This course examines questions about the nature of teacher quality and how policies affect teacher quality. We will ask how policies affect teachers as college students who could decide to enter teaching, as students enrolled in a preparation program or pathway, as graduates seeking initial teacher licensure, as licensed teachers seeking jobs, as novice teachers, as tenured teachers, or as teachers who could be rewarded, honored, or dismissed.

In our readings, you will find many definitions of teacher quality. Each is valued by its own advocates and each is affected by policies. Some policies may improve one version of quality but reduce another. We will examine policies that affect prospective teachers and/or teachers across all of their career stages to see how policies influence teacher quality.

The course readings come from a variety of disciplines including sociology, economics, and public policy. The weekly readings will differ in the extent to which they are conceptual, empirical, dispassionate or passionate. As we read these, you will need to think about the merits of these different approaches to studying issues related to policy and teacher quality.

The course addresses several concepts and theoretical frameworks that have influenced research on teacher quality. These concepts/frameworks include activity theory, cultural reproduction theory, social capital theory, person-organization fit theory, instructional program coherence, and institutional theory. Throughout the course, we will consider (a) how researchers have drawn on or modified these concepts and frameworks in examining issues related to teacher quality and (b) the ways in which and extent to which various teacher policies address or are likely to address the ideas underlying these concepts/frameworks as well as related research findings.