A growing body of evidence confirms that teacher and leader effectiveness are the two most important in-school factors in student achievement. Yet there is still considerable debate about how to promote high-quality teaching, especially in hard-to-staff schools and subjects, and about the characteristics that constitute an effective teacher or school leader.

Bellwether’s work addresses the full continuum of teacher and leader quality issues, including preparation, development, evaluation, and compensation. We use data to promote innovative yet feasible policy solutions to ensure that all students have access to effective instruction and all schools have high-performing leaders at the helm.

In addition to our philanthropically supported field-facing policy work, we have advised state education agencies, advocates, funders, and practitioners working to improve teacher and leader quality and preparation. Our deep experience working with a range of education organizations on teacher and leader quality issues informs our policy work in these areas.

The content below reflects our work on this issue: