Achieving Teacher and Principal Excellence: A Guidebook for Donors

Publication Date: September 2008

Publisher: The Philanthropy Roundtable

Author(s): Andrew J. Rotherham

Research Area: Education

Keywords: importance of teachers; improving education; qualified teachers

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This Philanthropy Roundtable guidebook for donors reinforces the findings of recent research that confirms that teachers matter more to student learning than anything else. It finds that teachers and principals are insufficiently recruited, inadequately trained, inequitably distributed, and unfairly compensated. It cites studies that have found that having a high-quality teacher throughout elementary school can offset—or even eliminate—the disadvantage of a low socioeconomic background. It urges philanthropists who are serious about improving education in America, particularly among our neediest children, not to ignore the importance of improving human capital in schools