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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.

Research Brief

How Teacher Effectiveness Spills Over into Other Classrooms

May 28, 2019

Teachers' effectiveness ripples out beyond their own students and affects the experiences of their pupils' future peers. Ignoring these "spillover" effects underestimates a teacher's value by at least 30 percent.
Research Brief

Results from the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Initiative

Feb 11, 2019

A multiyear effort aimed at increasing students' access to effective teaching failed to achieve its goals for improved student achievement and graduation. However, the participating school districts and charter management organizations did implement better measures of teaching effectiveness.

Explore Teacher Effectiveness

Periodical

RAND Review: July-August 2019

This issue spotlights a strategy to reduce roadway deaths to zero; a school principal initiative that yielded positive results for schools and students; and a data-driven effort to enhance equity in a major U.S. city.

Jul 1, 2019
Blog

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.

May 31, 2019
Blog

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.

Apr 5, 2019
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
Commentary

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.

Aug 16, 2017
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
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
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

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
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

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
News Release

Teachers Reported Moderate Concerns and Need for Additional Professional Development Prior to 2015 Testing

The new Common Core State Standards changed expectations for what students should learn in English language arts and mathematics, and what teachers should know and teach in their classroom. Prior to the first round of K-12 standardized testing in 2015, most teachers had concerns about test difficulty and low student performance.

Feb 1, 2016
News Release

Program to Improve School Outcomes and Student Achievement Shows Early Signs of Success

A program intended to boost student achievement by providing teachers two years of professional development, including formal training sessions and meetings with a leadership coach, is showing early signs of success.

Aug 11, 2015
Journal Article

Uncovering Multivariate Structure in Classroom Observations in the Presence of Rater Errors

We examine the factor structure of scores from the CLASS-S protocol obtained from observations of middle school classroom teaching.

Apr 24, 2015
Commentary

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.

Feb 3, 2015
Commentary

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

Thirteen years of research have clarified that 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.

Aug 22, 2014
Blog

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™.

Sep 24, 2013
Solution

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Teacher Pay-for-Performance

RAND's substantial body of work on teacher pay-for-performance provides policymakers with a strong evidence base on the design, implementation, and potential results of pay-for-performance programs.

Aug 1, 2013
Commentary

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.

Feb 19, 2013

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RAND Topic:
Teacher Effectiveness

Research conducted by

RAND Education and Labor