October 2007.

1 Jun 2007
Report

Barriers to the Preparation of Highly Qualified Teachers in Reading

This brief discusses scientifically based reading instruction in relation to federal policy mandates and focuses on strategies and standards for ensuring that teachers are qualified to teach reading.
1 Feb 2007
Report

America’s Challenge: Effective Teachers for At-Risk Schools and Students

National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality has compiled information about the availability, recruitment, and retention of teachers for at-risk schools and students in this inaugural biennial report.

1 Aug 2006
Report

Qualifications of Public Secondary School History Teachers, 1999–2000

This Issue Brief reports the combination of certifications and majors and minors to which secondary-level history students are exposed and how these qualifications vary across schools with differing levels of student poverty, based on data from the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS).

29 Nov 2005
Report

Reassessing U.S. International Mathematics Performance

This study reexamines the TIMSS and PISA results to correct this comparison bias by analyzing U.S. mathematics performance relative to a common set of 12 countries that participated in all three assessments.

19 Oct 2005
Report

Transition to Teaching Grant Program: 2002 Cohort Case Studies

This report delivers an overview of the site visit component of the TTT evaluation. Specifically, it describes the process that was used to select the eight sites and provides a snapshot of each; discusses major themes that emerged from the data and relates them to the literature on alternative certification programs; and presents case studies of the sites that highlight the distinctive approaches used across the United States.

12 Apr 2005
Report

Student Content Engagement as a Construct for the Measurement of Effective Classroom Instruction and Teacher Knowledge

The effort to link statistically student achievement to measures of teaching or teachers has proven very difficult. Analysts generally agree that the impacts of effective teachers on student achievement are important. The problem for analysts has been in identifying the characteristics of high quality teaching or teachers.

11 Apr 2005
Report

Deeper Look at Implementation: School-Level Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Comprehensive School Reform

This qualitative, comparative case study examines how school stakeholders understood comprehensive school reform (CSR) implementation, and how contextual factors influenced the process of CSR model implementation.

11 Apr 2005
Report

Fundamental Problems in the Measurement of Instructional Processes: Estimating Reasonable Effect Sizes and Conceptualizing What is Important to Measure

Developing reliable and valid national-level survey measures of instructional processes and other classroom conditions related to learning has proven exceptionally difficult. This report focuses on the size of the impact that can be expected from instruction and teachers on student achievement and on the conceptualization of measures of instruction and other classroom conditions related to learning.

22 Feb 2005
Report

Communication Framework for Measuring Teacher Quality and Effectiveness: Bringing Coherence to the Conversation

This communication framework was developed to promote effective dialogue about the measurement of teacher quality and effectiveness. It facilitates communication about policies regarding teacher effectiveness by helping to build a shared understanding of the terminology used in the discussion.

16 Jan 2004
Report

Exploring Assignments, Student Work, and Teacher Feedback in Reforming High Schools Report

AIR researchers and leaders at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began a nationwide study of teaching and learning in foundation-supported schools with a pilot study in Washington State.

Project

Adult Education Content Standards and Assessment Warehouse

Improving the quality of instruction through the development of content standards is a critical step in developing effective curriculum and meaningful assessment to enhance student learning. In adult education, many programs do not use standards to guide their programs. The Adult Education Standards and Assessment Warehouse initiative was created in 2003 through funding from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) to collect and disseminate the best information on content standards to guide instruction in reading, mathematics, and English language acquisition.
4 Nov 2001
Report

What Makes Professional Development Effective? Results from a National Sample of Teachers

This study uses as national probability sample of 1,027 mathematics and science teachers to provide the first large-scale empirical comparison of effects of different characteristics of professional development on teachers' learning.
Project

California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO)

In providing professional development opportunities for adult educators, the goal of the California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) is to enhance student learning gains and to help adult learners meet their goals as productive workers, family and community members, and lifelong learners. Beginning in 2001, the California Department of Education contracted with AIR to ensure that California met federal and state expectations for quality instruction.
10 Mar 2000
Report

Teachers' Tools for the 21st Century

Teachers' use of education technology in their classrooms and schools report examines the availability of this technology in their classrooms and schools, their training and preparation for using it, and the barriers to technology use they encounter.

16 Oct 1999
Report

Designing Effective Professional Development: Lessons from the Eisenhower Program

This report, based on a national evaluation of the Eisenhower program, provides information about how the program is operating and how it might be strengthened. A second objective of this report is to contribute to knowledge about teacher professional development. The Eisenhower program is a source of funding for professional development activities including workshops and conferences, study groups, professional networks and collaboratives, task force work, and peer coaching.
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Eleanor Fullbeck

Eleanor Fulbeck

Principal Researcher

EDUCATION

Adult Learning

Afterschool and Expanded Learning

Charter Schools and School Choice

Child Welfare

College and Career Readiness

District and School Improvement

Early Childhood and Child Development

Education Policy

English Learners

Equity in Education

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

International Comparisons in Education

International Early Childhood and Child Development

International Education

International Reading and Literacy

Juvenile Justice

LGBTQ Youth

Mathematics Education

Mentoring

NAEP

Postsecondary Education

Principal Preparation and Performance

Reading and Literacy

School Climate and Safety

School Finance

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Social and Emotional Learning

Special Education

Teacher Preparation and Performance

Technology for Teaching and Learning

Youth Development

Youth-Serving Systems

RESEARCH. EVALUATION. APPLICATION. IMPACT.

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