State Teacher Policy Yearbook National Summary

The 2009 edition of the State Teacher Policy Yearbook is the National Council on Teacher Quality’s
third annual review of state laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession.

This
year’s report is a comprehensive analysis of the full range of each state’s teacher policies, measured
against a realistic blueprint for reform.
The release of the 2009 Yearbook comes at a particularly opportune time. Race to the Top, the $4.5 billion federal discretionary
grant competition, has put unprecedented focus on education reform in general, and teacher quality in particular. In many respects,
the Yearbook provides a road map to the Race to the Top, addressing key policy areas such as teacher preparation, evaluation,
alternative certification and compensation. Our analysis makes clear that states have a great deal of work to do in order to ensure
that every child has an effective teacher.

The 2009 Yearbook revisits most of the goals from our first two editions, with a few new goals added for good measure. With
ongoing feedback from state officials, practitioners, policy groups and other education organizations, as well as NCTQ’s own
nationally respected advisory group, we have continued to refine and develop our policy goals. Consequently, many of the goals
and related indicators have changed from previous reviews. We therefore have not published comparisons with prior ratings, but
look forward to tracking state progress in future editions.
Our goals meet NCTQ’s five criteria for an effective reform framework:

1. They are supported by a strong rationale, grounded in the best research available.
(A full list of the citations supporting each goal can be found at http://www.nctq.org/stpy.)

2. They offer practical, rather than pie-in-the-sky, solutions for improving teacher quality.

3. They take on the teaching profession’s most pressing needs, including making the profession more responsive to
the current labor market.

4. They are for the most part relatively cost neutral.

5. They respect the legitimate constraints that some states face so that the goals can work in all 50 states.

As is now our practice, in addition to a national summary report, we have customized the Yearbook so that each state has its own
report, with its own analyses and data. Users can download any of our 51 state reports (including the District of Columbia) from
our website at http://www.nctq.org/stpy. Since some national perspective is always helpful, each state report contains charts and graphs
showing how the state performed compared to all other states. We also point to states that offer a “Best Practice” for other states
to emulate.

In addition to giving an overall grade, we also give “sub-grades” in each of the five areas organizing the goals. These grades break
down even further, with an eye toward giving a full perspective on the states’ progress. We rate state progress on the individual
goals using a familiar and useful graphic : .

We hope the Yearbook continues to serve as an important resource for state school chiefs, school boards, legislatures and the many
advocates who press hard for reform. In turn, we maintain our commitment to listen and learn.

Sincerely,

Kate Walsh, President

Full Report: http://www.nctq.org/stpy09/reports/stpy_national.pdf