Teacher Effectiveness

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Theresa May, Emotional Learning, Teachers: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Theresa May's resignation, social and emotional learning, the value of a good teacher, and more.

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NATO's 70th Anniversary, Food Deserts, Teachers: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on effective teachers, NATO's 70th anniversary, food deserts, and more.

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Learning How to Measure Social and Emotional Learning

Educators and policymakers are increasingly focusing on non-academic competencies, known as social and emotional learning. To support growth in these areas, teachers need assessments that can help them understand how well students are learning these skills, and what instructional approaches work best.

Brian M. Stecher, Laura S. Hamilton

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What Emerging Research Says About the Promise of Personalized Learning

Personalized learning could lead to improved student outcomes. But those implementing this approach should temper their expectations for how big these benefits will be—and be patient while the benefits emerge. It's also important to consider the challenges of implementation.

John F. Pane @JohnFPane

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Before We Measure Teaching Quality, We Should Know What It Is

The lack of an evidence base on teaching quality and its impact in higher education points to a need for more research, made more pressing by the imminent roll-out of the Teaching Excellence Framework, which intends to assess and monitor teaching quality at UK higher education institutions.

Lucy Strang

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The Challenges of Measuring Effective Teaching

While educators, policymakers, and parents may agree on the need for more effective teachers, they often use different criteria to judge whether schools are doing their job. Parents have varied priorities for what they want in teachers and in schools.

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Personalized Learning: The Latest Buzz in Classroom Instruction

Students in personalized learning classrooms made greater gains in math and reading than their peers in other schools. But there are barriers to fully personalized learning, including rigid state standards and time demands on teachers.

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Inspiring Better Teacher Planning and Instruction or Just Adding Noise?

Teachers can and should have the freedom to select and develop at least some of their own instructional resources. But whether sites like Amazon Inspire will actually save teachers time and help them find high-quality resources is up for debate.

Julia H. Kaufman @juliahkaufman

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The Opt-Out Reckoning

Criticism of standardized testing is nearly as old as the testing itself. Will the opt-out movement promote meaningful and enduring changes in the educational system, and will these changes benefit the most at-risk and disadvantaged students?

Jonathan Schweig

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Reauthorizing ESEA: Four Recommendations to Improve Teaching Effectiveness

Policies aimed at boosting teaching effectiveness are a key component of a strong ESEA reauthorization. Addressing discrepancies in teacher quality helps teachers improve, retains effective teachers, and makes the teaching profession an attractive option for those contemplating careers.

Laura S. Hamilton, Brian M. Stecher, et al.

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Flexibility Is Key in Administration's Call for Teacher Equity Plans

Metrics like teacher experience and licensure reveal little about teachers' impact on student learning. The focus should be on disadvantaged students' access to effective teachers.

Jennifer L. Steele, John Engberg, et al.

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RAND's Teacher Bonus Research Recognized by U.S. Dept. of Education

The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences recognized a RAND report on the effects of teacher bonuses in New York City public schools last week. IES added the report, A Big Apple for Educators, to its What Works Clearinghouse.

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A Better Method for Estimating Teacher Performance

Structured observation protocols for assessing how teachers provide lessons to their students offer the opportunity to provide teachers with valuable feedback on how their practices could be improved, writes Terrance Dean Savitsky.

Terrance Dean Savitsky

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Grading Teachers

Research is starting to demonstrate that teaching, like all professions, is something that can be learned, continuously improved upon, and subject to the conditions under which it occurs, writes V. Darleen Opfer.

V. Darleen Opfer @VDarleenOpfer

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States Tackle Education's Holy Grail: Measuring a Teacher's Effectiveness

An accurate combined measure of teacher effectiveness would be the gold standard to capture and communicate information about the quality of educators. While the challenges to building such a measure are significant, research can help guide the way.

Kata Mihaly

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How Should We Measure Teacher Effectiveness?

A new RAND Education website provides objective, nonpartisan insights that can help inform the discussion on how to measure teacher effectiveness.

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Consider the Evidence

The Chicago Teachers Union strike erupted over classic issues: an extended day, a new evaluation system and hiring and firing. Yet, somewhat classically, neither the union nor Chicago Public Schools has put forth research evidence to support their stance, writes Darleen Opfer.

V. Darleen Opfer @VDarleenOpfer

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The Debate over Teacher Merit Pay: A Freakonomics Quorum

Motivation alone does not improve schools. Even if incentives inspire staff to improve practices or work together, educators may not have the capacity or resources to bring about improvement, writes Julie Marsh.

Julie A. Marsh