Skip to main content


Welcome, the Hub connects all projects

Library


Empowering Effective Teachers: Readiness for Reform

Abstract

A teacher's effectiveness has more impact on student learning than any other factor under the control of school systems, including class size, school size, and the quality of after-school programs.

In the summer of 2009, nine school districts and one coalition of Charter Management Organizations proposed strategies to improve the recruitment, placement, evaluation, retention, and support of highly effective teachers.

At the conclusion of these cooperative planning processes, four areas were identified as key to future success: shared leadership, vision, and commitment to action; culture of data-driven decision making; stakeholder engagement; and policies that support, or at a minimum, do not restrict improvement efforts.

This brief explains why districts and sites considering an effective teaching agenda should assess their strengths and weaknesses in those areas and provides considerations and rubrics for use in making such an assessment.

For more on this work, read the companion report: Empowering Effective Teachers: Strategies for Implementing Reform.