Our goal: All children have access to educators who empower them to reach their full potential.
Teachers are the most important school factor driving student outcomes. Yet they often work in systems that lack the necessary resources and support to help students unlock their potential.
Our Exceptional Educators portfolio empowers K-12 teachers to become exceptional educators by providing them access to evidence-based preparation, high-quality instructional resources, and ongoing professional learning and leadership opportunities.
Our Learnings
Teachers are the biggest within-school factor impacting student achievement.
Typical teachers can achieve extraordinary results.
Instructional resources are the second biggest in-school factor impacting student achievement.
Teacher social capital, more than teacher experience, predicts student achievement gains.
Teachers of color improve student learning outcomes.
Professional learning is an effective way to improve teacher performance.
Grantee Spotlight
Learn more about some of the work funded by the Exceptional Educators portfolio.
Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture
Empowering all teachers to achieve extraordinary results in America’s public schools.
Alder Graduate School of Education
Expanding the teacher pipeline and increasing teacher effectiveness through residency models.
EdReports.org
Providing educators a way to identify the highest quality instructional materials for their students.
Geographic Reach of Portfolio
Our Questions
What are the most vital elements for teachers to learn in teacher prep? What implications does this have for teacher prep design?
How do we support teacher pipelines that are rigorous, accessible, and acknowledge systemic issues that create more barriers for some teachers than others?
How do we ensure that every child has access to rigorous and relevant curricula?
How do we ensure all teachers are aware of, understand, and implement learning science-based practices that work to improve student learning?
How do we combine a rigorous curriculum with technology to accelerate learning for children who have fallen behind grade level mastery?
Page Data Sources:
Backes, B & Hansen, M. (2018). Reaching Further and Learning More? Evaluating Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture Initiative. CALDER Working Paper No. 181.
Bhatt, R., & Koedel, C. (2012). Large-Scale Evaluations of Curricular Effectiveness: The Case of Elementary Mathematics in Indiana. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 34(4), 391-412.
Chetty, R., Friedman, J., & Rockoff, J. (2014). Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood. The American Economic Review, 104(9), 2633-2679.
Daly, A. J., Finnigan, K. S., Johnson, S. M., Kraft, M. A., Leana, C. R., Papay, J. P., Pil, F. K., Ronfeldt, M., & Spillane, J. P. (2016). The Social Side of Education Reform. Albert Shanker Institute.
Gershenson, S., Hart, C. M. D., Lindsay, C. A., & Papgeorge, N. W. (2017). The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers. IZA Institute of Labor Economics, (10630).
Kraft, M. A., & Papay, J. P. (2014). Can Professional Environments in Schools Promote Teacher Development? Explaining Heterogeneity in Returns to Teaching Experience. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(4), 476-500.
Rivkin, S.G., Hanushek, E.A., Kain, J.F. (2005). “Teachers, schools, and academic achievement”. Econometrica 73 (2), 417–458.
Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., Lee, S. W., Scarloss, B., & Shapley, K.L. (2007). Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement. Issues & Answers, (33), 1-55.