Teacher quality and student achievement

Abstract

One of the major goals of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is to raise the achievement of students who currently fail to meet grade-level proficiency standards. Since student achievement is believed by many to depend in large part on effective teaching, the law also contains provisions designed to improve teacher quality. These provisions establish minimum teacher quality requirements and charge states and school districts with developing plans to meet them. This book examines implementation of the NCLB requirements and estimates the extent to which schools achieved the law's goal of placing a highly qualified teacher in every classroom.