In "The Irreplaceables," TNTP researchers argued that America's urban schools take a negligent approach to teacher retention, losing too many of their very best teachers--their "Irreplaceables"--and keeping too many of their weakest teachers, year after year. A combination of weak school leadership, poor working conditions and restrictive policies…

Founded by TNTP, the Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice is an annual award for the nation's best teachers in high-poverty public schools. The goal is to shine a spotlight on great teaching and amplify the voices of some of the nation's best educators so that others can gain insight into their remarkable classrooms. No more than five…

Successful teachers make successful schools. Yet some schools are better than others at accelerating student learning by developing and keeping great teachers, even compared to schools that serve the same population of students and have access to the same resources. These schools are called "greenhouse schools"--schools with carefully fostered…

There is no shortage of research on the importance of good teaching. For decades, study after study has shown that there are large differences in effectiveness from one teacher to another and that these differences can have a lifelong impact on students. A recent study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years determined that those with…

Discussions of teacher turnover usually focus on "how many" teachers leave schools each year, without regard for their performance in the classroom. This oversimplification masks the real teacher retention crisis: not only a failure to retain enough teachers, but a failure to retain the "right" teachers. This executive summary presents findings of…

"Irreplaceables" are teachers who are so successful they are nearly impossible to replace, but who too often vanish from schools as the result of neglect and inattention. To identify and better understand the experience of these teachers, the authors started by studying 90,000 teachers across four large, geographically diverse urban school…

This paper presents five ways principals can keep more irreplaceable teachers. These tips are: (1) Start the school year with great expectations; (2) Recognize excellence publicly and frequently; (3) Treat your irreplaceables like they are irreplaceable; (4) Start having "stay conversations" by Thanksgiving; and (5) Hold the line on good teaching.…

Experience makes a difference--especially at the beginning of a teacher's career. On average, teachers with some experience are more effective than brand new teachers. Teachers improve the most early in their careers. One study found that "close to half of the teacher achievement returns to experience arise during the first few years of teaching."…

Successful teachers make successful schools. Yet some schools are better than others at accelerating student learning by developing and keeping great teachers, even compared to schools that serve the same population of students and have access to the same resources. These schools are called "greenhouse schools"--schools with carefully fostered…

A vast gulf in academic achievement separates public schools in Washington, D.C.'s poorest neighborhoods from those in its most affluent. Achievement Prep, which serves 4th-8th graders in D.C.'s impoverished 8th Ward, is an outlier. Yet in 2011, 60% of Achievement Prep's "scholars" scored proficient or advanced in reading on the DC-CAS tests,…

This paper presents myths as well as facts about value-added analysis. These myths include: (1) "Value-added isn't fair to teachers who work in high-need schools, where students tend to lag far behind academically"; (2) "Value-added scores are too volatile from year-to-year to be trusted"; (3) "There's no research behind value-added"; (4) "Using…