A major new study released today on Philadelphia’s teaching force confirms what we know from our investments in Philadelphia’s great schools: Talent is key and as a city we’re not doing enough to attract, develop and retain great teachers. Read a summary of the report here.

The National Council on Teacher Quality’s in-depth study– available online here – recommends changes to how the District hires, evaluates and compensates its teachers, and it echoes both Superintendent Hite’s call to eliminate teacher seniority last week and other citywide efforts underway to reform the teachers’ contract and the District’s management practices.

You can learn more about the report in today’s Inquirer and on KYW; some of the key findings include:

• The district needs to do a much better job hiring and assigning teachers, including giving principals more say over who they can hire
• Teacher observation and evaluation is ineffective; virtually all teachers are rated as satisfactory and granted tenure
• The District should change its compensation structure to reward effective teaching
• Teachers need more time in the work day and professional development should be better aligned with teachers’ needs

We hope you’ll take a minute to review this important research.