About Recruiting, Retaining, and Supporting Qualified Teachers

This latest volume in the Harvard Education Letter Spotlight Series provides a tool kit for principals and administrators seeking to improve the quality of classroom teaching in an era of increasing accountability. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 mandates that all teachers be "highly qualified" by 2006, although the criteria for meeting this standard are vague at best.

Meanwhile, half of the nation's teachers are expected to retire by the end of the decade, and turnover among new teachers is high: 30 percent leave their jobs within three years and 50 percent leave within five.

The book provides an overview of the historical and cultural factors that shape teaching as a profession and frame the debate over its future. It goes on to examine efforts to rethink the preparation of teachers and principals; to outline hiring practices that help administrators identify talented candidates and ensure a good fit with their schools; and to assess a variety of strategies for supporting new teachers and providing growth opprotunities for experienced ones. Specific strategies addressed include:

• Induction programs
• Career ladders for teachers
• School-based coaching
• Effective supervision for professional growth

Practical, down-to-earth, and up-to-date, this handy volume is an essential and valuable resrouce for anyone concerned with improving the quality of teaching in today's classrooms.

Contributors include Katherine C. Boles, Morgaen L. Donaldson, David T. Gordon, Pam Grossman, Susan Kardos, Louise Kennedy, Reino Makkonen, Katherine K. Merseth, Robert Rothman, Alexander Russo, Vivien Troen, and Debra Viadero.

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Table of Contents for Recruiting, Retaining, and Supporting Qualified Teachers

Introduction

Teacher Quality and Educational Equity
Caroline Chauncey

Teaching: From a Nation at Risk to a Profession at Risk
Pam Grossman

Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Teachers
Katherine C. Boles and Vivian Troen

Arming New Teachers with Survival Skills: A conversation with Katherine K. Merseth

Landing the “Highly Qualified Teacher”
Robert Rothman

Nontraditional Paths to Teaching
Debra Viadero

Taking Care of Novice Teachers
Reino Makkonen

New Teacher Induction
Susan M. Kardos

Building a Better Career Ladder
Morgaen L. Donaldson

Putting National Board Certification to the Test
David T. Gordon

School-Based Coaching
Alexander Russo

Collaborative Teacher Evaluation
Louise Kennedy

Preparing the “Highly Qualified Principal"
Alexander Russo

About the Contributors

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Online Resources for Recruiting, Retaining, and Supporting Qualified Teachers

NOTE: You'll need a copy of Adobe Reader to access many of the works listed below. If you don't have a copy, visit Adobe Acrobat to download free of charge.

General Information:

The National Center for Education Statistics: Elementary and Secondary Education contains a variety of statistics on public and private elementary and secondary education. Data are presented for enrollments, teachers, schools, student performance, graduates, and expenditures at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/2002130b.pdf

Public Agenda. A Sense of Calling: Who Teaches and Why. New York: 2000. Available online at www.publicagenda.org/specials/teachers/teachers.htm

Teaching Commission. Teaching at Risk: A Call to Action. New York: CUNY Graduate Center, January 14, 2004. Available online at www.theteachingcommission.org/publications/FINAL_Report.pdf

Teacher Quality:

The single goal of the Haberman Educational Foundation is to teach and implement research-based models for identifying teachers and principals, particularly educators who serve students at risk and in poverty. To learn more about teacher and principal selection visit www.altcert.org

J.K. Rice. Teacher Quality: Understanding the Effectiveness of Teacher Attributes. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute, 2003. Executive summary is available online at www.epinet.org/content.cfm/books_teacher_quality_execsum_intro

Teacher Certification:

American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence’s American Board certification program was created to develop high quality teacher credentials that are portable, time efficient and cost effective. American Board certification is available for individuals first entering the teaching field, as well as to experienced teachers, opening new doors to the teaching profession. To learn more visit www.abcte.org

Cavalluzzo, L. C. (2004, November). Is National Board Certification an Effective Signal of Teacher Quality? The CNA Corporation. http://www.cna.org/expertise/education

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization governed by a board of directors, the majority of whom are classroom teachers. The standards published by this organization, which describe what constitutes accomplished teaching in every subject and for students at all stages of their development, can be found at http://www.nbpts.org

Vandevoort, L. G., Amrein-Beardsley, A. & Berliner, D. C. (2004, September 8). National Board Certified Teachers and Their Students' Achievement. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(46). http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n46/

Alternative Certification:

The National Center for Alternative Certification is a comprehensive, interactive website, continuously updated, designed to provide any and all information pertaining to alternative routes to certification at http://www.teach-now.org

The Center for Education Policy at SRI International has been awarded a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to conduct a three-year comprehensive study of alternative teacher certification programs. Read about this study at http://www.sri.com/policy/cep/teachers/altcert.html

Since 1990, more than 12,000 individuals have joined Teach For America, committing two years to teach in low-income rural and urban communities. Learn about this organization at http://www.teachforamerica.org

Teacher Preparation:

M. Allen. Eight Questions on Teacher Preparation: What Does the Research Say? Denver: Education Commission of the States, 2003. Available online at www.ecs.org/html/educationIssues/teachingquality/tpreport/home/summary.pdf

Retention and Turnover:

E. Hanushek, J. Kain, and S. Rivkin. “The Revolving Door: A Path-Breaking Study of Teachers in Texas Reveals that Working Conditions Matter More than Salary.” Education Next 4, no. 1 (Winter 2004): 77–82. Unabridged research article available online at http://www.educationnext.org/unabridged/20041/76.pdf

R.M. Ingersoll. Is There Really a Teacher Shortage? Seattle: University of Washington, Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, September 2003. Available online at
http://depts.washington.edu/ctpmail/PDFs/Shortage-RI-09-2003.pdf

Novice Teachers:

J. Levin and M. Quinn. Missed Opportunities: How We Keep High-Quality Teachers Out of Urban Classrooms. New York: New Teacher Project, 2003. Available online at www.newteacherproject.org/report.html

E. Liu. “New Teachers’ Experience of Hiring: Preliminary Findings from a Four-State Study.” Paper prepared for the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, April 2003. Also see website of the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, Harvard Graduate School of Education. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~ngt

Public Education Network. The Voice of the New Teacher. Washington, DC: 2003. Available online at www.publiceducation.org/pdf/PEN_Pubs/Voice_of_the_New_Teacher.pdf

Professional Development and Coaching:

The National Staff Development Council’s Standards of Staff Development provide direction for designing a professional development experience that ensures educators acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. The Standards are available online at www.nsdc.org/standards/index.cfm

B. Neufeld and D. Roper. “Coaching: A Strategy for Developing Instructional Capacity: Promises and Practicalities.” Washington, D.C.: Aspen Institute Program on Education and Annenberg Institute for School Reform, 2003. Available online at http://www.edmatters.org/webreports/CoachingPaperfinal.pdf

S.M. Poglinco, A.J. Bach, K. Hovde, S. Rosenblum, M. Saunders, and J.A. Supovitz. “The Heart of the Matter: The Coaching Model in America’s Choice Schools.” Philadelphia: Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania, 2003. Available online at www.cpre.org/Publications/Publications_Research.htm

A. Richard. “Making Our Own Road: The Emergence of School-Based Staff Developers in America’s Public Schools.” New York: Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 2003. Available online at www.emcf.org/programs/student/student_pub.htm

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Publishing Information

Recruiting, Retaining, and Supporting Qualified Teachers
Edited by Caroline Chauncey
©2005
ISBN 1-891792-56-3 $39.95 library, ORDER
ISBN 1-891792-55-5 $19.95 paperback, ORDER
140 pages

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