From Good to Great: Exemplary Teachers Share Perspectives on Increasing Teacher Effectiveness Across the Career Continuum

• In Event: 26.079 - Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: 26.079-1 - Developing Teacher Leaders

Abstract

This paper is a first-of-its-kind exploratory survey of National and State Teachers of the Year. It discusses what exemplary teachers believe to be the formative experiences and supports that led them to be so effective as they moved through each stage of the career continuum, from their preservice days to becoming a teacher leader. The findings both surprise us and confirm much of what we knew about how teachers evolve from good to great, including the importance of high-quality preservice clinical experiences with effective cooperating teachers, preservice coursework in their content area, access to mentors and supportive principals, appropriate placements that match their training, opportunities for collaboration and reflection, and opportunities for teacher leaders to help less effective teachers improve.

Authors

• Ellen J. Behrstock-Sherratt, American Institutes for Research

• Derek Olson, National Network of State Teachers of the Year

• Angela Minnici, American Institutes for Research

• Katherine Ann Bassett, National Network of State Teachers of the Year

• Catherine Jacques