Research & Insights

Mid-career professionals who transition into teaching bring years of career experience, a sense of purpose, and—according to recent research—a stronger likelihood of actually stepping into the classroom than their less experienced counterparts.

Nationally, the diversification of the teacher workforce is slowing compared to the diversification of college-educated adults, but California, Texas, and Washington, D.C. are bucking that trend. Explore what factors contribute to their relatively high rates of teacher diversity and how their policies and practices will likely affect teacher quality.

We are failing to give children daily opportunities to engage with a broad spectrum of people and their identities, perspectives, and experiences; and some children see no reflection of themselves in their teachers.

What can the education field learn from Netflix? How to revolutionize staffing to better meet the needs of those you serve. Our outdated model of teaching makes it hard for schools to hire and keep great teachers.

A strong clinical practice (or student teaching) experience can make a new teacher as effective as one in their second or third year in the classroom—a big gain for those teachers and, more importantly, their students. Providing every aspiring teacher with a strong clinical practice experience requires collaboration from prep programs and districts, often supported by their state.

In this action guide, you can review the six essential focus areas of a strong clinical practice experience; use the self-assessment tool to help you identify where to start; and read case studies from prep programs, school districts, and states that are getting it right.

Some suggest that teachers are “lured” out of the profession into more lucrative fields. But a new study of pre-pandemic data paints a more complex picture of who leaves the classroom and how much they earn afterward.

As districts face impending fiscal cuts and teacher layoffs, states and districts should take this opportunity to reexamine their approaches to attracting and retaining teachers—especially those who do the most good for students.

Teacher preparation isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. And just like preparing for a long race, it requires well-planned practice, feedback, and the guidance of experts.

Non-teaching staff can have a big impact on student outcomes, yet little research explores how their turnover rates vary and what effects that could have on the school. New research explores turnover among different staffing groups, including which conditions predict churn and which conditions prevent it.

Pipelines, incentives, retention strategies, and data tracking lead to greater diversity.

Do state leaders suffer from a lack of strategy? To really connect the dots and make an impact, states need to simultaneously prioritize teacher quality and learning outcomes.

To learn about state priorities in the coming years, NCTQ surveyed education leaders, advocacy groups, and researchers across the country.

Giving teachers a strong start through mentoring and induction programs has been identified as a successful approach to keeping more novice teachers in the profession.

Research shows that teachers of color positively impact all students, especially students of color, improving their academic achievement, discipline, attendance, graduation rates, and social-emotional outcomes. Despite their positive impact on students, the teaching workforce remains 80% white while students of color now comprise over 50% of public school students.

Teacher diversity is a policy area that will require sustained commitment from states to achieve progress and increase the number of teachers of color in the workforce. This report examines how states are responding to this challenge through policy and funding, providing the first comprehensive analysis of teacher diversity policies across all 50 states and D.C.

Filling those hard-to-staff teacher vacancies doesn’t have to be so hard. Making a few straightforward adjustments to compensation, incentives, and partnerships can change the game.

A recent working paper shows a simple hack school leaders can use to ease teaching vacancy woes: Automate data collection.  

What does the research say about measuring how great a teacher is other than their students’ test scores?

A four-day work week may seem like a good way to attract teachers and address tightening school budgets, but researchers say it might do more harm than good. 

NCTQ examined the extent to which nearly 700 teacher preparation programs across the country prepare aspiring teachers to teach children to read.

As states quickly
shifted requirements for teacher licensure in the early days of the pandemic,
some also saw an opportunity to learn from the responses they put in place.

Lack of affordable housing exacerbates the teacher staffing challenges that many school districts face.

A look at how the nation’s largest districts address planning and collaboration time for elementary and secondary teachers

The most popular District Trendline posts of 2022, with topics ranging from pay increases for substitutes to building a positive school climate

Offering paid family leave is an important way to improve quality of life for educators.

A review of school districts’ parental leave policies and how these policies can help support and retain teachers