Teacher professional development gives the biggest return on investment and yet is routinely cut in local board and state budgets when funding issues arise. Ineffective teachers lower scores of their students. Ineffective teachers lower morale at their schools. Ineffective teachers lower the professionalism of teaching. With all the school reforms and accountability measures of the past decade, it is now understood and articulated that without competent teachers in the classrooms, these reforms will not work.
Equity is a major issue.
Minorities are overwhelmingly assigned the least qualified and least effective teachers. It is no wonder why so many minorities fail in school. Teacher quality and standards vary widely from state to state. Many states do not know and are not able to guarantee that teachers can deliver what students need. Colleges have lagged behind, in many cases, in addressing the problems.