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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.

Report

Improving Teaching Effectiveness

Jun 6, 2016

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative seeks to determine whether a school can implement a high-quality measure of teaching effectiveness and use it to support and manage teachers in ways that improve student outcomes. The reforms are showing signs of progress in seven sites.
Project

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness Website

Oct 1, 2012

Research suggests that, among school-related factors, teachers matter most to students' academic performance. What's less clear is how to measure an individual teacher's effectiveness. RAND's reports, fact sheets, blog posts, and research briefs provide clarity on this important issue.

Explore Teacher Effectiveness

Commentary

What Emerging Research Says About the Promise of Personalized Learning

Personalized learning holds promise as an innovation that can lead to improved educational outcomes for students. But implementers should have modest expectations for the magnitude of the benefits, and patience for the full benefits to emerge.

Aug 16, 2017
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 literature of research 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
Blog

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.

Nov 16, 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
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
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
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
Report

Report

Improving Teaching Effectiveness: Access to Effective Teaching: The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Through 2013–2014

This report attends to the distribution of effective teachers between low-income minority (LIM) and other students in Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching sites and what might explain changes in LIM students' access to effective teaching.

Jun 6, 2016
Research Brief

Research Brief

Trends in Access to Effective Teaching: The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Through 2013–2014

This brief summarizes a RAND Corporation evaluation of the effectiveness of key reforms of the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching for low-income minority students in three public school districts and a charter management organization.

Jun 6, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Teacher Workforce Developments: Recent Changes in Academic Competiveness and Job Satisfaction of New Teachers

Policy makers and school leaders are perennially concerned with the capacity of the nation's public schools to recruit and retain highly skilled teachers.

Jun 6, 2016
Commentary

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?

May 10, 2016
News Release

News Release

American Teacher Panel Survey Looks at Teachers' Knowledge and Perceptions of 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 18, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Teacher Effectiveness

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