Teachers and principals are the bedrock upon which our nation’s educational system is based.  When they are given the right training, support, and working conditions, teachers and school leaders can and do succeed in helping high school students achieve at high levels every day, even those students who seem to have the greatest challenges.

However, to turn the success of a relatively few dedicated teachers and outstanding principals into the widespread success of many, policymakers at all levels must take a comprehensive and systemic approach to improving high schools and the teaching and learning that takes place in them.  The ultimate result will be more students graduating prepared for success in college, work, and life.

Improving teaching must begin with a focused effort to significantly raise the quality of teacher preparation programs so that they recruit top talent into education and adequately prepare the individuals enrolled in their programs to work in low-performing high schools. States must find the right balance between setting high standards for entry into teaching and being flexible in recruiting a large pool of candidates for shortage areas. Districts must overhaul their sluggish and bureaucratic hiring processes that inadvertently discourage bright and qualified candidates from entering the classroom. Along with states, districts must ensure also that struggling students who are often poor and of color are given quality teachers just as are their more affluent and often white peers.

Meanwhile, successful high school principals and leaders foster working conditions that support effective teaching, providing regular opportunities for teachers to meet together to plan instruction, professional development driven by student data, appropriate course loads, assignment to subjects for which teachers are qualified, and adequate supplies and high-quality curricular materials. Successful leaders design collaborative improvement strategies, mobilize resources to carry out those strategies, supervise instruction, and make available evidence-based professional development. They also play a key role in ensuring that teachers have reliable, regular data to make decisions and that teachers have and use common planning time to focus on instruction. States and districts must also have policies that support such working conditions in schools.

Federal policymakers have a significant role to play in helping states and districts develop data systems that can track where teachers work and how well they do in the classroom, as well as incentivizing smart accountability and support systems that place a premium on improving student learning. Armed with accurate data, policymakers and educators have the capital they need to better distribute teachers and improve the performance of teachers struggling to succeed with students.