Summary of the value of improved teacher quality is summarized by Gordon, Kane, and Staiger in 2006 (per John Tapogna, ECONorthwest):
“The cumulative impact of [rigorous teacher induction policies] could be substantial. If the effects of a good teacher in early grades were to persist through high school (a hypothesis that has not been tested in the educational research), an annual increase in test scores of 1.2 percentile points at each grade over the course of twelve years in a school system would raise student test scores by roughly 14 percentile points by the time students graduated.
The economic value of such an increase could be enormous...We estimate that the increase in career earnings from a 14 percentile point increase in achievement test scores would be worth about $72,000 to $169,000 per high school graduate. When multiplied by 3 million public high school graduates per year, such an increase would be worth $216 billion to $507 billion per year, if the policy were applied nationwide.”
Public Policy Work
Comments on Oregon’s Draft Race to the Top Working Group Recommendations
The Race to the Top design team and working group have spent countless hours drafting recommendations to raise student achievement in Oregon and we applaud their efforts.
Chalkboard submitted comments on the recommendations, which you can read by clicking on the link below. Many of the projects and processes that Chalkboard has been advocating for, including much of the work of the CLASS Project, can be seen in the current recommendations, but the recommendations could go further to make sure we are supporting effective teachers and our school system is serving all students.
Read our comments on the Race to the Top application recommendations.
Read the ODE draft recommendations.
Legislative Scorecard
Check out Chalkboard's 2009 Legislative Scorecard to find out what the Legislature accomplished on Chalkboard's policy priorities and take a look at other possible education reforms.
Download Chalkboard's Scorecard PDF.
2009 Legislative Priority: Quality Educators
At the close of the legislative session, Chalkboard reports significant progress on initiatives centered on improving the effectiveness of the classroom teacher and school principal.
Read Chalkboard's press release concerning the end of the '09 session.
2009 Legislative Results:
$5 million in renewed funding for the Beginning Educator Mentor Program. The program will continue to pair experienced educators with beginning ones in an effort to raise student achievement and decrease teacher turnover. Visit www.MentoringEducators.org for more information about the program.
SB 443 passes, securing a professional development clearinghouse for educators. The bill funds an easy-access, web-based resource listing high-quality professional development programs for teachers, professional development coursework standards, and other common-sense approaches to improve the professional practice of teaching.
More Efficient Business Reviews for Schools. Business reviews for schools wishing to evaluate their food service, transportation, financial management and other practices will now be provided by non-governmental agencies.
2007 Legislative Session
Read about Chalkboard's efforts during the legislative session here.
