Any effort to monitor and ensure equity hinges on the quality and availability
of data and a system that links numerous sources of teacher, student, and school
data. In this component, states discuss the teacher data and reporting systems
needed to identify and correct inequities in the distribution of quality teachers
in high-poverty, high-minority schools and low-poverty, low-minority schools.
Typically, these systems collect basic reporting information on teacher qualifications,
availability, assignments, performance in the classroom, and distribution
in the state, including by teacher content area. Increasingly, states recognize the
need for more refined and comprehensive data through links to other sources
of teacher information, including certification, teacher preparation, professional
development, and student-performance databases, as well as the need to create
tools that provide public access to teacher-quality data. Under an effectiveness
framework, data systems must link to teacher-evaluation results to identify areas
of imbalance of effective educators by district, school, content area taught, and
source of teacher preparation.