New Report: Talented Teachers in Every Classroom, Talented Principals in Every School

Posted by on November 16, 2009

Overhauling education’s human capital system

A new report from the Strategic Management of Human Capital in Education Project outlines six broad principles and 20 state and local recommendations for attracting, developing, and maintaining an effective teacher workforce. According to the authors, “The reform spotlight should be turned where it is most important — on the people who teach and who serve as principals.” The report’s recommendations include raising entry requirements for teacher preparation; instituting a tiered licensure system that requires teachers to complete an induction program and demonstrate teaching effectiveness before receiving tenure; and overhauling professional development and evaluations so they are standards-based and indicate areas for teacher improvement. The report concedes these recommendations pose “real political challenges” that will require multiple-year periods of adoption and implementation. The policies themselves are straightforward, but will require a major developmental effort to design residency programs, fund professional development resources, and develop and operate performance-based evaluation systems. Perhaps most controversially, the report states some districts now face significant human capital challenges because they gave tenure to inadequate teachers, who despite good faith efforts show no improvement in job performance. According to the report, if these teachers “are not able to become effective instructors who can bring about measurable gains in student learning, they should be removed.”

See the report: http://www.smhc-cpre.org/2009/11/03/smhc-issues-urgent-report-on-talent-in-education/