By drawing on quantitative data and qualitative analyses of five major national education policies implemented in India over the last 15 years, this comprehensive volume explores their impact on teacher quality and perceived effectiveness, explaining how this relates to variations in student performance. Responding to a national agenda to increase the quality of the Indian teacher workforce, Teacher Quality and Education Policy in India critically questions the application of human capital theory to Indian education policy. Chapters provide in-depth and strategically structured analyses of five national policies – including the recently approved National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 – to see how Indian policymakers use teacher quality as a driver and measurement of education and national economic development. Ultimately, the text offers evidence-based policy recommendations to improve teacher quality in India, suggesting that while all five policies have contributed significant frameworks and recommendations for teacher quality reform, they have failed to move beyond a symbolic function. Given its rigorous methodological approach, this book will be a valuable addition to the under-researched question of education policymaking in postcolonial contexts. It will be an indispensable resource not only for scholars working on policymaking in the Indian context, but also for those working at the intersection of education, teacher development, and policymaking in developing countries.

Using administrative data from linked private schools from one of districts in India that matches 8,319 pupils to their subject specific teachers at the senior secondary level, we estimate the importance of individual teachers on student outcomes in the high-stake senior secondary exam (at the end of twelfth-grade). We control for prior achievement at the secondary level (at the end of tenth-grade) to estimate the value added of a teacher over a two year course, and define a good teacher as one who consistently gets higher achievement for students. In addition to the prior achievement, we exploit the fact that students took exams in multiple subjects during their senior secondary exam to control for pupil fixed effects. We find a considerable variability in teacher effectiveness over a two year course - a one standard deviation improvement in teacher quality adds 0.38 standard deviation points in students score. Furthermore, consistent with studies in the US, we find that although teacher quality matters, the observed characteristics explain little of the variability in teacher quality.

India has one of the largest student populations in the world; the quality of teaching is blamed for the poor performance by Indian students on internationally-comparative assessments. By analyzing various measures of teacher quality, this book provides a framework for policymakers to further improve teacher quality in India.

A comprehensive text that allows headteachers and school mamangers to monitor teacher quality

This book provides a focused and comprehensive overview of gradual development and reforms in teacher education in India. It discusses historical development, policy perspectives, quality concerns, current practices, and trends of teacher education in India. It highlights the prevailing social image of teachers and the teaching profession, as well as the emerging problems and issues faced in teacher development programs, indicating the need to focus upon the transformative changes. Each chapter provides an in-depth research-based analysis and reflects on a specific theme: education policies and commissions, curricular reforms, ICT integration, and the digital revolution. It offers alternative practices by drawing a comparison with developed nations. It is an indispensable resource for teacher educators, school administrators, curriculum designers, policymakers, and researchers in teacher education.

Teachers and Teacher Performance in Bihar: Implications for Teacher Education is a study undertaken in the low income state of Bihar in India to create effective teacher perfomance measuring standards. Undertaken as a World Bank and Govt. of Bihar collaborative initiative to study has developed benchmarks against which teachers’ performance were assessed so that the quality of pre-service training and continuous professional development can be reviewed and improved. These teacher performance standards track (i) teacher subject knowledge; (ii) classroom teaching; and (iii) time on task. These inputs and index based scores of teacher performance feed into and inform the development of Bihar’s teacher training strategy. This study undertaken by the ASER Center of Pratham explores a set of interrelated factors that influence how teachers teach. Designed as a series of data collection exercises that were conducted between July 2013 and December 2014, the study covered 400 schools and over 2200 teachers tracked during visits to each school. The study uses teacher surveys and classroom and school observations methods. It evaluates teachers’ subject matter knowledge, ability to communicate as well as their ability to learn from children’s work. The findings generated by the study provide significant inputs and suggestions for designing future teacher training and teacher professional development programs. The research potentially has utility not only in India but more widely to influence teacher policy reform, identifying cost effective financing strategies, developing accountability measures for effective management of teacher education.

This book features contributions to the XVIIth International Conference “Linguistic and Cultural Studies: Traditions and Innovations” (LKTI 2017), providing insights into theory, research, scientific achievements, and best practices in the fields of pedagogics, linguistics, and language teaching and learning with a particular focus on Siberian perspectives and collaborations between academics from other Russian regions. Covering topics including curriculum development, designing and delivering courses and vocational training, the book is intended for academics working at all levels of education striving to improve educational environments in their context – school, tertiary education and continuous professional development.

This proceedings volume highlights the latest research and developments in psychometrics and statistics. It represents selected and peer-reviewed presentations given at the 85th Annual International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS), held virtually on July 13-17, 2020. The IMPS is one of the largest international meetings on quantitative measurement in education, psychology and the social sciences. It draws approximately 500 participants from around the world, featuring paper and poster presentations, symposiums, workshops, keynotes, and invited presentations. Leading experts and promising young researchers have written the included chapters. The chapters address a wide variety of topics including but not limited to item response theory, adaptive testing, Bayesian estimation, propensity scores, and cognitive diagnostic models. This volume is the 9th in a series of recent works to cover research presented at the IMPS.

Performance-based assessments can provide an adequate and more direct evaluation of teaching ability. As performance-based assessments become more prevalent in institutions across the United States, there is an opportunity to begin more closely analyzing the impact of standardized performance assessments and the relationship to variables such as success entering the workforce, program re-visioning for participating institutions, and the perceptions and efficacy of teacher candidates themselves. Performance-Based Assessment in 21st Century Teacher Education is a collection of innovative research that explores meaningful and engaging performance-based assessments and its applications and addresses larger issues of assessment including the importance of a balanced approach of assessing knowledge and skills. The book also offers tangible structures for making strong connections between theory and practice and offers advice on how these assessments are utilized as data sources related to preservice teacher performance. While highlighting topics including faculty engagement, online programs, and curriculum mapping, this book is ideally designed for educators, administrators, principals, school boards, professionals, researchers, faculty, and students.

This book provides a comprehensive understanding of India's continuing professional development (CPD) landscape. It examines the issues surrounding the professional development of English language teachers in India at the tertiary level from multiple perspectives. Further, it evaluates various models of continuing professional learning (CPL) and emphasizes the transformative model as a solution to the social, administrative, or other impediments teachers encounter in their lives. Importantly, it presents examples, solving academic and non-academic problems in formal and informal, and face-face and technology-mediated forms of teaching and learning by teachers of English in different contexts. It discusses the latest developments in the literature related to the transformative and reflective approach to classroom problems faced by teachers on the ground such as classroom environment, students' socio-economic background, teachers education, and teacher assessment. Also, it positions continuing professional development (CPD) as having transformative power in teaching English in India and how it can improve students' learning opportunities. The book is relevant to English language teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in India and across the globe to address significant issues in the field: how to handle every classroom situation and how to train oneself as a teacher as well as a teacher educator.