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Welcome to the TQ Update, a quarterly newsletter dedicated to providing information and resources on teacher quality related issues.

New Center Publications
A growing body of evidence confirms that the QUALITY OF TEACHING teaching students receive is the single most influential determinant, outside of home and family circumstances, of their academic success. Studies show that, regardless of socioeconomic factors, students who have effective teachers make significantly more progress than students with less effective teachers. "A National Perspective on Five Quality-Teaching Issues" documents some of the research and implications for state policymakers.
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ECS has recently surveyed all 50 states, the territories and District of Columbia on the steps taken to implement the "HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHER" provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. The results will be available in early 2003. In the meantime, the ECS Teaching Quality Policy Center staff has compiled "No Child Left Behind and Highly Qualified Teachers: Three Questions All States Must Ask and Answer."
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Names in the News
The NATIONAL BOARD FOR PROFESSIONAL TEACHING STANDARDS (NBPTS) has selected Joseph Aguerrebere Jr. as its new president. Aguerrebere will depart the Ford Foundation as deputy director in charge of education grants. Aguerrebere has been involved in the education profession for nearly 30 years. Since 1994, he has worked at the Ford Foundation on a variety of education-related projects, earning widespread respect in the philanthropic community. Prior to joining Ford, he was an assistant professor and professor of graduate education at California State University. He also served as a director of instructional services, principal, assistant principal and teacher in California.
http://www.nbpts.org/news/article.cfm?id=219

What States Are Doing
A recent report, "MISSOURI K-16 Task Force on Achievement Gap Elimination," focuses almost exclusively on teacher issues as the key strategy for closing the state's achievement gap.
http://www.mocbhe.gov/pdf/full.pdf

The Southeast Center for Teaching Quality has released "Assessing and Supporting New Teachers: Lessons from the Southeast," which highlights key elements of effective induction programs, as well as the progress of SOUTHEASTERN STATES in developing quality induction programs. The research evidence assembled and the policies and programs documented provide a wealth of insight and information on what can be done about the pressing needs of our most inexperienced teachers.
http://www.teachingquality.org/resources/SECTQpublications/Induction.pdf

The OHIO Governor's Commission on Teaching Success will issue recommendations early next year to improve teacher quality through a better connection between teaching and other majors. The commission is also studying ways to resolve teacher shortages in areas such as special education.
http://www.teaching-success.org/index.asp?p=0&text=0

Good Reads
The ECS Center for Community College Policy is working on a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to examine the COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROLE IN TEACHER PREPARATION. A key component of this work is a 50-state survey addressing the role of community colleges in teacher recruitment, education, professional development, collaboration with four-year institutions, and technology in teacher preparation and professional development. Survey results will be available in February through an interactive database on the ECS Web site. Information about the results also will appear in future issues of TQ UPDATE.
http://www.communitycollegepolicy.org/

A new and potentially serious consequence of California's epidemic of UNCREDENTIALED TEACHERS is emerging: Many students are failing the high school exit exam needed to graduate in 2004. A study from the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning shows that schools with the lowest passing rates also have the most underprepared teachers. In contrast, more 10th graders in high schools with more credentialed teachers passed the exit exam's math test last year.
http://www.cftl.org/keyissues2002/gettinggoodteach/intro.html

For the past two years, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education has been studying new forms of TEACHER COMPENSATION that may have the potential to improve teachers' capacity to teach in ways that result in higher student achievement.
http://www.cpre.org/Publications/rr50.pdf

The Pacific Research Institute and the Hoover Institution have collaborated to produce "TEACHER QUALITY," edited by Lance T. Izumi and Williamson M. Evers. The chapter authors have identified various problems in teacher quality and what must be done to improve teachers' approaches and strategies. Overall, the papers provide the reader with a portrait of high standards for teachers, and encourage districts to develop strong accountability systems for measuring performance, and to reward teachers who perform and frown on those who do not.
http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/pubaffairs/newsletter/02102/teacher.html

TEACHING QUALITY

To read more about Teaching Quality, visit the ECS Issue Site on Teaching Quality.