Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

NASBE Policy Update Urges States to Pay Attention to Teacher Equity Plans

  • 05/19/15

Alexandria, Va. – According to the US Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection, nearly 96 percent of our nation’s public school teachers are licensed and certified. So why are over a half a million low-income and minority students still being taught in schools with the highest percentages of unqualified and inexperienced teachers? A new NASBE Policy Update explores teacher equity and why state policymakers need to start paying closer attention.

In “Will New Teacher Equity Plans Get Closer to the Mark?,” NASBE Director of School Discipline and Equity Kimberly D. Charis urges state, district, and local leaders to “get serious about upholding America’s core value of equal opportunity” by ensuring the all students have equal access to qualified and experienced teachers. The US Department of Education issued new guidance in 2014 requiring states to devise plans by June 1 for how states will ensure all their students have equitable access to excellent educators.

Most states “missed the mark” on their state plans when the department issued similar guidelines back in 2006, Charis says. So the new guidance presents an opportunity for states to close the teacher equity gap. Charis reviews what state teacher equity plans are to include and makes recommendations for how state boards of education can ensure successful implementation. She notes that annually reviewing state data will help uncover where teacher equity gaps exist. State boards of education can also work with school leaders and serve as a convener of discussions about how to promote more equitable teacher distribution practices. “As unbiased brokers for evidence-based policymaking, centered on the best interest of students and the public, state boards of education are a vital partner in every state and local effort to eliminate inequities and close achievement gaps,” writes Charis.

Download and read “Will New Teacher Equity Plans Get Closer to the Mark?”

Learn more at www.nasbe.org.

Featured

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • school building with glowing circuit board patterns

    AI Is Coming to Schools — But Most School Buildings Still Run on Institutional Memory

    As school districts race to introduce AI into classrooms, administration, and curriculum planning, another conversation is happening behind the scenes: How prepared are school facilities themselves for the operational demands AI will create?

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Minnesota District Converts Middle School into Community Hub

    White Bear Lake Area Schools in White Bear Lake, Minn., recently announced the end of a major renovation project that converted a former middle school into a new centralized district and community hub, according to a news release.