Human Resources a Weak Spot

Students at the 1,050-student Salem Middle School, in Apex, N.C., descend a stairway on their way to classes.

—Sara D. Davis for Education Week

Although student achievement is linked to good teachers, there is no system for attracting, training, and supporting the best people for the job.

By Lynn Olson

High-quality teaching matters more to student achievement than anything else schools do. So one would assume that states, districts, and schools would have a laser-like focus on attracting, training, and supporting the very best people for the job.

Yet many experts say the current system for recruiting, developing, deploying, and keeping teacher talent in the nation’s classrooms is broken.

When the Washington-based Aspen Institute last year compared current practices in public education with the best human-resource practices in the corporate sector, it found that, at every juncture, education came up short. Public school teachers, on average, have lower academic skills than other college graduates. New teachers are routinely left to sink or swim. And most earn tenure after the first few years on the job...