What makes a good teacher?

Research indicating the most important qualities for a good teacher has been highlighted by leading education policy researchers in a pamphlet for the US National Council on Teacher Quality. A summary is below.

• Channelling public resources to teachers' pursuits of advanced degrees did not appear to improve teachers' effectiveness. Districts interested in exploring smarter compensation packages might consider redirecting 'lockstep' salary increases connected to earning an advanced degree toward more targeted purposes
• Policies based on simple linear growth over time in teacher effectiveness should be re-examined. If student achievement gains were a school district's primary focus, little evidence supported compensation packages that raised salaries equally for each year of service without regard to other considerations.
• Pre-service education courses might help some aspiring teachers to be more effective than they would have been otherwise, but there was no evidence to support policies that barred individuals from the profession because they lacked such coursework. Other credentials or experience might add just as much or more value.
• The intended benefits of traditional certification (that teachers are properly trained) did not appear to justify the real costs (restricting the pool of individuals that schools can consider). Certification systems should be sufficiently flexible to accommodate capable, nontraditional candidates. Traditional routes into teaching did not appear to yield more effective teachers than alternative routes.
• Matching a teacher's race with a student's race could be advisable - provided race did not override other important considerations.
• The growing call for more subject matter training for secondary teachers appeared justified. Broad training across many subjects would appear to be a judicious requirement. Strong preparation in a secondary teacher's intended subject area could add significant value.
• Studies repeatedly concluded that teachers who were more literate were more likely to produce greater student learning gains.

The report, "Increasing the odds, how good policies can yield better teachers", is written by Eric Hanushek, Michael Podgursky, Richard Murnane, and Dan Goldhaber is at this web page.