As schools face increasing student achievement accountability, many educators have turned to school-level professional learning communities (PLCs) as a possible solution. The challenge is that many schools are not implementing PLCs with fidelity. It is imperative that school leaders assess PLC practices to ensure that critical components are being…

Effective recruitment and retention strategies of teachers remain elusive for school districts. This study examines the pilot implementation of a year-long teacher residency program throughout four high-needs districts. This program embeds eight residents in these schools and provides various teacher preparation supports to support these beginning…

For the past three years, Digital Promise has embarked on an expansive and human-centered endeavor to empower school districts to cultivate context-relevant solutions to the teacher of color workforce disparities. Through Digital Promise's Inclusive Innovation approach, teachers of color from various school districts were engaged to develop and…

A four-day school week (4dsw) is becoming more common, especially in areas across the western United States. States with large rural areas are spearheading this change. For example, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have more than 500 districts using a 4dsw. The transition to the 4dsw and the debate over…

The Partnership Model for School and District Turnaround is Michigan's policy for improving student outcomes in its lowest-performing schools. In compliance with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) identifies schools that rank in the bottom 5% of the Michigan School Index System as Partnership schools.…

This report summarizes implementation of the goals and some of the programs managed by the Professional Learning (PL) Department in the 2020-2021 academic year. The PL Department offers a comprehensive and sustainable approach to improving staff's effectiveness by ensuring that a variety of continuous and innovative PL opportunities, aligned to…

TNTP (formerly The New Teacher Project), an organization committed to ending educational inequities by promoting the recruitment, training, and retention of high-quality teachers and school leaders, implemented its Teacher Effectiveness and Certification (TEACh) initiative in three urban school districts. Through TEACh, TNTP works with school…

The four-day school week (4dsw) is growing in popularity, especially in rural areas across the western United States. RAND Corporation researchers addressed knowledge gaps about the 4dsw by conducting a large-scale study of the implementation and outcomes of the 4dsw that involved the collection of original data in numerous districts across Idaho,…

As school districts consider transitioning from a traditional five-day school week to a four-day school week, administrators and school boards seek information about the four-day school week to assist in making the best decision possible. This collective case study was undertaken to examine the perceptions of administrators, school counselors, and…

In fall 2016, more than 50% of teachers in Kokomo, Indiana, were leaving the profession within their first three years. Within the district, low-performing schools in particular struggled to retain teachers. The costs of teacher attrition are high for districts. According to a report from the Learning Policy Institute, each teacher who leaves the…

Professional Pathways for Teachers (PPfT) is a human capital system that blends three primary components: appraisal, compensation, and professional development (PD) opportunities. The purpose of PPfT is to build the capacity of Austin Independent School District (AISD) teachers through a comprehensive system of supports and compensation with the…

The authors of this report offer an in-depth analysis of the Teacher Effectiveness and Certification (TEACh) program, an alternative teacher preparation program intended to train diverse cohorts of high-quality teaching candidates to fill hard-to-staff positions. They follow three TEACh programs in different regions of the United States, which…

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether new teacher and new teacher mentor perceptions of the effectiveness of the Missouri State Beginning Teachers' Assistance Program (BTAP) were positive and whether the new teacher perceptions led to the new teacher remaining in the teaching profession at least five years. At the time of this…

Urban school districts often rely on alternative teacher certification programs to help address ongoing demands for recruiting and hiring qualified teachers. These programs offer pathways into teaching outside of traditional university-based teacher education programs. TNTP's Teaching Fellows program has been one of the most prominent alternative…

This Special Issues Brief from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) outlines the unique characteristics of high-need schools, supports state and district leaders as they consider their role in implementing initiatives with a focus on equity, and explores how programs can be customized to meet the unique circumstances of a…