Help us put a great teacher in every classroom

JOIN US

Home
About NCTQ
Reports
Databases
Newsletter
Blog
Press Room
Contact Us

Pretty Darn Quick

NCTQ's take on the latest and greatest in the world of teacher policies.

PDQ Archive

2013 (83)

	May (14) Student teaching done smartly The Real World: Classroom Style The scoop on teacher policies in Philly Making "just a teacher" obsolete The little Blue Engine that could The Philadelphia Story MEGA news for new teachers in Missouri The nation's back pages are putting teacher prep on the front burner We wanted to send you an apple...but instead we wrote you a poem Teacher prep and the gift of a good night's sleep First Days of Teaching--Practicing and Preparing for Classroom Management The Recession's Impact on Teacher Salaries Lessons from abroad: linking teacher prep to classroom realities Ahh, springtime. Cherry blossoms, cicadas, and state tests.
	April (17) The New Teacher Toolbox: Do they have what they need? Tr3 Trends: Health Insurance Premiums Will the Tennessee Achievement District tempt teachers? A sure bet: investing in early childhood Shoring up the front lines in middle school Value and challenges in using student data for teacher prep accountability Not knowing what they don't know Leap year lessons for all Should they stay or should they go: Teachers in turnaround schools Teachin' math? Get your Body Movin' The Evolution of an Evaluation System Which pension plan will teachers choose? A Play-by-Play of the Detroit School District Tug-of-War Public enthusiasm for evaluation blows hot and cold Where two of the helping professions could use a little help themselves When the teacher shortage myth might not be a myth Sneak peek on our Review: More evidence of fiefdoms in higher ed
	March (15) Tr3 Trends: Teacher Excessing and Placement The bigotry of low (teacher) expectations NCTQ's Sweet 16 Are teacher educators trapped? The value-added two-step The tricky art of self-portraiture Shoring up teacher quality by the bay Yes, No, or Ask again later: predicting teacher performance Who's in charge of teacher prep? Raising Standards Down Under High Standards for Teachers Jindal bit off more than the judge could chew From: GOOD, To: Great Teachers Tr3 Trends: Teacher Salaries in 2012-13 Congress gets a lesson on teacher quality
	February (16) Doing more with more teacher prep in California All roads are leading to improved teacher prep Testing the gym teacher Performance-Pay-Lite Won't Cut It Quartering the Cash Cow? Mirror, mirror on the wall, can one VAM score tell us all? Rewarding top teachers: A fourth way of getting teacher quality Data vacuum: State intel on principals a black hole CAEP flies high on selectivity Feedback loop-de-loop Measuring up in non-tested subjects Putting COLA on a diet There's something funny going on with reading textbooks Menifee USD: Where innovation meets professional development Giving credit for student attendance and grit Are education school profs observing teachers and students in classrooms?
	January (21) The transparency imperative Comment-Worthy Clips Relieving teacher anxiety on test scores Up with teacher prep, down with "one strike and you're out" Sneak Peek Restoring the balance Helping States Improve Teacher Preparation The year of teacher prep Update on the evaluation gorges It's that time of year again! Tr3 Trends: Who's Evaluating Teachers? Maximizing the returns from teacher evaluation Transparency takes hold in Ohio Teachers have Market-Based and Performance Pay, but no Union Representation 'Fiscal Limbo' is not a game schools want to play From Fiscal Cliffs to Evaluation Gorges Making tenure more than a timestamp More trials ahead for Chicago? Has anyone seen the teacher pipeline's invisible hand? When the school safety 'solution' is more terrifying than the problem Bringing in the new year with kale, yogurt and edu-premonitions

2012 (242)

	December (18) Stories of teacher talent across the nation Tr3 Trends: Trending in 2012 Getting some sleep Isn't the University of Missouri in the Show Me State? Calling the States to Action Politicizing a tragedy...Count us in Leveraging needed changes in teacher production Pension status quo: No one benefits Uh-oh LA: There aren't any winners in this deal Teacher quality and teacher pay: The hole in the bucket problem? Panning for teacher talent takes more than one tool Build it and they will come The Holiday Season is Upon Us Some things aren't bigger in Texas Anti-VAM Fever Spikes in LA A visit to an ed school Raising the bar, raising the profession
	November (21) Tr3 Trends: Teacher Leave Days More work to do in the Wolverine State Teacher evaluation in the City of Angels Good parameters make good partners Shaking off the post-tryptophan torpor The prep/placement nexus Front-load Playing detective with the Race to the Top District applicants Problem solving Professional Development 2.0 (yes it can evolve) A Teacher Leader Ladder New Twists to Detroit and Des Moines Teacher Contracts Teachers from the front line Election Recap - Superlative Style Teacher Prep News Round-Up: November 9 New in Tr3: Compare district and state policies side-by-side The district and the union: not the Aesop Fable you know Vote for the kids! A middle ground on performance pay How strong are teacher unions? A victory for transparency
	October (18) Cloudy with a chance of... Newark uses dollars to make sense Tr3 Trends: Counting what counts How(EdReform)StuffWorks: Student surveys edition Wagon circling or soul searching: It's up to you, teacher prep How We Stopped Guessing and Hired Smart Teacher Ed: Close some doors Our commitment to getting the Review right Practice Like a Champion Right to Know: An ad campaign for transparency Helping Teachers Shine a Light on Great Schools The need to train teachers The false dichotomy between "fixing poverty" and "fixing schools" Interviewing is a two-way street What's appealing in Chicago How I was evaluated as a first-year teacher What's the Latest on Teacher Evaluation? A Great Calc 2 Teacher is Hard to Find
	September (17) Show me the money...now or later? Still Widgets? The Two-Pronged Approach We're back to school in Chicago -- Now what? Chicago-area teacher salaries: How do they compare? Here's the deal on the deal (updated) Here's the deal on the (potential) deal A textbook example for improving student achievement Teacher Prep News Round-up: September 14 TR3 Trends: Chicago Teachers' Strike Chicago teacher: I find myself torn Facts and figures on the Chicago teacher strike Teachers as first responders Climbing up to stay in Basal readers and the Common Core Are strikes legal? Does it matter? Make a teacher's (Labor) Day
	August (25) Friday teacher prep news round up -- How urgent is teacher prep reform? TR3 Trends: School Year Length and Summer Break State Teacher Prep Policies At a Glance edTPA: Slow this train down What we wish we had known Going for the Gold? Loving children is not enough A Wish List for New Teachers Maximizing return on 3rd grade reading initiatives Friday Teacher Prep Round-Up The art of becoming a teacher: Lessons from 1892 How much leave do teachers get? How to learn Teachers' mantle of martyrdom still rests on many shoulders Behind the headlines: Court throws out settlement protecting LA's poorest schools from layoffs Teacher Prep News Round-Up: The online ed degree rocket, Alt-route Minnesota and more Will education have its Pronovost moment? An online ed degree bubble? The big tent of teacher prep reform The School Year Shuffle In research we trust? Teacher prep news round up Unflipping the switch Hard to reach for the stars when there's no fuel in the tank The new black in ed reform?
	July (17) A teacher is a teacher is a teacher . . . except when she's not Loss aversion: The new catch-phrase in merit pay debates Chicago win is but a first step TR3 Trends: School Intervention and Improvement If the suit fits... Clock's ticking, but students can't wait Time for a National Council on Principal Quality? The impact of principal turnover on schools Catching up with Georgia's teacher evaluation turmoil It's Complicated: Update to Fairfax County teacher dismissal case Shiny, quick-fix fads Scienglish New teacher production numbers... it's a long tail Do districts help foster teachers' peer relationships? Fireworks in the Big Apple Is teaching an art or a science? Broader, Bolder vs. Holistic, Audacious
	June (24) Keeping up with TQB Another thanks to state school chiefs New Ed Trust report on improving school working conditions Threading the needle on public access to teacher ratings Student test score jujitsu A War of Attrition The problem of Having Too Much Potential for Teaching Connecticut's Son of TR3 TR3 Trends: Teacher Planning Time Catholic innovation born out of the will to survive Another thought-provoking Goldstein proposition Think before you flip Getting at the root of the STEM problem in Tennessee Implementing the Common Core in DC Public Schools Weighing the hours in Chicago Fixing reading from A to Z Ruby Bridges, Muscles and Teacher Prep The Low Bar of Licensure A high five to Hawaii What certification could mean How to cut teacher unemployment in Michigan It's complicated: Washington Post profiles district efforts to dismiss a teacher Quick run down of NCTQ monthly bulletin Lawsuit in California takes an unusual approach
	May (21) A Teacher's Perspective New in TR3: School Restructuring and Redesign What teachers aren't learning about assessment...and we mean ANY kind of assessment State Teacher Policy Yearbook: Did you know? The cost of a buyout Let the Teachers Tell the Story Early reading in the Rockies Do ed schools prepare teachers to use data on student learning? How much time do teachers get for collaboration? Don't overdo it on reading comprehension strategies A pension myth debunked Teacher voices New in TR3: Which districts use third-party evaluators? TPA DOA at UMass How NOT to appreciate teachers Thank you, teachers National Teacher Appreciation Week is here New Sunshine in Collective Bargaining Beyond Finland Hint, hint Getting comfortable with "value added"
	April (24) Keeping up with TQB National Review Myth Buster #11: We didn't invent our teacher prep standards without teacher educator advice The Common Core Honeymoon A drumbeat for higher ed to have higher purpose State Teacher Policy Yearbook: Breaking it Down Throwing down the gauntlet What is going on in Connecticut? A teacher's thoughts on the teacher shuffle A Serious Approach to Reading Lunch with Betsy Arons What's your disposition? Rankings Get Support The scoop on class size No Surprise, There's No Consensus You heard that right New Data on Subs Raising up the profession by raising the bar on teacher prep The teacher shuffle: getting the best teachers where they're most needed Students ace school board primary in Prince George's TNTP hones in on the next frontier A suspension...of disbelief This time Wisconsin gets it right Time for a veteran teacher corps? What do people think of teacher prep?
	March (18) Keeping up with TQB Prepping teacher prep for the common core Timing: it's everything Looking a gift horse in the mouth? Wealth and learning Teacher opinion vs state policy Spring has (officially) sprung The skinny on the 21 new TR3 school districts Pensions without benefits What do the Common Core and Core Knowledge have in common? Teacher compensation reform is possible... Rethinking a day's work National Review Myth Buster #10. We didn't invent our teacher prep standards overnight TGI...Thursday? What have new teachers been taught about assessment? Paying Attention to Classroom Reality The Dropout Crisis, Close to Home Are peer reviews the answer for overburdened principals?
	February (21) A False Choice on Ed School Admissions? Do you know the school district with the smallest racial achievement gap? 21 School Districts Added to TR3 Database Months of Learning v. Years Teaching The Double Trouble of Teacher Turnover The Scarlet I Studying teacher prep: the more, the merrier It Starts At the Top With all due RESPECT A Tale of Two States A Call to Action in Miami Connecticut Gets Serious About Teacher Quality Teachers, will you be our Valentine? Pay day in Chicago Being a leader isn't always easy Chester-Upland: Don't let this happen in your backyard Science fiction at the White House Science Fair The pulse: what are states doing to expand the teaching pool? Luddites, technophiles, and student data...oh my! Helicopter parenting gets new meaning in New Hampshire States need to zoom in on teacher prep
	January (18) LIFO: the education acronym of the year What's the use? Full-court press Raising the Bar 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook: No Ordinary Year Learning how to give--and receive The newest nest egg: malleable intelligence Miami (ad)vice Essay questions making a comeback? Hollywood clashes with NEA Uncanny parallels in professional training Not Enough Transparency in the Bayou State The cowardly lion phenomenon in accountability for teacher prep One Small Step for Pension Reform RE teacher evaluations: New MET findings out today! New Data on the Teacher Prep Pipeline The clinical immersion model of teacher prep More on lax grading standards in teacher prep

2011 (136)

	December (15) More on teacher prep selectivity The student teaching tsunami reaches . . . South Dakota? The teaching profession's chicken-and-egg problem Twas the week before Christmas The x-Factor in elementary teacher prep The Social Media Debate Continues Made a list, checked it twice TNTP offers new award for extraordinary teaching Transparency Central gets an upgrade NEW in TR3: Maximum teacher salaries The student teacher tsunami turns rogue wave Selectivity or Bust Hitting a nerve or hitting the nail on the head? New FRL data show recession's impact A win-win-win situation
	November (18) Look up salaries in LA, layoff procedures in DC, class size ceilings in NYC, and more! We've sorted through thousands of documents so you don't have to. Playing to win No room at the inn for student teachers Value-added test scores for teacher evaluation: Aw shucks. . .do they have to be valid? CCSSO to tackle teacher prep The student teacher tsunami An economist's assessment of "Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers" Assessing the Spin of "Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers" National Review Myth Buster #9: NCTQ's National Review is an "open book" More information but no bottom line on charter school management organizations Teacher educator asks right question: Just why are deans so resistant to national review? Tennessee Moves to Reform Teacher Preparation Our Thanks to Alaska A MATCH made in heaven? The Pressure is On in L.A. Are Missouri teachers going to "like" the repeal of the Facebook ban? Digging Deeper Into Teacher Layoffs
	October (15) Teacher Voice in the Deseret News Mentoring matters What teachers think about teacher prep Sea change in teacher effectiveness policies State school boards want teacher prep to catch up with . . . the NCAA Second this call for transparency Burning the candle? Gone already? A lesson to be learned from the teaching profession The power of perception Warren Buffett's right on the money How popular are defined benefit pension plans? Massachusetts take two: Springfield style National Review Myth Buster #8: Standards on coursework are NOT arbitrary Teacher prep value-added models aren't even at stage 1.0
	September (17) Boosting teachers... and teacher evaluations Hot off the press: The latest on the value-added of teacher prep programs The increasing importance of teacher preparation quality Randi is Right Character study? the gritty truth Finally a Bride Nowhere to go but up? One of those (sets of) pictures that speaks a thousand words Where the rubber meets the road Filling the ed school glass Sick Leave Headaches Wireless mentors Bargain hunting among teacher preparation courses? Inputs vs. Outputs? Why Should We Have to Choose? Nat'l Rev Myth Buster #7: Let's hear it for innovation- that's built on strong core principles Heart Pitter Patters for Terry Grier Re-testing for results?
	August (21) The court "likes" Missouri teachers The Price of Making Teacher Evaluations Public What the teacher surplus means for teacher preparation Chicago extends its school year -- finally! Q and A with Hartford Parent Organization Council Spending on education? Stocks. . . bonds. . . or teachers? The public weighs in: sacred cows and selectivity How much field work should teacher candidates do? Somewhere between 0 and 800 hours... Baltimore's Catch-22 Thank you - Council of Great City Schools National Review Myth Buster #6: Shouldn't teacher candidates meet higher academic standards than football players? National Review Myth Buster #5: Whether an institution is public or private doesn't amount to a hill of beans when we rate on standards A former ed school dean weighs in on student teaching issues National Review Myth Buster #4: We are formal teacher preparation's best friend Should we care where teachers come from? Be careful what you wish for Suspicious Behavior The elephant in the teacher prep room We want to hear from teachers about teacher prep Beyond the Big Bucks
	July (20) Shuffle has no love from us True partnership means REAL communication Friends don't let friends turn themselves "upside-down" when they can barely stand upright Ogden schools: Putting the cart before the horse Teachers having a voice, being heard Puzzling lack of consensus: What to teach new teachers? Preview of NCTQ's "rating clearinghouse" for our national review of teacher prep Student Teaching in the United States Coming tomorrow: NCTQ releases unprecedented examination of student teaching There's always a first time... National Review Myth Buster #3: Independent from TFA National Review Myth Buster #2: Diverse Funders with a Common Goal of Improving Teacher Prep National Review Myth Buster #1: No bias on the basis of state regulations (New) Business as Usual IB's surprising indifference to teacher quality Alternative certification isn't alternative, redux. Money-back guaranteed teacher preparation A tale of three cities Where is teacher evaluation collectively bargained? Zooming in on lecture-style teaching
	June (15) Summer heats up over school pension reform Q & A with NewTLA co-founder, Mike Stryer Don't know much about. . . Under the microscope: teacher preparation NCTQ at the Movies: Bad Teacher Self-control in the classroom The Danger of Waivers for Favors Changing the Catch 22 for master educators The beat goes on Hot tip for special ed students who want to excel academically -- steer clear of special ed teachers Here's one report card we won't put on the fridge NCTQ's national review: An unnecessary tug of war between inputs and outcomes A fail-safe education? To HQT or not to HQT The pension house of cards grows ever shakier
	May (8) Watch the pendulum swing: Teachers matter. Teachers don't matter. Teachers matter. Teachers don't matter. Three Questions on Race to the Top 2.0 5 myths about performance pay Connecting the dots... Who's the mark? Having their cake and eating it too Common Content Dustup Holding students harmless from class size increases
	April (6) Even more sunshine! How long does it take to count to 10? Let the Sunshine In! Our Review of Teacher Preparation Programs with U.S. News: Setting the Record Straight Nashville Performance Pay Study Under Fire Where are the best teachers? (Hint: Right where you think they are)
	March (1) NCTQ is Now a Piece of the PIE

The National Council on Teacher Quality is a non-profit, nonpartisan research and policy group committed to restructuring the teaching profession, led by our vision that every child deserves effective teachers.

® 2010 National Council on Teacher Quality. All rights reserved. | Site Map