Since 1999, SRI’s Center for Education Policy, in collaboration with the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, has been producing a series of reports on the status of the teaching profession in California. The reports examine teacher supply and demand, preparation, recruitment, induction, professional development, and the impact of state policies on teacher quality and distribution. The reports’ significance is far-reaching because California’s teacher workforce is the nation’s largest. More than 280,000 public school teachers in the state serve a student population of more than six million.

The most recent report, The Status of the Teaching Profession 2011, covers the challenges of effective school management and ensuring quality instruction given the state’s historic budget cuts to education. The report also examines principals’ capacity to perform teacher evaluations, including their experience conducting classroom observations and formally evaluating teachers before becoming a principal and the support they receive in these areas once on the job. The report presents recommendations for improving the state’s system of teacher development and evaluation in ways that strengthen the quality of classroom practice and address the challenge of preparing for the implementation of the new Common Core State Standards.