Knowledge From the Field

The Elusive Talent Strategy: An Excellent Teacher for Every Student in Every School

Published: February 2011

Publisher(s): Carnegie Corporation of New York

Author(s): Milgrom-Elcott, Talia

Funder(s): Carnegie Corporation of New York

View Report (16 pages; 776KB; PDF)

The Elusive Talent Strategy: An Excellent Teacher for Every Student in Every School

Area of focus: Elementary and Secondary Education; School Reform

Abstract

This report outlines strategies for improving the teacher applicant pool, including a focus on recruiting and retaining quality teachers, providing incentives for filling hard-to-fill positions, improving teacher support systems and evaluations, and bolstering teacher accountability.

Key Findings and/or Recommendations

+Efforts to finalize budgets sooner and making better predictions about the number of incoming students in a school are shown to help principals both complete hiring and fill hard-to-fill positions more efficiently.

=The lack of well-prepared, high-performing teachers, especially in high-poverty areas, is believed to be the root cause of the lagging national performance and achievement gaps of U.S. students as compared to students in other countries.

="Teacher residencies", offering intensive in-classroom training, and alternative teacher certifications, which allow teachers to begin teaching while still earning their teaching certification, are current strategies that have been implemented by some states to improve teacher training and development.

=Creating a more uniform evaluation system for teachers that accurately indentifies teachers’ strengths and weaknesses and differentiates between more and less effective teachers has been suggested as a key way to improve the quality of educators in the U.S.

Geographic Focus: National

Subjects/Keywords: Elementary and Secondary Education; Elementary and Secondary Education, School Reform; Higher Education

+ Successful strategy
= Observation
– Challenge