Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction. Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning. A Working Paper Series from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute

As digital tools proliferate and improve, solid instruction in the basics will eventually become "flat"--available anywhere globally--and the elements of excellent teaching that are most difficult for technology to replace will increasingly differentiate student outcomes. As a result, teacher effectiveness may matter even more than it does today, as the selectivity and prevalence of the teachers-in-charge who will leverage technology--and be leveraged by it--will be the distinguisher of learning outcomes among schools and nations. But in order to allow for such a drastic reshaping of the education system in the U.S., myriad policies affecting teachers--from professional development to compensation--will need to be revamped. This paper outlines how. (Contains 46 endnotes.)