The Need for Better TQ Data |
THE NEED FOR BETTER TQ DATA
Over the last decade, policymakers and researchers increasingly have recognized that teacher quality is the most powerful predictor of student achievement. Despite this growing consensus, too few educational and political leaders agree on how to ensure that every student has access to quality teachers and teaching. The Center for Teaching Quality (formerly the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality) has had a long interest in building more robust teaching quality (TQ) data systems across states in ways that can inform teaching policy deliberation. Since receiving an initial grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 2000, the Center has been committed to moving forward in this important yet often daunting arena—working in a wide variety of ways to build both the technical know-how and the political will to forge a more comprehensive set of TQ data. Our hope has been to enable states to move beyond the use of teacher tests (e.g., PRAXIS) scores and No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) "highly qualified" numbers and draw upon other comparable indicators. Other indicators would allow states to gauge their progress on matters such as teacher-generated value-added student achievement gains, teacher turnover rates, teacher supply and demand, access to high-quality new teacher induction programs, and working conditions. We believe that without attention to these indicators, policymakers, practitioners, and the public will not have information they need to improve teaching quality in meaningful ways.
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Last updated: February 21, 2006