Great teachers. Inside the classroom in Latin America and the Caribbean

• In Event: Teacher evaluation in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Barbara Bruns and Javier Luque’s book Great Teachers. How to Raise Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (2014) distills the latest evaluation evidence and practical experience with teacher policy reforms both within and outside the LAC region. The presentation will focus on the analysis of the large database on teacher practice and student engagement assembled by the World Bank and seven Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries between 2009 and 2013 (Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Peru and the Dominican Republic), which observed more than 15,000 different teachers in representative national and subnational samples of 3,015 different schools across the region. The research explored how much of measured differences in school outcomes and classroom level (value-added) teacher effectiveness can be correlated with some basic dimensions of teacher classroom practice, captured by a slightly adapted and internationally validated version of the Stallings Classroom Snapshot instrument. This instrument generates quantitative measures of teachers’ use of instructional time; teachers’ use of materials, including information and communication technology (ICT); teachers’ core pedagogical practices; and teachers’ ability to keep students engaged. The research pointed to five consistent characteristics of education systems in LAC: low average time on instruction; low student engagement; teachers’ limited use of available learning materials, including ICT; large variation in average classroom practice across schools; and large variation in classroom practice across different teachers within schools. The presentation will point to key implications for teacher policy in LAC.

Authors

• Barbara Bruns, World Bank

• Javier Luque, Inter-American Development Bank