Teacher quality is Determined by Many Factors

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Today’s teachers are some of the world’s most invaluable resources. Teaching is an important and difficult career that shapes not only the future of a student’s life but also the future of a society. The most important of the teacher’s many duties is the primary goal of educating the student. The quality of a teacher is determined by a wide range of factors. Research and tests have proven that the quality of the teacher has a great effect on how successfully the student learns (Suh, Fore, 2002). In one study, students that were placed with highly effective teachers for three years in a row scored 52 percentile points higher on a Tennessee state mathematics assessment than did students that had been placed with three consecutive low-quality teachers (Stonge, Hindman, 2003). Because the quality of the teacher has such a great effect on student learning, the issue of teacher quality is a very important matter in the world of education.

It is hard to define precisely which characteristics or attributes are required for a teacher to be considered highly-qualified. There are many schools of thought concerning which teaching styles and techniques are the “best” or the most effective. There have been contradictory results gathered from studies meant to determine the attributes of teachers that translate into the most effective classroom performances (Anthony, Goldhaber, 2003).

The United States government has recently given its input on this significant issue of teacher quality through the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The purpose of this law, a revision of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is to ensure that each American child is able to fulfill the high learning standards of his or her state...

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Hanushek, Eric A. (2004). Teacher quality. Retrieved April 20th, 2004, from http://www.hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/fulltext/teacher/1.pdf

NCLB: Teacher quality. (2004) Retrieved April 18, 2004,From http://www.nga.org/center/divisions/1,1188,C_ISSUE_BRIEF^D_4193,00.html.

North Central Regional Educational Library. Teacher quality. Retrieved April 15th, 2004, from http://www.ncrel.org/quality/

United States Department of Education. (2004). No Child Left Behind. Retrieved from the web April 18, 2004, from http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml

Dobbs, M. (Februaruy 19, 2004). More states are Fighting 'No Child Left Behind' law; Complex provisions, funding gaps in bush education initiative cited. The Washington post, AO3.

Gordon, J. (December 21, 2003). Towns are rejecting No Child Left Behind. The New York times, C01.

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