U.S. Department of Education

Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development

Policy and Program Studies Service

Results in Brief: 

State Efforts to Promote Equitable Access to Effective Teachers

January 2017

In recent years, federal education programs and policies have increasingly focused on teacher quality as a means for closing 

achievement gaps, in part by directing states to measure teacher qualifications and performance and to promote equitable access to

qualified and effective teachers among schools within a district. Federal policy now encourages annual evaluation of teachers using 

measures of both student achievement growth and teacher practice among at least three performance levels, in contrast to twolevel rating systems in which “satisfactory” ratings are often provided to nearly all teachers. This report provides a broad overview of

state efforts, as of the 2011–12 school year, to monitor equitable access to qualified and effective teachers among schools; develop

and adopt multiple measures of teacher performance to rate teachers among at least three performance levels; and implement 

targeted strategies for promoting equitable access to qualified and effective teachers. This report uses the following definitions: 

1) measures of teacher qualifications include “highly qualified teacher” (HQT) status, as defined in the 2001 reauthorization of 

the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as well as years of teaching experience; 2) measures of teacher 

performance include measures of student achievement growth and/or teacher practice; and 3) multiple measures of teacher 

performance refer to measures of both student achievement growth and teacher practice.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What measures did states use to monitor equitable 

access to qualified and effective teachers among

schools? 

2. To what extent were states developing or using multiple 

measures of teacher performance to rate teachers among

at least three performance levels? 

3. What strategies did states use to promote equitable 

access to qualified and effective teachers in schools

serving high proportions of poor and/or minority 

students? 

STUDY DESIGN 

This report is based on telephone interviews with officials in 

state education agencies (SEAs) in all states, the District of 

Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Study staff also reviewed extant 

sources including state plans for promoting equitable access 

to qualified and effective teachers, Consolidated State 

Performance Reports, reports from federal monitoring visits, 

and information on state websites. 

Interviews with state officials took place between August 

2011 and January 2012. These interviews covered state 

efforts that were underway during that school year only, and

prior to state implementation of the fall 2011 ESEA Flexibility 

initiative. The study did not assess the effectiveness or quality 

of the state efforts described by the respondents, nor did it 

collect data on planned or anticipated activities for future 

years. The recent state equity plans submitted in 2015 under 

the “Excellent Educators for All” initiative – and the policies 

they reflect – are also beyond the scope of this report.

Highlights

• In 2011–12, states most commonly monitored equitable 

access to qualified and effective teachers among schools 

using measures of teacher qualifications. 

• Four states reported using measures of teacher 

performance — student achievement growth and/or 

measures of teacher practice — to monitor equitable 

access to qualified and effective teachers among schools, 

and nine states used teacher performance measures to 

monitor the quality of the teacher workforce overall. 

• In two of the four states that reported using teacher 

performance measures to monitor equitable access 

among schools, officials reported seeing larger inequities

than were previously detected using measures of teacher 

qualifications alone. 

• Six states reported that they had adopted multiple 

measures of teacher performance and were using them 

to rate teachers among at least three performance levels 

in 2011–12, and 38 states indicated that they were in the 

process of developing such measures. 

• Offering monetary incentives was the most common 

strategy that states reported using in disadvantaged 

schools to promote equitable access to qualified and 

effective teachers among schools (24 states). 

• Other state-reported strategies that were directed 

specifically at disadvantaged schools for promoting

equitable access were specialized professional 

development (14 states) and teacher recruitment and 

preparation programs (14 states). 
MONITORING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO QUALIFIED 

AND EFFECTIVE TEACHERS AMONG SCHOOLS

State plans required under ESEA Section 1111(b)(8)(C) must 

include a description of the steps that the state will take to 

ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at 

higher rates than other children by inexperienced, 

unqualified, or out-of-field teachers. In its implementation of 

this provision of the law, the Department asked each state to 

include a written “equity plan” as part of the state’s 2006 

revised state plan. 

In 2011–12, states most commonly monitored equitable 

access to qualified and effective teachers among schools 

using measures of teacher qualifications, and a few states 

reported using measures of teacher performance for this 

purpose. 

• All states monitored equitable access to qualified and 

effective teachers who were designated as highly 

qualified under ESEA. Twenty-two states reported 

monitoring equitable access to qualified and effective

teachers among schools using a measure of teacher 

experience.

• Four states reported using at least one performance 

measure to monitor equitable access to qualified and 

effective teachers among schools; two of these states 

were using multiple measures of teacher performance

for this purpose. 

Officials from two of the four states using at least one 

teacher performance measure to monitor equitable access 

to qualified and effective teachers among schools reported 

seeing larger inequities in access among schools based on 

those measures than were previously detected using 

measures of teacher qualifications alone. 

Officials from 37 states reported their state had updated its

equity plan at least once since the plan was first approved 

by the U.S. Department of Education. 

DEVELOPING MULTIPLE MEASURES OF 

TEACHER PERFORMANCE

Six states reported that they had adopted multiple 

measures of teacher performance to rate teachers among at 

least three performance levels, and 38 states indicated that 

they were in the process of developing such measures.

• Reasons provided by these officials included a desire to

improve on existing practices for assessing teacher 

quality (38 states), align state-level policies for evaluating 

teachers with federal program guidance (19 states), or

make their state more competitive for a federal grant (19 

states). 

• Officials from nine of the 19 states that indicated a desire 

to align state practice with federal programs also 

indicated a desire to make their state more competitive 

for a federal competitive grant. 

In eight states, respondents reported no efforts in 2011–12 

to develop and adopt measures of teacher performance 

based on student achievement growth. 

• Reasons provided by these officials included state laws 

prohibiting the use of such measures (two states); a 

history of strong local control over teacher evaluation 

systems (one state); lack of a data system that linked 

student data with teacher data (one state); a desire to 

further explore the validity of summative teacher 

performance measures (two states); or a decision to 

focus state activities in 2011–12 on developing measures 

of teacher practice (two states).

• Among the eight states that were not developing 

measures of teacher performance based on student 

achievement growth, officials from four states reported 

that their state had, however, adopted or was piloting 

measures of teacher performance based on teacher 

practice.

STATE STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE EQUITABLE 

ACCESS TO QUALIFIED AND EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

Overall, 30 states reported using at least one of three 

strategies to promote equitable access in high-need schools: 

monetary incentives, professional development, or 

recruitment and preparation programs. 

Twenty-four states reported using monetary incentives to 

promote equitable access to qualified and effective teachers in 

schools serving high proportions of poor and/or minority 

students.

• Thirteen of these states offered monetary incentives to 

teachers who met specific qualifications (e.g., National 

Board Certification, certification in a specific subject area, 

number of endorsements, or years of experience). 

• Seven offered incentives to teachers rated effective on 

the basis of teacher performance and four used a 

combination of teacher performance and teacher 

qualification measures. 

Twenty states reported using other strategies for promoting 

equitable access, including specialized professional 

development (14 states) and/or teacher recruitment and 

preparation programs (14 states).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The complete report is available online at 

www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html.