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Teacher Effectiveness

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Although many personal, family, and neighborhood factors contribute to a student's academic performance, a large body of research suggests that—among school-related factors—teachers matter most. RAND researchers examine and evaluate methods of measuring teacher effectiveness, as well as the critical relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement.

Commentary

What Emerging Research Says About the Promise of Personalized Learning

Aug 16, 2017

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.
Blog

The Challenges of Measuring Effective Teaching

Nov 16, 2016

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.

Explore Teacher Effectiveness

Report

American Teachers Could Use More Time to Collaborate

Teacher collaboration is a key part of long-term career development for educators. But less than one-third of U.S. teachers say they have sufficient time to work with their peers.

Feb 28, 2018
Report

The Majority of Teachers Aren't Clear on the Reading Instruction Approaches Most Aligned with State Standards

English language arts teachers could increase their use of more complex, text-based practices if they received clearer guidance from states and districts about what is expected. They also need better supports and curriculum resources to engage in those approaches.

Feb 21, 2018
Report

Report

'Motivating teachers with incentivised pay and coaching' randomised control trial (ICR trial): Closure report: Understanding factors influencing participant recruitment failure

After recruitment issues had led to the cancellation of a randomised controlled trial on the impact of incentivised pay on teaching in the UK, RAND Europe conducted a follow-up investigation exploring the reasons behind the recruitment difficulties.

Feb 5, 2018
Research Brief

Research Brief

Teach For America Passes the Test with Most Participants in Principal Survey

More than 85 percent of principals surveyed were satisfied with their schools' Teach for America (TFA) corps members. Principals who were TFA alumni or who led charter schools were less satisfied with corps members' abilities than other principals.

Jan 17, 2018
Report

What Do Principals Think About Teach For America?

Principals are generally satisfied with the Teach For America teachers they receive, their classroom contributions, and the professional development and support the program provides.

Jan 17, 2018
Commentary

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.

Jan 11, 2018
Report

How Are Teachers Perceiving and Addressing State Standards?

A high percentage of mathematics teachers report using instructional materials with some demonstrated evidence of alignment to Common Core State Standards. However, there is less evidence that state standards are playing a role in the materials English language arts teachers use.

Apr 4, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Different Skills? Identifying Differentially Effective Teachers of English Language Learners

Our findings lend support to the notion that general education teachers can develop valuable ELL-specific instructional skills.

Dec 13, 2016
Commentary

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.

Nov 29, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Review of the Research Literature on Defining and Demonstrating Quality Teaching and Impact in Higher Education

RAND Europe conducted a review of literature published since 2012, with the aim of identifying and summarising the key trends and issues in the literature on how 'quality teaching' and its impact are currently being defined and demonstrated at higher education institutions.

Nov 18, 2016
Report

What Are Teachers' and Principals' Concerns About New State Tests?

Many U.S. states have recently made major changes to their K-12 testing programs. The media have reported growing dissatisfaction with the amount of testing and the use of tests in high-stakes decisions. So what concerns do educators have?

Oct 18, 2016
Brochure

Two Innovative New Tools to "Take the Pulse" of America's Educators

In an era of dramatic change in education, the American Teacher Panel and the American School Leader Panel provide quick and easy access to nationally representative panels of teachers and principals—fulfilling the critical need for information on a wide range of educational topics.

Sep 16, 2016
Research Brief

Taking Stock: The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Through 2013–2014

This brief summarizes a RAND Corporation evaluation of the implementation of key reform elements of the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching in three public school districts and four charter management organizations.

Sep 7, 2016
Research Brief

Research Brief

Trends in Impact on Student Outcomes: The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Through 2013–2014

Researchers evaluated the impact of key reform elements of Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching in three public school districts. This brief summarizes an interim evaluation report.

Sep 7, 2016
Report

Improving Teaching Effectiveness: Impact on Student Outcomes: The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Through 2013–2014

This report estimates the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative's effect on student outcomes through the 2013-2014 school year. The initiative guides personnel practices to give every student access to highly effective teachers.

Sep 7, 2016
Essay

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.

Aug 22, 2016
Commentary

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.

Jul 20, 2016
News Release

News Release

Interim Findings on Teacher Reform Effort Show Small Positive Impact on Student Outcomes During Initial Years

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched its teacher reform initiative in 2009–2010 to improve effectiveness of teachers and to ensure that low-income minority students have access to highly effective teachers. The impact on student outcomes began to show a positive trend during the 2013–2014 school year.

Jun 6, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Teacher Effectiveness

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RAND Education