One of the few points of universal agreement in education is that good teaching matters ([13], p. 8). It is not surprising that a focus on raising the quality of teaching appears in most education reform proposals ([4]; [9], p. 36). Research tells us that children learn more from "good" teachers than from "bad" teachers in almost all circumstances. The impact of other education reforms, such as large-scale hiring of unqualified teachers in order to reduce class size, is diminished when children do not have access to competent teachers ([12], p. 3; [2], pp. 1-3; [6], p. 1).

How Does Teacher Quality Affect Education?

What do we know about the influence of teacher quality on student achievement? In a summary of research on the relationship between teacher knowledge and student achievement, Darling-Hammond and Ball [2] reported that teacher expertise-what teachers know and can do as measured by teacher education, teacher licensing examination scores, and teacher experience-had the greatest amount of influence of any factor in student achievement. They found that spending more on teacher education resulted in greater student achievement-more than did increasing teacher experience, increasing teachers' salaries, or lowering teacher-student ratio. However, student achievement was found to increase still further when well-prepared teachers were placed in small schools with lower teacher-student ratios.

These two factors-effective teachers and smaller, more personalized classrooms-contributed as much to student achievement as did the socioeconomic background of the students, which is known to greatly influence achievement as measured by standardized test scores among schools ([7], p. 7). The reverse was also found to be true: students assigned to ineffective teachers for multiple years scored significantly lower on statewide assessments than did those students who were taught by the most effective teachers during the same time period ([2], pp. 1-3).

It turns out that nothing can compensate for a poorly trained teacher who lacks the necessary knowledge and skill to help students master a given curriculum and the ability to accurately assess students' progress ([2], p. 1).

What Is the Best Way to Improve the Teacher Talent Pool?

One of the challenges of our country's teacher education system is its variability and fragmentation ([2], p. 11). Variability exists in the standards required to be a teacher and in the programs that prepare candidates to be teachers. Most states do not require that their colleges of education be accredited, as is done with other professions. As a consequence, the quality in the more than 1,300 teacher preparation programs varies considerably. Some institutions prepare teachers in a rigorous five-or six-year program with intensive internships. Other institutions prepare teachers in poorly funded four-year programs ([2], p. 12).

Opinions vary on how to improve the teacher talent pool. Some people say that we should raise the bar for entrance to colleges of education and increase the requirements for what students are required to learn in colleges of education and for what teachers need to know in order to receive their teaching licenses. Others advocate the reverse-that requirements to become a teacher should be kept to a bare minimum, allowing principals the freedom to hire, promote, and dismiss teachers based on performance and the demands of the market ([8], p. 18; [6], pp. 2-4).

Although philosophical differences exist on how one best becomes a teacher, there is greater agreement on what needs to be in place to support high-quality practice once teachers are in the classroom. These measures include:

1.Intensive induction programs: using the assistance of mentors or master teachers to help new teachers become effective in the classroom and to reduce the high turnover rate in the teaching profession;

2.Focused, sustained professional development: providing ongoing opportunities that are tied to existing classroom practices, instead of one-shot training workshops that happen in isolation;

3.Effective methods for evaluating teachers: identifying which teachers need what type of help and removing ineffective teachers; and
financial incentives:

4.Keeping effective teachers in the profession by providing better starting salaries and tying salary increases more closely to performance ([6], pp. 3-6; [2], pp. 14-28).

This awareness of the need for both more and better qualified teachers comes at a time when enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools is expected to increase by 4% between 1997 and 2009 to 48.1 million ([8], p. 13). At the same time, the attrition rate among new hires is high-an estimated 20% of new teachers leave the classroom profession after 4 years ([8], p. 13). Should states implement stricter policies on who is allowed to teach in order to help ensure a more qualified workforce for future years? Or should they relax their policies to enable districts to hire more teachers to fill needed classroom positions today? Discussions at the state and national levels will continue about the best ways to recruit, prepare, support, and retain classroom teachers.

What Can Parents Do?

Regardless of the outcome of these discussions and the resulting new policies, one thing will not change: the role of parents in supporting new and experienced teachers. We know from research that parent involvement is critical to children's school success ([1], p. 170; [10], p. 127; [11], pp. 1266-1279]. The belief in the power of parent involvement in education is also part of the mission of the Department of Education's Partnership for Family Involvement in Education and is central to President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" education reform plans. Parent involvement in education helps children succeed in school. Parent involvement also helps teachers be more successful in the classroom.

The Sallie Mae award is given annually by the U.S. Department of Education to one teacher in each state who demonstrates excellence during her or his first year of teaching. Winners of the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher Award were asked to share the highs and lows of their first year in the classroom. These new teachers talked about the role of veteran teachers, principals, and parents in contributing to their early success in the classroom. Parents made a difference in the classrooms of these award-winning first-year teachers in the following ways ([3], p. 13):

1.Showed support for learning at home
2.Communicated positive feedback about a teacher's influence or performance
3.Welcomed new teachers
4.Volunteered to help in the classroom
5.Supported fair discipline measures that teachers imposed
6.Refrained from assuming the worst about first-year teachers
7.Made sure that children did their homework
8.Offered their workplaces for field trips
9.When appropriate talked to a teacher directly about a problem became active partners in education.

The above list summarizes some ways that parents can contribute to their child's educational experiences. Parents can also work to promote teaching as a profession and to insure that their schools hire well-trained teachers through the following action steps :

Take a survey. The National Education Association's has a "Teacher Quality Checklist" [NPIN Editor's note (02-11-03): the url for Teacher Quality Checklist at http://www.nea.org/teaching/quality/checklst.htmlis no longer active] that parents and community members can use to see how their school's teachers are doing.

See how your state teaching standards measure up. Compare your state's teacher qualifications with those in other states. The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification Web site. provides state-by-state information on what training and professional preparation are required to earn a teaching certificate in each state.

Start a future teachers club. Work with middle school and high school administrators and teachers to start a local chapter of Future Educators of America, a national program for middle school and high school students who are interested in exploring careers in education.
Encourage your local schools to establish partnerships with schools of education at nearby universities and colleges. Teacher input to university faculty keeps education schools focused on the day-to-day issues that teachers face.

Discuss the value of certified teachers in every classroom and support efforts to increase pay and professional development and leadership opportunities for qualified teachers.
Given the projections about the number of new teachers needed in our nation's classrooms in the upcoming years, parents will have ample opportunity to forge partnerships with new teachers, with schools, and with community groups to help insure that all children have access to effective classroom teachers.

For more information

Monitoring School Quality: An Indicators Report
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/quarterly/spring/q4_4.html

How Parents and Peers Influence Children's School Success
http://npin.org/pnews/2000/pnew900/int900e.html

Recruiting and Preparing Quality Teachers
http://npin.org/library/2000/n00484/teachers.html

A Talented, Dedicated, and Well-Prepared Teacher in Every Classroom: Information Kit
http://ed.gov/inits/teachers/invest/

How Do I Know if My Child's Teacher Is Qualified?
http://npin.org/library/pre1998/n00424/n00424.html

Parent Involvement in Education: A Resource for Parents, Educators, and Communities
http://npin.org/library/pre1998/n00321/n00321.html

Sources

[1] Ballantine, Jeanne H. (1999). Getting involved in our children's education. Childhood Education, 75(3), 170-171. (ERIC Journal No. EJ582368)

[2] Darling-Hammond, Linda, & Ball, Deborah Loewenberg. (1998). Teaching for high standards: What policy makers need to know and be able to do. Philadelphia, PA: The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). (ERIC Document No. ED426491)

[3] DePaul, Amy. (2000). Survival guide for new teachers: How new teachers can work effectively with veteran teachers, parents, principals, and teacher educators. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (ERIC Document No. ED442791)

[4] Finn, Chester E.; Manno, Bruno V.; & Ravitch, Diane. (2001). Education 2001: Getting the job done: Memorandum to the president. Education Week, 20(19), 56, 36.

[5] George Lucas Educational Foundation. (2001). Teaching in the digital age: Teacher preparation [Online]. Available: http://glef.org/parents.html

[6] Goodwin, Bryan. (1999). Improving teaching quality: Issues and policies [Online]. Available: http://www.mcrel.org/products/school%2Dimprove/qualitybrief.html [NPIN Editor's note (02-06-03): this URL no longer exists]

[7] Kohn, Alfie. (2000). The case against standardized testing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. (ERIC Document No. ED446126)

[8] Olson, Lynn. (2000). Finding and keeping competent teachers. Education Week, 19(18), 12-18.

[9] Seeley, David S. (2001). Education 2001: Getting the job done: A bipartisan agenda. Education Week, 20(19), 56, 36.

[10] Steinberg, Laurence. (1996). Beyond the classroom: Why school reform has failed and what parents need to do. New York: Simon & Schuster. (ERIC Document No. ED398346)

[11] Steinberg, Laurence; Lamborn, Susie D.; Dornbusch, Sanford M.; & Darling, Nancy. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63(5), 1266-1281. (ERIC Journal No. EJ453416)

[12] Wenglinsky, Harold. (2000). How teaching matters: Bringing the classroom back into discussion of teacher quality [Online]. Available: http://www.ets.org/research/pic

[13] Who should teach? The states decide. (2000). Education Week, 19(18), 8-9.