This paper explores four steps districts can take now for sustained impact on teacher effectiveness. We define First Steps as actions which:

• Have a positive impact on student outcomes
• Can be implemented within a year
• Can be implemented within existing collective bargaining agreements or are likely to have broad support
• Require little or no new investment, or are budget neutral when implemented in combination
• Build toward a new vision of a teacher compensation and career path system that can attract, retain, and leverage the skills of a highly effective teaching force
• Read about First Steps (PDF)

This brief is part of a series of publications and tools devoted to Teacher Compensation and Career Path. The rest include:

• Misfit Structures and Lost Opportunities: The Urgent Case for Restructuring Teacher Compensation and Career Path: This white paper focuses specifically on teacher salaries and details two urgent reasons for reform: misfit structures of current teacher salary schedules and lost opportunities to impact student achievement.
• Teacher Compensation Workshop: This "do-it-yourself" workshop brings stakeholders together to explore the costs and implications of different compensation structures. The workshop includes pre-reading materials, a narrated Powerpoint presentation, and all the items needed to play the interactive exercise "What Price is Right?"
• Rethinking the Value Proposition to Improve Teaching Effectiveness: This white paper looks at the whole package of what school systems offer teachers, and examines how these offerings influence the attraction, development, retention, and motivation of a high-performing teaching force.
• Strategic Design of Teacher Compensation: This series of memos explores typical goals of compensation redesign and implications for five main design considerations: base salary, district priority incentives, school role, rewards and responsibilities, and fiscal sustainability.