In this follow-up to Effective Teacher Induction and Mentoring, Michael Strong tackles the major issues surrounding teacher quality and effectiveness. The Highly Qualified Teacher provides an accessible overview of the research related to teacher quality, and introduces a new method for evaluating teachers based on extensive fieldwork in schools. This timely work clarifies the different definitions of teacher quality and distinguishes between good teaching and successful teaching. Strong thoroughly examines the empirical evidence responsible for identifying the qualities associated with positive student outcomes, including observational measures that are able to predict a teacher’s ability to raise student achievement in mathematics.

This comprehensive, up-to-date volume is essential reading for students of education, as well as school administrators, educational policy specialists, and anyone wrestling with the federal mandate to provide a highly qualified teacher in every classroom.

Michael Strong is senior researcher at the Center for Research on the Teaching Profession at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of Effective Teacher Induction and Mentoring: Assessing the Evidence.