Teacher Quality Research Program

Mastering Reading Instruction was funded by a four-year Teacher Quality research grant. The award was for one of three proposals to study reading instruction, funded by the Institute of Educational Science, a new division focusing on the study of educational research. This study was among the first of its kind to link teacher knowledge, teacher practice and student achievement.

The purpose of the Teacher Quality research program is to identify effective strategies for improving the performance of classroom teachers in ways that increase student learning and school achievement. The program supports research on key issues of teacher quality that are likely to lead to substantial gains in academic achievement for all students and a reduction of the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students and between economically disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers. Long-term outcomes of the Teacher Quality program will be an array of tools and strategies (e.g., pre-service and in-service programs, policies, assessments) that have been demonstrated to be effective for improving and assessing teacher performance in ways that are linked to increases in student achievement.