Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World

Discover how high-performing systems shape teaching quality around the world Producing highly skilled and committed teachers is not the work of a single innovative school or the aggregation of heroic individuals who succeed against the odds. In high-performing countries, the opportunities for teachers to learn sophisticated practices and continue to improve are embedded systemically in education policies and practices. Empowered Educators describes how this seemingly magical work is done—how a number of forward-thinking educational systems create a coherent set of policies designed to ensure quality teaching in all communities. . . and how the results are manifested in practice. Spanning three continents and five countries, Empowered Educators examines seven jurisdictions that have worked to develop comprehensive teaching policy systems: Singapore and Finland, the states of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia, the provinces of Alberta and Ontario in Canada, and the province of Shanghai in China. Renowned education expert Linda Darling-Hammond and a team of esteemed scholars offer lessons learned in a number of areas that shape the teaching force and the work of teachers, shedding unprecedented light on areas such as teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and mentoring, professional learning, career and leadership development, and more. Find out how quality teaching is developed and conducted across the globe Discover a common set of strategies for developing, supporting, and sustaining the ongoing learning and development of teachers and school leaders See how high-performing countries successfully recruit and train educators Understand why the sharing of expertise among teachers and administrators within and across schools is beneficial A fascinating read for researchers, policymakers, administrators, teacher educators, pre-service teachers and leaders, and anyone with an interest in education, this book offers a rare glimpse into the systems that are shaping quality teaching around the world.

Table of Contents:
Foreword v Acknowledgments xi About the Sponsoring Organizations xiii About the Lead Authors xv Online Documents and Videos xvii Chapter 1 Teaching Policy Around the World 1 What Kinds of Policies Affect Teaching? 3 Why Study International Teaching Policy? 5 Why Study These Jurisdictions? 8 What We Found 12 Developing Both Teacher Quality and Teaching Quality 17 Organization of This Book 19 Chapter 2 Contexts for Teaching and Learning Systems 21 Australia 22 Canada 26 Finland 32 Shanghai 36 Singapore 43 Summary 47 Chapter 3 Recruiting and Preparing Profession-Ready Teachers 49 Recruiting the Best 50 Financial Compensation 50 Attractiveness of the Profession 53 Selection Practices 55 Preparing Professionals 61 Preparation That Enables Professional Practice 68 Induction 88 Lessons Learned 100 Chapter 4 Developing High-Quality Teaching 105 Incentives and Infrastructure for Learning 107 Time and Opportunity for Collaboration 111 Curriculum Development and Lesson Study 116 Teacher Research 123 Teacher-Led Professional Development 127 Feedback and Appraisal 132 Lessons Learned 146 Chapter 5 The Teaching Career and Leadership for the Profession 149 Career Pathways 150 Opportunities to Lead Professional Learning 163 Recruiting and Developing School Leaders 168 Lessons Learned 182 Chapter 6 Perseverance in the Pursuit of Equity 185 Resourcing Student Learning 186 Recruiting and Supporting Teachers in High-Needs Schools 193 Lessons Learned 208 Chapter 7 Global Learning for Ongoing Improvement 211 Policy Borrowing: Learning From Success 212 New Horizons 224 Conclusion 232 Appendix A Research Methodology 241 Appendix B Qilun Elementary School Lesson Plan 243 Appendix C Qibao Teaching Contest Evaluation Form 249 References 253 Index 271

About the Author :
LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND, president of the Learning Policy Institute, is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University. She is the award-winning author of numerous books including Beyond the Bubble Test: How Performance Assessments Support 21st Century Learning, and Powerful Teacher Education: Lessons from Exemplary Programs (Jossey-Bass). DION BURNS is a senior researcher with the Learning Policy Institute and research analyst at the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.