Teaching
Reshaping the Role of Educators
Teachers are at the heart of student success. Yet too many school systems still treat teachers as if they were assembly line workers. These systems are not employing effective practices for attracting and retaining the best teachers. They are not identifying the teachers who excel and those who struggle with providing appropriate support for each. And systems are not offering teachers opportunities for advancement that allow them to keep their connection to the classroom. As a result, student learning suffers and educational improvement is blocked.
What’s Not Working
Superintendents often say their top priority is ensuring the highest-quality teaching staff and promoting effective teaching. Yet, we have found that in many school systems, no teachers are ever managed out for poor performance. Furthermore, more than 95% of pay increase potential is linked to two factors—experience and course credits—that bear little relationship to effective teaching, with smaller rewards for things that do matter: teaching in high-need areas; taking on additional responsibilities; or serving as instructional leaders. School systems rarely attempt to compare the relative effectiveness of teachers across the system. And when they do, this data is not used to inform the professional development and support opportunities available to teachers.
A Strategic Approach to Restructuring the Job of Teaching
High-performing schools, and the systems that support them, focus on hiring qualified individuals and then designing opportunities for them to learn and work together to improve their individual and collective practice around clear student learning goals.
To restructure the job of teaching around student success and continuous improvement, school systems must:
- Define and measure teacher effectiveness in a way that informs all other aspects of the human capital system.
- Recruit and hire talented professionals who fit school system needs and facilitate selection and assignment to match individual experience and their ability to meet the needs of the job.
- Ensure access to expert coaching support and professional development that matches the school’s instructional design and responds to student and teacher learning needs.
- Structure development and career opportunities to encourage individual professional growth and retain the most effective teachers and leaders.
- Create new compensation models and career paths that reward the greatest contributors and attract top talent to the greatest educational challenges.
