TOPIC

Educator workforce & effectiveness

Educator workforce & effectiveness

Educator quality is the most influential school-based factor that contributes to student outcomes.  In California, the teacher pipeline is comprised of institutions that provide teacher candidates with opportunities to learn the knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the California Standards for the Teaching Profession. K-12 schools play a large role in this system, teaching novices the K-12 curriculum, providing the learning context for all field placements, as well as providing mentor teachers for student teaching placements and induction mentors. 

Efforts to find qualified teachers has become more challenging in California, as the number of emergency teaching credentials has more than doubled since 2012-13. School leadership is similarly important and challenging. Policy and practices to build teacher and principal quality in California will need to take into account growing demand, fewer qualified people for positions, and high turnover. 

PACE's work in this area is designed to highlight the problems and help the state work toward evidence-based solutions. 

Recent Topic Publications
Policy Brief Myung Feb 2020
A Summary of the PACE Policy Research Panel
More than 725,000 of California’s K-12 students qualified for special education services in 2018-19, but they entered a system that is often ill-equipped to serve them. This brief summarizes the findings from the PACE Policy Research Panel on…
PB Lambert Feb 2020
While California Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CA CCSSM) call for rigorous mathematics for all students, students with disabilities have not been provided equal access to instruction that meets these standards. Universal Design for…
Policy Brief Ondrasek Feb 20
California is in the midst of a severe special education teacher shortage that threatens the state’s ability to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, who often have the greatest needs but receive the least expert teachers. To help…
Report Gottfried Feb 2020
Students with learning disabilities are spending more time in general education classrooms than at any point in history, yet there remain concerns whether general education teachers are receiving adequate preparation to support these students.…