Welcome to the TQ Update, a quarterly newsletter dedicated to providing information and resources on teacher quality related issues.
Teaching Quality Policy Center News
The ECS Teaching Quality Policy Center (TQPC)
recently convened a meeting of its NATIONAL
ADVISORY BOARD. Participants discussed:
* The center's strategic plan
* Areas for future TQPC work
* Critical topics relevant to teaching quality.
For more information, contact Charles Coble
at ccoble@ecs.org.
ECS, in partnership with the North Central
Regional Educational Laboratory, recently brought
together several nationally recognized education
leaders to examine how CHANGES IN GOVERNANCE
SYSTEMS might leverage opportunities for
improving teaching quality. For more information,
contact Michael Allen at mallen@ecs.org.
Back to top.New Center Publications
Interpreting the findings of education research
in an unbiased fashion is critical for
policymakers to make accurate, informed
decisions to improve their schools. The first in
a series of four ECS reports, "Eight Questions on
TEACHER PREPARATION: WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?"
looks at what 92 research studies tell us about
teacher preparation. The full report will be
available on the ECS Web site around May 15, but
an executive summary is available by clicking
here.
/clearinghouse/43/96/4396.pdf
To date, 45 governors have given STATE-OF-THE-STATE
ADDRESSES. Of these governors, 30 talked about
teaching quality issues. A new ECS StateNote,
"2003 State-of-the-State Addresses: Teaching Quality,"
contains excerpts from their addresses related
to teaching quality.
/clearinghouse/43/62/4362.htm
ECS is nearing completion of an ONLINE DATABASE
that will provide condensed summaries of STATE
TEACHER PREPARATION POLICIES, links to the
policies and other relevant sources of information.
The database, which allows users to easily
compare and contrast state policies, will be
available on the ECS Teaching Quality Web site in
mid-May. For more information, contact Susie
Bachler at sbachler@ecs.org.
Back to top.Upcoming Center Meetings/Events
On May 12-13, ECS will cosponsor the
"SOUTHEAST MEETING ON TEACHING QUALITY" in
Atlanta, Georgia. Cosponsors include SREB, NGA,
SHEEO and the SECTQ. Meeting attendance is by
invitation only. For more information, see
/html/meetings.asp?am=3
The 2003 NATIONAL FORUM ON EDUCATION POLICY
will be held July 13-16 in Denver, Colorado.
Sessions featuring teaching quality include:
* Improving teacher preparation
* Teacher mobility
* Teacher's unions and school reform
* Hard-to-staff schools
For more information, see
/html/meetingsEvents/NF2003/NF2003_main.htm
Back to top.Related ECS Activities
The ECS CENTER FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE POLICY
is developing a 50-state survey on the role
of community colleges in P-12 teacher education
and professional development. Center staff are
currently compiling data for an interactive
database that will be available on the Web.
For more information, contact Marga Torrence,
at mtorrence@ecs.org.
Back to top.What States Are Doing
Chancellors of the three largest university
systems in TEXAS -- the Texas A&M University
System, the Texas State University System
and the University of Texas -- have signed
an agreement to create a collaborative
research center to enhance teacher education
programs across Texas.
http://tamusystem.tamu.edu/index.cfm?PageID=264
College graduates and career changers accepted
into the NEW JERSEY Consortium for Urban
Education will earn their teaching credentials
tuition-free through a new, federally funded
program. Participants take graduate courses
and receive sustained mentoring in exchange for
a three-year teaching commitment in Paterson,
Newark or Jersey City.
http://www.state.nj.us/njded/njcue/
The Sapsik'wala Program at the University of
OREGON provides scholarships and training to
American Indian teachers who will work in
schools with large Indian populations. In
addition, the program provides a full year
of support services including a mentor,
evaluations, support for attendance at a
professional conference, onsite consulting,
an electronic distribution and discussion list
and online consultation and Web site conferencing.
http://education.uoregon.edu/degree.htm?id=61&field_name=
Back to top.Good Reads
American schools suffer from a lack of
EFFECTIVE LEADERS at both the school and
district levels, according to a new report
by the Progressive Policy Institute. The
report suggests a series of potential
changes to better recruit, prepare, reward
and retain high-quality leaders.
http://www.ppionline.org/documents/New_Leadership_0103.pdf
Despite widespread publicity about a shortage
of SCHOOL PRINCIPALS, a report by the Center
on Reinventing Public Education finds that
there are far more candidates certified to be
principals than there are vacancies to fill.
http://www.crpe.org/pubs/pdf/mroza_princshortagewb.pdf
A new report by the Education Development
Center discusses a number of critical actions
needed to sustain a school's TECHNOLOGY
infrastructure, including accelerating teacher
professional development and improving the
ability of teachers to use new technologies.
http://www2.edc.org/CCT/admin/publications/report/BENTON_BOOK_2.19.03.pdf
CHARTER SCHOOLS rely heavily on young,
inexperienced, uncredentialed teachers and often
do not have the resources to provide the
instructional help that many of their students
need, according to a study by Policy Analysis
for California Education (PACE). The study
looks at national statistical data relative
to money, race and teacher credentials.
http://pace.berkeley.edu/Chartersummary.pdf
An analysis by the Center for Education Reform,
however, claims that the PACE study is not
objective and offers a distorted view of
CHARTER SCHOOLS.
http://edreform.com/charter_schools/pace.htm
TEACHER TURNOVER costs Texas schools from $329
million to $1.59 billion per year according to
a new ASCD research brief. The brief finds that the
cost of teachers leaving the profession amounts
to about 20% of each leaving teacher's salary.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/researchbrief/volume1/v1n8.html
A new report examines teachers in North
Carolina who apply for National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards CERTIFICATION
and the factors associated with their success.
http://www.evansuw.org/FAC/Goldhaber/pdf/NBPTS_A-S.pdf
Back to top.Other Useful Web Sites
For information on RURAL TEACHER recruitment,
visit these Web sites:
* The Rural School and Community Trust:
http://ruraledu.org/index.cfm
* National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse:
http://www.recruitingteachers.org/index.html
Back to top.International Focus
A new report from the National Center for
Education Statistics COMPARES THE U.S.
EDUCATION SYSTEM TO OTHER MAJOR INDUSTRIALIZED
COUNTRIES (Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, the Russian Federation and the United
Kingdom). The report examines such items as
student teacher ratios and public school
teacher salaries in primary and secondary education.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2003026
Teachers are not happy with their salaries,
stress levels or workloads, according to a
report by the UNITED KINGDOM-based, National
Foundation for Educational Research.
http://www.nfer.ac.uk/htmldocs/Outcome_QWT.doc
Back to top.
Teaching quality is part of the Teaching Quality and Leadership Institute. The mission of the Institute is to provide resources to help state policymakers shape education policy on finding, keeping and developing highly effective teachers and education leaders. |
TEACHING QUALITY
To read more about Teaching Quality,
visit the ECS Issue Site on Teaching
Quality. |
