Modernizing and Elevating the Teaching Profession

The Center for American Progress recognizes that no education reform effort can be successful without teachers. High-quality teaching is essential to all efforts to improve students’ learning and has the greatest impact for students who are mostly likely to start school behind their peers academically. For too long, teachers have been an afterthought, underpaid and undervalued. We are working to modernize and elevate the teaching profession so that teachers receive the training, pay, and respect they deserve, and every student has access to high-quality teachers.

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Teacher Preparation Shortcuts Won’t Solve the Teacher Shortage Article
Photo shows an empty classroom with chairs stacked on top of the desks.

Teacher Preparation Shortcuts Won’t Solve the Teacher Shortage

Recently passed legislation that reduces training requirements for teachers will harm student learning, weaken the profession, and ignore the systemic issues that have long contributed to teacher shortages.

Loren Welles

The Alternative Teacher Certification Sector Outside Higher Education Report
Photo shows a group of adults seated around tables in a classroom.

The Alternative Teacher Certification Sector Outside Higher Education

Enrollment continues to grow in alternative teacher certification programs operated outside of colleges, but the number of students completing these programs is declining.

Jacqueline E. King, Jessica Yin

How To Ensure Equitable Access to Great Teaching Report
 (The Los Angeles Unified School District interim superintendent spends time with a kindergarten student to celebrate the first day of in-class instruction at an elementary school in Los Angeles, August 2021.)

How To Ensure Equitable Access to Great Teaching

The Center for American Progress proposes a new grant program to address the working conditions that contribute to job dissatisfaction and high turnover among the nation’s K-12 teachers in order to increase equal access to highly qualified teachers.

Bayliss Fiddiman, Lisette Partelow

Remote Learning and School Reopenings: What Worked and What Didn’t Report
 (A high school freshman returns to campus for the first time since schools closed due to the coronavirus, as students return for in-person instruction at a high school in Long Beach, California, March 2021.)

Remote Learning and School Reopenings: What Worked and What Didn’t

As the United States recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and schools return to in-person learning in the fall, it is key that educators learn from the successes of the past year and avoid making the same mistakes.

Megan Ferren

The Education Data That Matter Most to Parents and School Stakeholders Report

The Education Data That Matter Most to Parents and School Stakeholders

The current K-12 accountability system provides important information for education leaders, but local school communities need access to other timely and useful data to help improve the quality of education each child receives.

Jamil Modaffari, Laura Jimenez

A First 100 Days Agenda for K-12 Education Report
 (A school bus drives down a street in Waitsfield, Vermont, February 2013.)

A First 100 Days Agenda for K-12 Education

The next presidential administration must take immediate, bold action to provide a quality education for every child.

Scott Sargrad, Khalilah M. Harris, Lisette Partelow, 2 More Neil Campbell, Laura Jimenez

Successful Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Materials Report
Teachers gather for a training session at SATO Academy of Math and Science in Long Beach, California, as they get ready for the first day of school. (Getty/Brittany Murray)

Successful Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Materials

Numerous studies underscore the effects of high-quality curricula on student achievement, but to achieve the intended goal of adopting such curricula, careful attention must be paid to the implementation process.

Amanda Fuchs Miller, Lisette Partelow

Homework and Higher Standards Report
A teenager helps her younger sister complete her math homework at their Denver home, January 2018. (Getty/The Denver Post/AAron Ontiveroz)

Homework and Higher Standards

CAP analysis found that homework is generally aligned to Common Core State Standards, but additional policy changes would make it more valuable.

Ulrich Boser, Meg Benner, John Smithson

How to Give Teachers a $10,000 Raise Report
Teachers don red and march around the capitol grounds en masse during a teachers rally for more educational funding at the Colorado State Capitol, April 27, 2018. (Getty/The Denver Post/AAron Ontiveroz)

How to Give Teachers a $10,000 Raise

Because teachers’ compensation should reflect the importance of their work, CAP proposes a $10,000 federal Teacher Tax Credit that would increase pay for eligible teachers in high-poverty schools.

Meg Benner, Erin Roth, Stephenie Johnson, 1 More Kate Bahn

Revisiting the Persistent Teacher Diversity Problem Article
A political science teacher leads students through a discussion of the verdicts in the Reginald Denny beating trial at a Los Angeles high school, October 18, 1993. (AP/Eric Draper)

Revisiting the Persistent Teacher Diversity Problem

The Center for American Progress’ latest analysis finds that the nation’s teacher workforce still lacks diversity.

Catherine Brown, Ulrich Boser

Are Trump and DeVos Waging a War on Teachers? Article
President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are seen in April 2017. (AP/Susan Walsh)

Are Trump and DeVos Waging a War on Teachers?

Here are five ways in which President Trump and Secretary of Education DeVos have denigrated and devalued the teacher workforce, especially since taking office.

Kami Spicklemire, Stephenie Johnson

Designing Accountability Report

Designing Accountability

The Center for American Progress models three school identification system designs to help states measure and rate school performance.

Laura Jimenez, Scott Sargrad, Samantha Batel, 1 More Catherine Brown

A New Vision for School Accountability Report

A New Vision for School Accountability

This report presents a framework for school accountability systems that achieve college and career readiness for all students.

Laura Jimenez, Scott Sargrad

Starting Strong Report

Starting Strong

Teachers need better support and training as they enter the profession so that they are ready to serve their students; here’s how to ensure they get it.

Lisette Partelow, Annette Konoske-Graf

To Attract Great Teachers, School Districts Must Improve Their Human Capital Systems Report

To Attract Great Teachers, School Districts Must Improve Their Human Capital Systems

Findings from the first nationally representative survey of school districts’ human capital practices indicate that most districts have not yet adapted their human capital systems to the modern market, despite the increasing importance of attracting talented teachers.

Annette Konoske-Graf, Lisette Partelow, Meg Benner

Smart, Skilled, and Striving Report
This new CAP report outlines a vision for how to elevate and modernize the teaching profession so that every student is taught by great teachers.

Smart, Skilled, and Striving

A new CAP report outlines a vision for how to elevate and modernize the teaching profession so that every student is taught by great teachers.

Carmel Martin, Lisette Partelow, Catherine Brown

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