Teacher Policy Research (TPR) is a research partnership between the University at Albany and Stanford University that examines the behavior of teachers and administrators with the goal of developing policies that will both attract and retain high-quality teachers and leaders, especially in low-performing schools. The research covers a broad range of issues in teacher education policy, including teacher preparation, teacher labor markets, how teachers are distributed across schools, and teacher retention, particularly in urban, low performing schools. Teacher Policy Research project consists of researchers from several universities and organizations who share a common interest in conducting research on teaching and teacher education programs with the goal of providing education policy makers with current, useful data to inform their policy decisions. The research is funded by organizations that want to evaluate existing education policies, identify ways to improve those policies, or develop new policies as needed. We have received financial support from the Carnegie Corporation, the City University of New York, The National Science Foundation, the New York State Department of Education, The Spencer Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.
The study “Examining Teacher Preparation: Does the Pathway Make a Difference? (Teacher Pathways Project) is the team’s central research project. The Teacher Pathways Project is a multi-year study of teachers and teacher preparation programs to examine characteristics of teacher education and pathways into teaching and identify attributes that impact student outcomes in New York City schools.