Harvard Education Press

A Grand Bargain for Education Reform
New Rewards and Supports for New Accountability

Edited by Theodore Hershberg and Claire Robertson-Kraft

This book offers an ambitious new system for evaluating, compensating, and providing professional development for school teachers and administrators. In this realigned system, new forms of accountability are introduced, but they go hand in hand with new rewards and access to enhanced forms of professional development to help educators succeed in their instructional tasks.

Advance Praise: 

“This timely volume responds to President Obama’s call for a renewed focus on teacher effectiveness as a central component of education reform. With thoughtful contributions from many prominent educators, it offers a range of ideas for improving teacher compensation, professional development, and accountability in our nation’s schools.”
—Representative George Miller, D-CA, chairman, House Education and Labor Committee, U.S. House of Representatives

“A Grand Bargain for Education Reform advocates for increasing the professionalism of teaching by working with educators as full partners in school improvement. Although I don’t agree with every recommendation in the framework, the substance of focused professional development, improving teacher evaluation, enhancing career opportunities for teachers who remain in the classroom, and differentiating compensation offers educational leaders an innovative path to improved teaching and learning.”
—Randi Weingarten, president, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

“Considerable consensus has been built around the notion that a high quality teacher is the single-most important factor in a child’s education. A Grand Bargain for Education Reform moves the discussion
to the next level, proposing new ways to evaluate and compensate the men and women who play such a crucial role in determining the fate of modern school reform efforts.”
—Joe Williams, director, Democrats for Education Reform

“A perceptive educator focuses on the critical step to better schools: paying teachers more for teaching well.”
—Lamar Alexander, U.S. Secretary of Education (1991–1993)

“This book offers a dynamic collection of authors, whose combined experience and expertise is unmatched. Their collective message makes this book a good blueprint that school communities can use to build systems that will lead to great success for schools and children.”
—Gerald L. Zahorchak, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education

About the Authors:

Theodore Hershberg is a professor of public policy and history and director of the Center for Greater Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania, and director of Operation Public Education.
Claire Robertson-Kraft is associate director of the Center for Greater Philadelphia and of Operation Public Education, and a former elementary school teacher.