lit review on teacher equity

Over the last six weeks, one of the major projects I have been helping with has been writing a literature review on teacher equity, more specifically on how to recruit and retain qualified teachers. I have read various studies and have concluded that most researches are in favor of better teacher development programs and more support from school administrators.

As I may have mentioned before, teacher attrition is one of the biggest problems in the state. Multiple studies have demonstrated that teacher quality is one of the principal factors affecting student’s performance. If we expect kids to make significant improvements on standardized exams, than we should begin by looking at who is teaching them and whether they have undergone the right preparation programs to learn how to be most effective in the classroom and what pedagogy has proven to be most successful.

Before I began working on this literature review, I always tended to focus on dilemmas in urban schools, such as classroom overcrowding, high drop out rates, teenage pregnancies, English Learners, etc. Although these problems are certainly present in smaller rural communities, my attention seemed to be captured by school districts in LA, Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, etc.

Now that I have read multiple studies on teacher quality and the huge problem with recruiting and retaining them, my focus has shifted. Yes, I still believe there are major issues that require a revamp of the whole education system; yes, I still believe more money should be invested in high-poverty and high-minority schools (which tend to be the lowest performing schools too). But there are also major problems with how qualified and prepared are teachers to teach.