State of the States 2022: Teacher Compensation Strategies

Patricia Saenz-Armstrong September 2022

Salaries are one of the most powerful policy levers states and school districts can use to attract qualified, effective, and diverse teachers. However, strategic pay remains underutilized as a tool to attract teachers to the schools or subjects that are traditionally harder to staff. Similarly, few states have policies that consider performance in salary schedules or reward prior relevant work experience in order to attract career switchers to the teaching profession. This report examines the...

Supply and Demand, Differentiated pay, Shortage areas, State role

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Digging Deeper: Which types of institutions achieve excellence and equity for aspiring teachers of color?

Hannah Putman July 2022

Building a more diverse teacher workforce is essential to addressing educational inequity for students of color. In this analysis, NCTQ considers teacher licensure test pass rate data through the lenses of excellence and racial equity, highlighting those teacher prep institutions that achieve racial equity in their pass rates, pointing toward promising practices that others can adopt, and proving that high pass rates for aspiring teachers of color are entirely achievable.

Licensing tests, Teacher Prep, Licensure, Teacher diversity

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Teacher Prep Review: Preparation in Elementary Mathematics

Graham Drake, Kate Walsh, Shannon Holston May 2022

Improving instruction in elementary mathematics is critical to supporting better academic and life outcomes for our students. While weak elementary math instruction is not a new challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have exacerbated the issue. Many states have reported that students have lost more learning in math than in reading over the past two years, and pre-existing gaps in math achievement between low-poverty and high-poverty schools and between majority-White and majority-Black schools have worsened...

Math, Teacher Prep, Licensure

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Ensuring Students' Equitable Access to Qualified and Effective Teachers

Kate Walsh, Shannon Holston, Shayna Levitan April 2022

How states have responded to a 2015 federal law that they collect and report on the equitable distribution of teacher talent across their schools.

Hiring and Assignment, Equitable distribution, Federal role, State role

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State of the States 2021: State Reporting of Teacher Supply and Demand Data

Patricia Saenz-Armstrong, Shannon Holston December 2021

What data do states collect and report on the teacher labor market? Do states connect data on supply and demand to better understand and address teacher shortages? Explore state policies in this new NCTQ report.

Supply and Demand, Shortage areas, State role, Hiring

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Digging Deeper: Which subjects pose the greatest challenges to aspiring elementary teachers?

Hannah Putman November 2021

Elementary teachers have a big job. Unlike secondary teachers, they need to know not just one subject well, but four. Elementary teachers are expected to teach English language arts, math, science, and social studies—key content that develops a foundation for students' future academic success. In this new brief, we dig deeper into teacher licensure test pass rate data to explore in which of the four subjects aspiring teachers are most successful—and where they struggle the...

Licensing tests, Subject matter knowledge, Teacher Prep, Licensure

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Driven by Data: Using Licensure Tests to Build a Strong, Diverse Teacher Workforce

Hannah Putman, Kate Walsh July 2021

The NCTQ publication of long-hidden data on institutional pass rates for elementary content teacher licensure tests serves as a compass, pointing toward strengths and opportunities in preparing aspiring elementary teachers for success in the classroom.

Licensing tests, Subject matter knowledge, Teacher Prep, Teacher diversity

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Smart Money 2.0

Patricia Saenz-Armstrong July 2021

A new analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) examines salary data and related compensation materials from 90 large school districts to determine lifetime earnings trajectories for teachers over a 30-year career. The findings expose vast differences in teacher compensation by a number of measures, including starting salaries, maximum salaries, average salary throughout a career, bonus potential, and lifetime earnings, all adjusted for cost of living.

Differentiated pay, Salary schedules, Performance pay, Pay

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State of the States 2021: Teacher Preparation Policy

Hannah Putman, Kate Walsh March 2021

NCTQ examines state policy trends that govern some of the most essential aspects of teacher preparation, from reading and content knowledge licensure exams to admissions and basic skills test requirements.

Licensing tests, Reading, State role, Teacher Prep, Licensure

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Knowledge of Early Reading - Excerpted from State of the States 2021: Teacher Preparation Policy

Hannah Putman, Kate Walsh August 2021

- Updated August 2021 - Most states continue to lack a comprehensive set of policies to improve teacher knowledge of evidence-based early reading methods. This excerpt from NCTQ's State of the States 2021: Teacher Preparation Policy examines state policy trends that govern requirements for early reading instruction knowledge in teacher preparation and licensure. A third of the nation's students reach fourth grade unable to read at even a basic level. This problem is especially stark...

Licensing requirements, Licensing tests, Reading, State role, Teacher Prep

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Leveraging American Rescue Plan Funds to Advance Literacy: A Step-by-Step Guide for States and Early Reading Advocates

Elizabeth Cohen, Kate Walsh April 2021

With the significant infusion of dollars now available to both states and school districts, we have a unique opportunity to finally reduce high rates of illiteracy, particularly in populations which have been traditionally underserved by an inequitable system of education. Instead of a third of all children entering 4th grade still unable to read at a basic level, the application of evidence based instruction can reduce that number to as low as 5%. That's a...

Licensing tests, Reading, State role, Professional Development

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Teacher Prep Review: Program Diversity and Admissions 2021

Amber Moorer, Christie Ellis, Graham Drake, Kate Walsh February 2021

New data from NCTQ examines the interplay between racial diversity and admissions standards in teacher preparation programs. We present strong evidence that these two considerations need not be competing goals, finding just short of 200 programs that are both contributing to greater teacher diversity and have adequate admissions standards.

Admissions, Teacher Prep, Teacher diversity

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Roll Call 2020

Patricia Saenz-Armstrong December 2020

Teachers remain the most important in-school factor for student learning. The implementation of remote learning reminds us of teachers' preeminent importance, with current schooling stripped of all but this one essential feature. Teachers can accomplish so much each day, that any day that they are absent means lost learning for their students.

Leave policies, Teacher attendance, District contracts and unions, Work Day

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NCTQ Databurst: State Oversight of Alternate Routes into Teaching

Shannon Holston December 2020

All but four states in the nation now permit teachers to come into the profession through an "alternate route," compared to only a few 30 years ago. Alternate routes into the classroom have grown so acceptable that about one in five teachers now enters the profession through one of these programs, which offer some real benefits to the profession. Nearly double the percentage of teacher candidates in alternate route programs identify as Black and more...

Licensing tests, Reading, Subject matter knowledge, State role, Alternative pathways