While national attention has been riveted on the accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), few in the education community have focused on what matters most to ensure that all students make adequate yearly progress—a high-quality teacher.
Research tells us what educators have long known: teaching quality is the essential component to raising student achievement. The critical question is whether NCLB and its “highly qualified” teacher provisions—in statute, nonregulatory guidance, state reaction, and, most importantly, implementation in classrooms throughout the country—will lead to the recruitment, retention, and continued support of quality teachers. (See What Constitutes “Highly Qualified.”)
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