Teacher Quality, Educational Inequality, and the Organization of Schools 1

Few educational problems have received more attention in recent times than the failure to ensure that elementary and secondary classrooms are all staffed with qualified teachers. Since the mid-1980s, dozens of studies, commissions, and national reports have drawn attention to the importance of the qualifications and quality of the teaching force. This concern is understandable. Teachers are a particularly important educational resource, the largest single component of the cost of education in any country is teacher compensation and student educational outcomes ultimately depend on the work of teachers.