To inform the "Leandro v. State of North Carolina" Action Plan, the Learning Policy Institute examined the within-school and out-of-school barriers to obtaining a sound basic education facing students who attend North Carolina's high-poverty schools. High-poverty schools are schools where 75% or more students are at risk because their…

Ensuring that all students in America's public schools are taught by good teachers is an educational and moral imperative. Teacher incentive proposals are rarely grounded on what high-quality research indicates are the kinds of teacher incentives that lead to school excellence and equity. Few of the current approaches to creating teacher…

Over the last decade, policy and business leaders have come to know what parents have always known: teachers make the greatest difference to student achievement. With new statistical and analytical methods used by a wide range of researchers, evidence has been mounting that teacher quality can account for a large share of variance in student test…

Over the last 24 months--with support from the National Education Association and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards--over 2,000 National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) from North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Washington examined teacher recruitment and retention research and participated in structured…

On August 5, 2006, more than 300 South Carolina National Board Certified Teachers[R] (NBCTs) assembled in Columbia at a policy summit to address the vexing problem of recruiting and retaining accomplished teachers in high-needs schools. Before this summit, the NBCTs read a number of background papers and research summaries. During the summit, they…

On October 21, 2006, more than 200 Washington National Board Certified Teachers[R] (NBCTs) assembled in Seattle to address the vexing problem of recruiting and retaining accomplished teachers for high-needs schools. Before the Summit, NBCT participants read a number of background papers and research summaries. At the Summit, they listened to the…

Studies continue to surface a disheartening fact: while research shows that teachers are key to closing achievement gaps, poor and minority students as well as those in low-performing schools are far less likely to have access to the most experienced and qualified teachers. For instance, although National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) are…

This report contains recommendations from North Carolina's National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) on how to support and staff high-needs schools and solve the state's staffing problems in these schools. Beyond financial incentives, a comprehensive approach is recommended that takes into account the working conditions that North Carolina's NBCTs…