District Policy and Beginning Teachers: Where the Twain Shall Meet
A Research Report by Pamela Grossman, Sheila Valencia, and Clarissa Thompson, June 2001.

This Research Report looks at the role that policies concerning curriculum, professional development, and mentoring in two reform-active districts played in shaping the experiences and concerns of three first-year language arts teachers.

Teacher Preparation Research: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Recommendations
A Research Report by Suzanne M. Wilson, Robert E. Floden, and Joan Ferrini-Mundy, February 2001.

The Research Report summarizes what research has to say about five key issues in teacher preparation: subject matter preparation, pedagogical preparation, clinical training, preservice teacher education policies, and alternative certification. The report was prepared for the U.S. Department of Education and the Office for Educational Research and Improvement by CTP in collaboration with researchers at Michigan State University. An executive summary of the report is also available.

Revisiting What States Are Doing to Improve the Quality of Teaching: An Update on Patterns and Trends
A Working Paper by Eric Hirsch, Julia E. Koppich, and Michael S. Knapp, February 2001.

This updated version of an earlier CTP Working Paper takes a fresh look at recent developments in the realms of state policy related to teacher and teaching quality. The broad-brush, descriptive analysis covers state-level policy action pertaining to (1) development and promotion of high standards for student learning and for teaching; (2) attempts to attract, reward, and retain capable people in the teaching profession; (3) support for high-quality initial preparation and induction of new teachers; (4) attempts to motivate and support teachers' ongoing professional learning; and (5) enhancements to the school workplace environment.

A Case of Successful Teaching Policy: Connecticut's Long-Term Efforts to Improve Teaching and Learning
A Research Report by Suzanne M. Wilson, Linda Darling-Hammond, and Barnett Berry, February 2001.

This Research Report describes 15-years' worth of successful effort by Connecticut to implement a comprehensive set of teaching quality policies to support improved student learning. The authors hypothesize that the power of Connecticut's teaching policy reform lies not simply in their comprehensiveness and in the state's political stability over the last decade but also in the power of policies to build capacity in teachers, students, administrators, teacher educators and state department staff. A Policy Brief based on this report is also available.

Teacher Turnover, Teacher Shortages, and the Organization of Schools
A Research Report by Richard M. Ingersoll, January 2001.

This Research Report provides data and a new framework for looking at the teacher shortage problem. The author shifts the focus away from the problem's two most common explanations (teacher retirement and student enrollment growth) to examine from a sociological view how certain organizational characteristics and conditions of schools lead to low teacher retention. The analysis suggests that education policies, such as teacher recruitment programs, will not solve the staffing problems of schools if they do not also address what is going on in schools that cause teachers to leave. A Policy Brief based on this report is also available.

What Makes Teacher Community Different from a Gathering of Teachers?
An Occasional Paper by Pamela Grossman, Sam Wineburg, and Stephen Woolworth, January 2001.

This CTP Occasional Paper details the formation and development of teacher community through a project that brought together 22 English and social studies teachers, a special education teacher, and an ESL teacher to plan interdisciplinary curriculum. It includes colorful sections of dialogue among the teachers and sheds new light on definitions of professional community, its stages of development, and the challenges that confront community building in a fast-paced high school workplace.

Resources, Instruction, and Research
A Working Paper by David K. Cohen, Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Deborah Loewenberg Ball, December 2000.

This Working Paper looks at resource use in schools and discusses research designs that would be appropriate to identify resource effects. Whereas education policymakers have long believed that conventional resoures, i.e. books, bricks, class size, and teacher qualifications directly affect student learning and achievement, the authors here argue it's all about how those resources get used in instruction. How resource use is influenced by the management of certain key problems of instruction, including coordination, incentives to use the resources, and management of instructional environments, is also discussed.

Connecting Districts to the Policy Dialogue: A Review of Literature on the Relationship of Districts with States, Schools, and Communities
A Working Paper by Julie A. Marsh, September 2000.

This Working Paper reviews literature about the key roles that districts play in supporting improvements in teaching and learning, including the district role in implementing state policies and enacting school-level change and what the key factors are that enable districts to effectively support improvements. It also considers how community involvement and collaboration contribute to districts' improvement efforts. The paper suggests directions for future research to advance the state of knowledge on school districts.

New Tools for Research on Instruction and Instructional Policy: A Web-based Teacher Log
A Working Paper by Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Eric Camburn, Richard Correnti, Geoffrey Phelps, and Raven Wallace, December 1999.

This Working Paper reports on the initial development and pilot-testing of a web-based instrument designed to collect daily data on instruction, which then could be aggregated to create portraits of content emphasis and pedagogy. The instrument was developed for use in the Study of Instructional Improvement and although it is not currently being used, the authors think there are elements of its design that may be of use to those interested in instructional tracking tools.

Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence
A Research Report by Linda Darling-Hammond, December 1999.

This Research Report examines the ways in which teacher qualifications and other school inputs are related to student achievement across states and suggests that policies adopted by states regarding teacher education, licensing, hiring, and professional development may make important differences in the qualifications and capacities teachers bring to their work.

Federal Research Investment and the Improvement of Teaching,
1980-1997
An Occasional Paper by Julia Koppich and Michael Knapp, April 1998.

This analysis was designed to review what is known about the impact of federal research funds on efforts to improve the quality of teaching. In particular, the review identifies the most significant advances over the past two decades in understanding teaching and how federal funding (e.g., programmatic grants to field-based researchers and national R&D Centers) contributed to these advances. The analysis is a short, non-technical report suitable for policy audiences.