Roundup of 2018 Top Content

Our Top 5 Tools and Publications

During 2018, ERS tools and publications delved into everything from teacher salaries, to budgeting models, to supporting new teachers. We also explored the big, challenging topics that weigh on the minds of school and system leaders each day, such as equity and educator effectiveness. Check out our top 5 resources from 2018!

Teacher Compensation

1. Low Teacher Salaries 101

This year, teacher walkouts around the country highlighted the need for action around teacher pay and education spending. This paper takes a state-by-state look at teacher salaries and demonstrates the correlation between salary and human capital challenges. We also offer recommendations about how states can compensate teachers fairly and strategically.

Equitable Funding

2. Student-Based Budgeting Toolkit

A growing number of districts are turning to student-based budgeting as a way to allocate scarce resources and meet students’ needs. We designed this toolkit to help district leaders understand the big pictureandthe nitty-gritty details; it includes a readiness asssessment, an implementation guide, modeling tools, and more.

Supporting New Teachers

3. Growing Great Teachers Toolkit

States and districts across the country are experiencing recruitment and retention challenges—demonstrating the need to better support new teachers. We designed this toolkit to help district and school leaders envision, plan, and implement new models that strategically support rookie teachers. The toolkit includes a playbook to illustrate models, a budgeting tool, and a self-assessment.

Equitable Student Experiences

4. What is Resource Equity?

2018 saw a lot of buzz about redefining resource equity to be about more than just money. In this paper, we identify 11 different dimensions of resource equity—including teaching quality and family academic engagement—and describe how each promotes improved student outcomes. We also offer recommendations and provide sample diagnostic questions to help systems self-assess.

Professional Learning

5. Finding Time for Collaborative Planning

In 2018, we studied systems that experienced success improving student outcomes to learn about the best practices for teachers’ professional learning. This paper explores the strategies these school systems used to design and implement professional development that connects to teachers’ work each day in classrooms.