An analysis conducted for Quality Counts 2006 by the EPE Research Center found a positive relationship between states that had pursued a standards-based education agenda and gains in student achievement.
But preliminary analyses showed a slight negative relationship between state efforts to improve teacher quality and student-achievement gains. And there was no relationship between state education finance indicators and student-achievement trends, after taking into account initial performance differences across states.
In part for those reasons, Quality Counts 2007 is taking a one-year hiatus from grading the states and from including indicators related to either teacher quality or school finance. In the coming year, we will be reaching out to the larger education community for ideas about how to incorporate teacher quality and school finance into future reports.
As a first step in this effort, we invite you to share any thoughts you have on the most effective ways to measure teacher quality and school finance in future reports. What policy indicators should be considered? What research should be taken into account? What perspective needs to be taken when looking at these issues?