Joyce Foundation Unveils How-To Guide for Improving Teacher Quality

Guidebook and website will Assist Parents, Educators with Ensuring Teacher Success in Classroom

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Sep 27, 2010, 12:24 ET

CHICAGO, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Teacher Quality: What You Need to Know, a unique narrative, guidebook, and website for improving the performance of our nation's school teachers, was released today by the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation. Aimed at parents, community leaders, school administrators, and policy makers, the colorful materials detail two stories of the same teacher: one who receives the right support to help her students succeed and one who does not. Also included is a helpful, 'how-to' guidebook – Improving Teacher Quality: Here's How – which outlines steps advocates can take to improve the way we recruit, support, evaluate, and reward teachers.

"At Joyce, we support public policies that improve the quality of teachers in the classroom," stated Ellen S. Alberding, president of the Joyce Foundation. "Recently, we saw an opportunity to help parents and community leaders by providing them a roadmap for ensuring teacher success. This pro-teacher guide helps everyone better understand what teachers need to help children succeed in school."

Drawing from in-depth research and evaluations of innovative strategies, the teacher quality guidebook outlines teacher effectiveness policies and tactical information on how to hire good teachers, raise standards of performance, and help teachers thrive in their careers. The guide also encourages parents to stand up for their children's right to a quality education and includes a list of key questions for parents to ask their schools, administrators, and state legislators as they advocate for change.

The corresponding website includes electronic versions of the materials in English and Spanish, sample PowerPoint presentations, as well as policy trends, academic research, and a list of additional partners working on teacher effectiveness issues.

"People often assume that the struggles of our schools rest solely on the shoulders of teachers," said Tim Daly, president of The New Teacher Project. "The truth is our teachers are working within a system that has neglected them for decades. This guidebook shows exactly what that broken system looks like and offers an alternative vision that would benefit teachers and students."

Joyce's guidebook and website can be used with many audiences. The materials are being utilized in public forums with parents, to train teachers about policy issues, to help school board members and administrators understand and explain new policies, and to help legislators.

In Illinois, the Statewide Action & Grassroots Education (SAGE) Campaign and its partners will make the most of the guidebook and web-based toolkit to demand action for quality teachers during upcoming town hall meetings across the state.

"We owe it to our children to do everything possible to provide them with quality teachers," said Dr. Patricia Watkins, SAGE leader and CEO of Target Area Development Corporation. "Parents and community groups want to be better engaged in teacher quality issues, but they often lack the right tools or strategies to make a positive impact. The Joyce Foundation has provided us with a comprehensive toolkit that will help parents make a difference."

Based in Chicago, the Joyce Foundation makes grants of almost $40 million a year in the Great Lakes region through its programs in Education, Employment, Environment, Gun Violence, Money and Politics, and Culture. Learn more at www.joycefdn.org.

SOURCE The Joyce Foundation