To date, Educators for Excellence teachers have written more than 30 policy papers on topics selected by the local membership. Explore E4E teacher-led policy recommendations on each of these topics:
Creating a diverse, high-quality teacher pipeline
Through action at the state and local level, improved policies can help diversify and strengthen the teacher workforce and elevate the profession as a whole.
Deepening union engagement
We support the rights of educators to freely associate, organize, and collectively bargain, while also championing innovative changes that support teachers and their students.
Elevating the teaching profession
We can elevate the teaching profession by creating new compensation structures, improving evaluations, strengthening professional development, and making tenure a meaningful professional milestone.
Funding schools equitably
We advocate for equitable funding systems that ensure sufficient resources are distributed based on student need.
Improving standards and assessments
We support standards that prepare all students for college and careers of their choosing, as well as assessments that help teachers improve their instruction.
Supporting the whole student in welcoming schools
Students and teachers flourish in welcoming, non-punitive schools that encourage positive relationships and prioritize whole child development.
Our Teacher Policy Teams
E4E teachers interested in developing policy solutions join a local Teacher Policy Team. The teams are composed of 15-20 current educators who meet weekly for several months to review research, meet with key decision-makers and experts, and conduct focus groups and surveys to develop policy recommendations.
How Teacher-Led Policy Solutions Are Developed
- Identify a Policy Topic. Focus groups with diverse local public school teachers and E4E member surveys are used to identify the policy issue educators, in a given community, believe is most pressing to address.
- Review Research. The Teacher Policy Team is selected through an application process and they meet over the course of several months to review research and discuss the benefits and pitfalls of various potential solutions. They gather insight from research that has been conducted in districts across the country, in addition to drawing from their own experiences as classroom teachers.
- Conduct Local Research. The Teacher Policy Team members conduct surveys, focus groups, and interviews with fellow educators, district and state leaders, students, parents, and community organizations to gather critical information about current practices and stakeholder feedback.
- Develop Recommendations. The Teacher Policy Team reflects on the research and stakeholder feedback they have gathered and authors a policy paper with recommendations that articulate changes at the school, union, district, state, and/or federal levels that are needed to improve outcomes for students and elevate the teaching profession.
- Advocate for Change. Upon the release of their policy paper, E4E members analyze the policy, political, and media landscapes and develop strategies and tactics to advocate for their recommendations.
Formulating policy solutions is just one of the ways E4E members are improving outcomes for students and elevating the quality and prestige of the teaching profession. Learn more about how we advocate for implementation of teacher-generated policy ideas.
