Creating superior teachers.

The skills of 3.1 million teachers in elementary and secondary school classrooms across the nation can make or break school reform, according to a recent report from The Brookings Institution.

"Without the right people standing in front of the classroom, school reform is a futile exercise," according to The Hamilton Project, Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance On the Job.

The project, named after the nation's first treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton, seeks to advance America's promise of prosperity.

The 30-page paper released in April claims in part that the difference between stronger and weaker teachers is clear once they have been in the classroom for two years, the report notes.

The paper aims to improve average teacher effectiveness by increasing the inflow of new teachers and requiring minimum competency on the job, rather than relying solely on completed certification programs upon hire. It aims to shift high-performing teachers to more challenging schools and make it easier for professionals in other careers to become teachers, which is important as many teachers are nearing retirement, the report notes.

"We're excited by the recommendations," says Rene Islas, chief of staff in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. "It's very consistent with the policy that the Department of Education is pursuing and initiated in October of 2005."

Recommendations:

* Reduce the barriers to teaching for those without traditional teacher certification. For example, Islas says, the Adjunct Teacher Corps allows professionals in other fields, such as at IBM or Intel, to start teaching, bringing great knowledge to the classroom.

* Make it harder to promote the least effective teachers to tenured positions.

* Give bonuses to highly effective teachers willing to teach in high-poverty schools.

* Evaluate teachers using various measures of teacher performance on the job, such as parent and principal evaluations and classroom observation.

* Provide federal grants to help states link student performance with individual teacher effectiveness over time. Only a few states can measure this currently.