A Great Teacher in Every Classroom

Students learn more from great teachers. Research shows that effective teaching is the most significant predictor of a student's academic success. The link between effective teaching and student success outdistances other factors such as socio-economic status, race, and parent education levels. Teaching all students to high levels requires effective teaching knowledge, skills, tools, and support. To guide its teachers to greatness schools need to make smart choices about curriculum, instructional practices and professional development.

There are many factors that contribute to effective teaching and learning—teacher competency is just one. Consideration must also be given to the impact of school culture, learning conditions, student population, and family involvement. The Alliance is working with the school district to identify working conditions and other barriers that prevent great teaching from taking place in our classrooms.

One of the biggest financial drains on public education is high turnover in teaching staff. When teachers leave, they take the investment in their professional growth with them. Our schools need systems to help recruit, support, and retain highly qualified teachers—especially in our highly challenged schools—through appropriate policies, resources, and incentives.

The Alliance's Great Teachers program strategy focuses on:

• Providing incentives to attract and retain great teachers.
• Supporting high-quality teacher training and coaching programs.
• Strengthening teaching strategies in reading, math and science.
• Promoting smaller learning communities in high schools that provide more personalized approaches to teaching and learning.
• Providing effective curriculum and materials to guide and support teachers.
• Engaging families and the larger community as partners in helping to eliminate the achievement gap in our schools.

These program strategies align with the Alliance's Teacher Support Agenda that brings a broader community perspective into the discussion about teaching quality in Seattle Public Schools.

Teacher Support Agenda

Central to our goal of a great teacher in every classroom is the Alliance's Teacher Support Agenda, an outcome of our participation in the Public Education Network's Teaching Quality Initiative. The Agenda was developed with significant community input; to date, more than 5,000 community members and educators have participated in rich dialogues about teaching quality issues. The product of these dialogues is the foundation of our work with Seattle Public Schools in identifying policies, strategies, and priorities that will lead to great teachers in our classrooms. Exploring the community's perspective infuses our work. One recent outcome is a new online exit-interview system designed to deliver better information about why Seattle teachers transfer from one school to another or leave the profession entirely. This data is critical to finding better ways to attract and retain quality teachers.

For More Information

Contact Karen Demorest, Alliance for Education, Partnership Manager at (206) 205-0333 or e-mail karen@alliance4ed.org

Supporting Teaching Quality (PDF)

Related Resources

www.edtrust.org

http://depts.washington.edu/coe

www.cstp-wa.org/index.html

www.gatesfoundation.org