Teachers deserve a seat at the table … the policy table, that is. Therefore, in 2006, CTQ and its Teacher Leaders Network (TLN) successfully launched the TeacherSolutions initiative — a unique approach to elevating the voices of accomplished teachers on policy issues affecting their profession and the students and families they serve. While TeacherSolutions teams have now tackled several topics, they all share certain characteristics that make the TeacherSolutions model a particularly effective form of collaboration.

• A team of 10-20 expert teachers, representing a diverse cross-section of America’s best teachers, engage in research and analysis around a particular policy area considering both theory and current best practices.
• Team members collaborate with leading researchers and key policy stakeholders to further inform their thinking and refine their insights.
• TeacherSolutions members collaboratively authors a policy paper that is fluent in the foremost research and best practices, but also offers innovative recommendations and insights culled from their teaching expertise.

Learn more about specific TeacherSolutions teams including:

• The Future of Teaching: The year is 2030. What does public education in America look like? What skills are critical for this generation of students to be successful in a global, highly interconnected world? How have the systems of teaching and learning changed? Stepping back, and considering likely “future forces,” what must happen between now and 2030 to assure the teaching profession will be up the challenges ahead? Our TeacherSolutions 2030 team is currently exploring these critical questions and will present their own vision for the future of teaching and learning in an upcoming policy report and a book to be published by Teachers College Press.
• Teacher Working Conditions 2.0: Teacher leaders will assist CTQ in a a granular examination of large-scale survey data and case studies to explain to policymakers, practitioners, and the public which improvements in working conditions can make the most difference for 21st century student learning.
• National Board Certification: A research team of expert teachers considers the impact of National Board Certification on student learning and teacher leadership.
• Pay for Performance: In our inaugural TeacherSolutions work, teams of teacher leaders have come together to design a teacher compensation system that students deserve and report their conclusions to the nation.