Teachers and leaders.

Arizona teachers begin the new school year with an assignment from their legislators--help to craft the details of a new system of evaluation in which 33 to 50 percent of their annual evaluations will be tied to their students' progress. The statewide measure, Senate Bill 1040, which will result in a evaluation system in place by the 2012-13 school year, will be a work-in-progress this year, needing a "framework" that the state Board of Education must provide that districts and charter schools will use to meet the new requirements. Recommendations to the state board will come from a 12-person task force that includes school administrators, teachers, and union leaders. [More--The Arizona Republic] (August 1)

Researchers in North Carolina are looking at the question of where credentials matter when it comes to student achievement. What was their conclusion after reviewing statewide data on several large cohorts of 9th and 10th graders, matching them to their teachers? At the high school level, credentials do matter, according to Duke University researcher Helen F, Ladd, who headed the study, and with a large enough impact on student achievement to warrant attention by education policymakers concerned with raising the quality of instruction. Among specific factors that were found to be linked to higher achievement were obtaining a master's degree after some time in the classroom, high scores on subject-matter tests used for certification, and certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The full study can be found in the current issue of the Journal of Human Resources. [More--Education Week] (July 21) (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org)