Memo: Improving the teacher workforce

Teachers are among our most valuable school resources for improving student learning. They are the adults who interact most with students, and we rely on teachers to deliver curriculum and instruction. The research evidence is clear that teachers have long-term effects on students' later well-being, including on their academic achievement, how far they go in school, and their wages once working. One large study, for example, found that students assigned to particularly effective teachers in a single year were more likely to attend college (1.25 percent), earned higher salaries ($25,000 in cumulative lifetime income), and were less likely to have children as teenagers (1.25 percent).