Read the April 2005 policy report, “Lifting Teacher Performance,” from the Progressive Policy Institute.
Evidence supporting the importance of academic talent and subject-matter knowledge in the making of high-quality teachers is more compelling than any evidence of the value of teacher training, a report suggests.
Produced by the Washington-based Progressive Policy Institute, the report says that policies aimed at closing the teacher-quality gap should therefore allow intellectually able individuals alternative routes into the field, particularly when the paths opened lead to disadvantaged schools. Further, the report says, policymakers should design pay systems that reward teachers for student outcomes and give them substantially more money for working in poor schools.