An Inquiry Series dialogue at 8 a.m. on September 19 at the Union League Club in Chicago will address issues about teacher quality in Illinois. "Teacher Quality: How Do Illinois Teachers Measure Up?" is sponsored by Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy and the Inner-City Teaching Corps.
Jennifer Presley, director of the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC), which has published two research reports on teacher quality, will speak on the distribution of teacher quality in Illinois. In addition, Michelle Reininger of Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy, who researches the dynamics of teacher labor markets, will address the importance of geography in the occupational decision making of teachers. These presentations will be followed by a question-and-answer session.IERC has identified six traits that comprise a teacher quality index. The research shows, unsurprisingly, that all students-regardless of income or demographics-are affected by their teacher's ability. The most startling finding is that test scores for high-minority, high-poverty schools with higher-quality teachers were more than twice as high as similar schools with lower-quality teachers. Nearly 90 percent of Illinois' lowest-income schools placed in the ranks of poorest teacher quality.
Presley was the founding director of the IERC in 2001 and brought to that position more than 20 years' experience in education research and policy analysis, having led offices of research and analysis with the Connecticut Board of Governors for Higher Education, the University of Wisconsin System, UMass/Boston, and the University of Maryland.
Reininger is part of the research team for The Teacher Pathways Study-an ambitious, multimillion-dollar research project and one of the first ongoing longitudinal studies of teacher preparation as related to teacher quality. She is also a faculty fellow at Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research and a faculty member in the Learning Sciences program.Inquiry is a series of breakfast dialogues for civic leaders in Chicago who have a demonstrated interest in urban education issues. Periodically each year Inquiry gathers a distinguished group of civic leaders to explore the most important issues affecting urban education reform.
Past Inquiry events have included an exploration of the impact of the No Child Left Behind law, the Chicago Public Schools' Renaissance 2010 reform initiative and universal pre-kindergarten.
Registrations are being taken online. The registration fee is $25.
Last Modified: 8/14/09