Last week, the Joyce Foundation released a guidebook and website called "Teacher Quality: What You Need to Know."

The "Here's How" section of the toolkit lays out the following suggestions for strengthening teacher quality:

• Start with a better pool of candidates
•  We need to draw more talented people into teaching
• Identify what makes a good teacher
• Hire the best teachers for each school
• Scrap meaningless teacher evaluations and start again
• Accurately measuring effectiveness is key to improving quality
• Don't let new teachers flounder
• Offer training that makes sense
• Pay for performance
• Rework tenure
• Redo retirement

This guidebook also encourages advocates to take action by asking targeted questions of schools, superintendents, school boards, and state legislators, including:

What is your child expected to learn this year and what should progress look like throughout the year? How does this compare to the state standards (available online on your state education website)?

What types of professional development are provided for highly effective teachers? What is offered for the weakest teachers? Are programs designed to meet the individual needs of each teacher?

Asking legislators to reserve teacher certification or tenure until after a teacher has demonstrated a track record of effectiveness with kids.

The full report and toolkit is available at: http://www.joycefdn.org/teacherquality/

Which of the proposals to strengthen teacher quality do you find most compelling?  Do you this toolkit will help parents and community members advocate for policy changes?

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