Effective Teaching

What is Effective Teaching?

Effective Teaching is teachers having the competence, commitment and courage to do whatever it takes to improve student learning.

Why does it matter?

Because “a teacher’s effectiveness has more impact on student learning than any other factor under the control of school systems, including class size, school size, and the quality of after-school programs.” -The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Students who are taught by an effective teacher for three years can more than double their achievement (Partnership for Learning).
“The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.” -McKinsey & Co.
Because teacher evaluation systems that rate every teacher as “excellent” are ineffectual and detrimental to student performance.

What A+ is doing to help:

A professional development network, established by A+’s Alabama Best Practices Center, shares best practices and encourages collaboration so teachers shift away from working in isolation to working in teams using data, standards, and best practices. It also helps teachers to shift from lecturing to strategies that engage students in real world problem-solving.
Working with the Governor’s Commission on Quality Teaching to call for Professional Pathways that provide opportunities for highly effective teachers to gain additional salary and responsibilities based on impact on student learning (not years of service).
Partnering with the Governor’s Commission on Quality Teaching to develop policies to more effectively target, recruit, prepare, support, evaluate and compensate highly effective teachers.
A+ successfully advocated for quality teaching standards, career-long benchmarks, major state investments to improvement the teaching of reading, math, and science; mentoring for new teachers, and Teach for America.

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