Teaching Inequality: How Poor and Minority Students Are Shortchanged on Teacher Quality

Publication Date: June 2006

Publisher: Education Trust

Author(s): Kati Haycock; Heather G. Peske

Research Area: Education

Keywords: minority education ; low-income students; teacher quality

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

When released, this report provided new information on the impact of teacher quality on student achievement and offers specific steps states should take to remedy the persistent practice of denying the best teachers to the children who need them the most. It was released as states prepared their first plans to ensure that low-income students and students of color receive their fair share of experienced, qualified teachers. Those equity plans were delivered to the U.S. Secretary of Education -- and marked the first time that the federal government demanded that states confront and fix the unfair distribution of teacher talent in their states.

The report offers some key findings of research in three states – Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin – and major school systems within them. Conducted with policymakers and researchers on the ground, the research project reveals that schools in these states and districts with high percentages of low-income and minority students are more likely to have teachers who are inexperienced, have lower basic academic skills or are not highly qualified -- reflecting troublesome national teacher distribution patterns. Among the most alarming evidence in the project came from Illinois, where researchers developed an index of teacher quality. The report recommends a range of strategies to end the unfair distribution of teacher talent.