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These short papers highlight common opportunities school systems have to yield big results for students by adjusting their current resource use. It is based on ERS' 10 years of close...
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In 2011, Lawrence Public Schools was the first district that Massachusetts placed into state receivership due to poor performance. By 2014, things had dramatically changed for the better....
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Effective teachers are the biggest in-school factor related to student success. Across the country, a diverse set of districts are pioneering innovative approaches to teacher compensation...
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See what the individual professional growth process looks like at the Match Community Day Charter School in Boston. This video illustrates the training, observations, and coaching...
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Part of a series of ERS publications on teacher compensation, this paper explores four steps districts can take now for sustained impact on teacher effectiveness.
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The Professional Growth & Support Spending Calculator helps quantify all current spending aimed at improving teaching effectiveness. Part I provides worksheets to analyze total...
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The Professional Growth & Support System Self-Assessment helps school systems evaluate their current Professional Growth & Support strategy. The self-assessment is organized around the...
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In this publication, ERS expands the traditional definition of teacher Professional Development to Professional Growth & Support, which includes any use of people, time, and money that...
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School districts have the responsibility to design a compensation structure that maximizes their ability to meet teacher recruitment and retention goals within the context of long-term...
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One out of a series of three ERS publications on teacher compensation, this paper explores how to rethink compensation and career paths to attract and retain the most effective teachers.
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You can do less with less, or you can change your district's cost model by rethinking how schools and systems are structured. DREAM allows you to adjust key cost levers in your district...
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Over the past decade, D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) has faced severe enrollment decline–from 65,000 students to 45,000. As a result, the district took a hard look at their...
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The Teaching Job worksheet series includes worksheets with step-by-step instructions to help you calculate and measure teaching effectiveness. These analyses can help identify your...
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The Teaching Job worksheet series includes worksheets with step-by-step instructions to help you calculate and measure teaching effectiveness. These analyses can help identify your...
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The Teaching Job worksheet series includes worksheets with step-by-step instructions to help you calculate and measure teaching effectiveness. These analyses can help identify your...
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The Teaching Job worksheet series includes worksheets with step-by-step instructions to help you calculate and measure teaching effectiveness. These analyses can help identify your...
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The Teaching Job worksheet series includes worksheets with step-by-step instructions to help you calculate and measure teaching effectiveness. These analyses can help identify your...
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Rethinking the Value Proposition to Improve Teaching Effectiveness explores the complete set of offerings and experiences provided by a school system to a teacher. We explore what the...
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This paper explores typical goals of compensation redesign and implications for five main design considerations, including: base salary, district priority incentives, school roles,...
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Millions of education dollars are trapped each year. At this time of continued budget shortfalls when every dollar spent on education must yield maximum returns in student...
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In this case study of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Strategic Staffing Initiative, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) and the Aspen Institute tell the important story of how one district is...
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ERS Director Regis Shields presented at EdWeek’s webinar, “Creating Effective Teacher Professional Development in Tough Economic Times.” To turn tough times into opportunity, districts...
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Before district leaders can expand professional development to better support teachers, they must first determine not only the current investment level but also what that investment is...
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This brief describes a vision for investing in teaching quality at the school level and provides guiding questions for both school leaders and those who support them to consider and...
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How can schools best use the resources they already have? That question is at the heart of this inspiring book for school and district administrators challenged with increasing student...
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This report reviews the School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) use of professional development resources. Despite Philadelphia’s low and unstable funding of professional development, ERS...
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In 2003–2004, ERS and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform analyzed how Baltimore City Public School System utilizes its professional development resources and examined the alignment...
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Standards-based reform has entered a new phase that puts professional development of teachers at the center of the discussion. Research tells us that intensive, high-quality professional...
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