National Center for Children in Poverty, Mailman Center for Public Health,
Columbia University, New York City. (2005)
J. L. Kreader, D. Ferguson, & S. Lawrence.

“What approaches to caregiver training and education are the most likely to improve the quality of care for children under age 3 in family child care homes and centers?  To help answer to this question, this brief describes research findings on a small number of training initiatives targeting infant and toddler caregivers where quality was observed before and after training.  While it is too soon to draw firm generalizations from this young and scattered body of  research, findings from these studies raise pertinent considerations for policymakers.”
Full text – Click at the right: 
http://www.childcareresearch.org/location/ccrca6874


Improving Instruction Through Effective Teacher Evaluation:
Options for States and Districts
National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, Washington DC. (2008).
C.  Mathers & M. Oliva with S. W. M. Laine.

“This brief discusses the measures used in teacher evaluation and focuses on their strengths, limitations, and current use. It underscores aspects of evaluation policies currently aligned with best practices and illuminates areas in which policymakers can improve evaluation rules, regulations, and implementation — thereby improving teacher instruction and student performance.”
Full text – Scroll down:
http://www.tqsource.org/tqbrief.php


Improving the Distribution of Teachers in Low-Performing High Schools
Alliance for Excellent Education, Washington DC. (2008).

A major premise of this Policy Brief is that “understanding the dynamics of the teacher labor market is critical for policymakers considering ways to improve teacher distribution.  Closing the distribution gap is not as simple as forcing good teachers into low-performing high schools, though some districts have contemplated forced transfers when other incentives have failed to work.  Instead, the main policy task is to leverage incentives attuned to the current labor market; to produce more and better candidates; to recruit teachers into struggling high schools; and to keep them there long enough to make a difference.  Salary, distance from home, and working conditions are a few of the many labor market realities that affect a person’s decision of whether or not to become a teacher, where to work, and how long to stay.” The remainder of the paper discusses strategies and solutions, with some examples of States or districts where strategies have been implemented.
Full text – Scroll down:
http://www.all4ed.org/publication_material/issue_policy_briefs


In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: 
Black Women Teachers and Professional Socialization
Teachers College Record. (2008).  Teachers College, Columbia University,
New York City.  A. Dixson & J. E. Dingus.

“This article integrates findings from two separate studies on Black women teachers.  It examines reasons underlying the professional entry of Black women into teaching and uses a Black feminist/womanist framework to examine how the nexus of race, gender, and class impacts Black women’s decisions to enter teaching while also informing their teaching missions.  The article is situated in novelist Alice Walker’s metaphorical gardens to examine the intergenerational connections of Black women teachers to teaching. . . . (The authors) argue that educational research, in keeping with a policy focus on quality instruction, must continue to examine the practices of Black women teachers, who have effective pedagogical practices with underserved populations.  In doing so, (they) caution against operationalizing such pedagogical practices in ways that trivialize their teaching practices and render them invisible.  Furthermore, (they) encourage researchers to examine how teacher education can make explicit the experiences, knowledge, wisdom and spiritual aspects of Black women’s pedagogical practices.  Research must also consider the ways in which Black women teachers draw on intergenerational networks in their teaching practices and how these relate to their conceptualizations of their roles as teachers.”
Abstract (full text by membership or purchase):
http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=14630

National Center on Performance Incentives,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. (2007).  C. Koedel.

“Recent research shows that variation in teacher quality has large effects on student performance.  However, this research is based entirely on student test scores.  This paper evaluates teacher quality in terms of another educational outcome of great interest -- graduation.  Using a unique instrumental variables approach to identify teacher effects, the author found that differences in teacher quality have large effects on graduation outcomes.  Because teacher effects on graduation outcomes will be more pronounced for students who are on the graduation margin, the results imply an avenue through which high-quality teachers are more productive with disadvantaged students.”
Full text:

Teaching Inequality:
How Poor and Minority Students Are Shortchanged on Teacher Quality
The Education Trust, Washington DC. (2006).  H. G. Peske & K. Haycock
Distributed by the Math Science Partnerships Learning Network (MSPNet)