Teachers Matter: Rethinking How Public Schools Identify, Reward, and Retain Great Educators

In Teachers Matter, Marcus A. Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, argues that our failure to identify and reward high-quality teachers has been devastating for public school students. The question is, how do we sort out the good teachers from the bad? Winters shows the shortcomings of the current system, which relies on credentials and longevity, and spells out a series of reforms based on results achieved in the classroom. For the first time, standardized test results offer an objective, reliable measure of student proficiency that can be tied to an individual teacher. Sure to be controversial, Winters's plan will be of interest to the education community, policy makers, and parents concerned about the future of education in America.