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Are the nation's 90,000-plus school board members critical players in enhancing student learning? Are they part of the problem? Are they harmless bystanders? Among the takeaways are the following: (1) Board members, by and large, possess accurate information about their districts when it comes to finance, teacher pay, collective bargaining, and class size. Whether they were knowledgeable from the outset or surround themselves with savvy staff and administrators, many are making decisions from an informed point of view. (2) Such knowledge is not uniformly distributed. Surprisingly, members who were never educators themselves are more accurately informed than their peers who once were (or still are) educators. Likewise, political moderates appear to have more accurate knowledge than their liberal or conservative counterparts. (3) A district's success in "beating the odds" academically is related to board members' focus on the improvement of academics. Unfortunately, not all board members have this focus; some prefer a broader approach, such as developing the "whole child." (4) Board members elected during on-cycle, at-large elections are more likely to serve in districts that "beat the odds" than those chosen by voters off-cycle or by ward. In some localities, how board members are elected may deter the best and brightest from taking on these key roles. What does this mean for education governance? School board members and their attitudes do matter--so it's important to take seriously who gets elected and how. Even as we strive to bring about structural reforms and governance innovations in the education system, we should also be working to get better results from the structures in place in most communities today. Those interested in the details of the methodology of this report are encouraged to consult the Appendix. [The foreword and summary for this report were written by Dara Zeehandelaar and Amber M. Northern.]

The concept of "teacher quality" has undergone a profound transformation in the last decade. Through the late 1990s, most policymakers assumed that educator effectiveness was immeasurable and that our only hopes to increase it were tied to classroom experience and academic credentials. Yet since 2001, through a series of notable research findings, changing political pressures, and landmark policy changes, we have come to view teacher quality as independent of licensure and individually measurable. We now approach evaluating the quality of our teachers by measuring their ongoing performance in the classroom. The key markers in the transformation: (1) Declining trust in teacher education: Data from the Higher Education Act of 1998 showed that teacher education programs graduated students of widely variable ability; (2) Ineffective credential requirements: Despite federal requirements for high-quality teachers, by 2006, students in high-poverty schools were still more likely to have lower-quality teachers than their peers in other schools; (3) Bipartisan agreement: By 2009, major federal politicians in both political parties, including Democratic politicians heavily supported by unions, agreed that low teacher quality was a barrier to high-quality education; and (4) New era of measurement: No Child Left Behind created a treasure trove of individual student data that, though imperfect in many ways, led to new opportunities for research to link teachers and students. No consensus has emerged about how to improve teacher quality, but policymakers continue to experiment with teacher preparation programs, recruitment incentives, tenure provisions, and differential pay. (Contains 71 notes.)

This paper analyzes charter school state laws in terms of two general dimensions: (1) the flexibility, freedom, and support extended in the law; and (2) the degree of public accountability required of charter schools. The paper proposes a much more complex set of analyses of those laws than have been accomplished to date. After analyzing the empirical properties of the subscales, it briefly compares them to the widely used Center for Education Reform scale. It estimates which state characteristics appear to best predict flexibility and accountability. The paper examines the relationship between variance in laws, other independent variables and the number of charter schools established in a state. It finds that flexibility in laws along multiple dimensions is also highly correlated with high levels of required public accountability. It finds, however, a number of interesting relationships between the number of charters existing in states and the nature of their laws, as well as other demographic and political factors. Appended is sample item coding. (Contains 24 references, 18 notes, 7 tables, and 3 figures.) (Author/BT)

Executive Summary The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) has one of the most streamlined teacher evaluation, promotion, and dismissal systems in the United States. Using a process originally implemented [...]

Foreword There is incredible interest and energy today in addressing issues of human capital in K-12 education, especially in the way we prepare, evaluate, pay, and manage teachers. States have [...]

The article focuses on transformation on teacher quality since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was implemented in the U.S. During the 1990s, teacher credentials were seen as a marker of educational quality. But renewed public emphasis on academic achievement and new research on teacher effectiveness has prompted policymakers to question this link. The author believes that targeted reforms will not cure education, but that it will reward teachers' efforts to succeed in this area.

This article discusses the transformation of teacher quality in the U.S. since 2001. There has been a continuous decline in trust in teacher education, according to data from the Higher Education Act of 1998. Also, there are still more lower-quality teachers in high-poverty schools despite federal requirements for high-quality teachers by 2006. The No Child Left Behind Act has led to new opportunities for research to link teachers and students.

A foreword to "AEI Outlook Series" is presented.