AASA report showcases challenge of recruiting high-quality educators. (Bulletin).

Countless strategies have been proposed to close the achievement gap for disadvantaged school children. But unless the best teachers and principals are redistributed to the schools that serve students with the greatest needs, no reform strategy is likely to work, according to a new white paper released by AASA.

"With passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, schools are now expected to raise achievement for every child or face federal sanctions," said AASA Executive Director Paul Houston. "The surest way for schools to raise student achievement is to assign every child a highly qualified teacher. But research clearly shows that low-performing schools tend to have the most inexperienced teachers, uncertified teachers and out-of-field teachers who do not hold a degree in the subject they are assigned to teach."

AASA's report, "The Challenge of Attracting Good Teachers and Principals to Struggling Schools," examines the complexity of assigning the best teachers and principals to low-performing schools--and why superintendents agree that the solutions are far from simple.

The challenge for school system leaders is how to design "politically acceptable strategies" that will attract and retain highly qualified teachers and principals in the schools that serve students with the greatest needs, Houston said. AASA is querying its members to determine how they are meeting this challenge. AASA is also asking them to judge the effectiveness of various solutions being proposed.

"The political and managerial dilemmas are real and cannot be overlooked," Houston said. "It's a real Catch-22 for school superintendents. If they concentrate their best teachers in the lowest-performing schools, they risk alienating parents of students in the more affluent schools and accelerating 'middle-class flight.' They also risk the ire of teacher unions and school boards for breaking contracts that allow teachers with seniority to transfer to more 'desirable' schools."

Some states and districts have begun to address this problem by changing policies that deter teachers from working in hard-to-staff districts and schools; by offering monetary incentives, such as salary increases and bonuses; and by offering non-monetary incentives that aim to improve working conditions in hard-to-staff schools and that support and reward good teaching. AASA believes that national strategies are needed as well, and has called for a federal income tax credit for fully certified teachers and principals who work in high-poverty, low-performing schools.

AASA proposes that an annual federal income tax credit be created as an incentive to attract and retain highly qualified educators in high-poverty public schools. All credentialed teachers and principals employed in high-poverty public schools would be eligible. This credit would provide incentive for professionals to choose to work in America's poorest urban and rural schools, while creating economic stimulus for the country, Houston said.

"We will not satisfy the critics of public schools until we can provide a quality education for every child," Houston said. "Yet we cannot provide a quality education for every child until we put highly qualified teachers in every classroom and superb principals in every school."

AASA's proposed 'Leave No Child Behind Opportunity Tax Credit' provides an incentive for high-quality teachers and principals to work in schools serving children with the greatest needs, while giving our economy a much needed boost."

A full copy of the report and the AASA member survey are available on AASA's web-site at: www.aasa.org/issues_and_ insights/issues_dept/challenges.htm

For further information about the report or survey, contact Issues Analysis Director Cindy Prince at 703-875-0767 or [e-mail].