Essential Question 9

About this Essential Question

This question examines students’ access to effective teachers and schools based on their contributions to student growth on academic outcomes. Factors like teaching experience, classroom management skills, and school policies can influence the conditions for student learning. For example, teacher professional development and collaborative planning time can enhance instructional effectiveness. Some studies find that students from underserved backgrounds have less access to effective teachers, though results vary depending on the measures used and the study context. District leaders, school administrators, and instructional coaches can use this question to assess teacher effectiveness, understand differences in educational opportunities across schools and districts, and identify where additional investments may be needed to support students’ academic growth.

Probing Questions

Use these probing questions to dive deeper on the essential question or approach it through a different lens. Feel free to adapt these questions further or come up with your own.  

• How do states or districts measure and evaluate teacher and school contributions to academic growth?  
• To what extent do states and districts differ in whether and how they measure teacher and school contributions to academic growth?
• How does access to effective teachers and schools vary based on where students live and the schools they attend? How does access to effective teachers and schools vary by student race and ethnicity, home language, and family income level?  
• How might we improve access to effective teachers and schools? What policies or conditions could be improved? Who needs to be involved? 

Explore Data for This Question

To help you answer this question for your own community, you can search for your state, county, or neighborhood in the Urban Institute data tool linked below. The tool integrates all available federal data from the metrics relevant to this essential question. Compare data between geographies, over time, and by breakdowns across race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and more. Search for your own state using the lefthand sidebar or click “Restart” to view data by county or neighborhood.

EXPLORE DATA