Definitions shape what we value and support. It's critical to define highly effective teaching to build systems that reward, support, and extend the influence of effective teachers, but the task requires careful consideration to avoid definitions that limit teacher creativity or leadership or reduce teacher and student achievement to a single test score.

Education expert Linda Darling-Hammond notes that highly effective teachers tend to have a strong background in the content they're teaching and how to teach it so that students will understand the content. A recent study (cited in Berry, 2009) of traditional and nontraditional teacher preparation shows that programs producing higher student achievement gains in the first year of teaching are marked by

• Extensive and well-supervised student teaching with a strong connection between training and the first-year assignment.
• Opportunities to engage in practices germane to actual teaching.
• Opportunities to study and assess local school curriculum.
• A capstone project that includes action research or data-based portfolios that are used to inform summative assessments about the candidate's quality.

NCLB requirements for highly qualified teachers refer specifically to the minimum qualifications and credentials a teacher brings to the position. However, increasingly research shows that classroom processes and outcomes better indicate teacher effectiveness. Even leaders of highly selective schools, like New York City's The Equity Project, agree that "a golden résumé and a well-run classroom are two different things" (Gootman, 2009). A complete picture of teacher effectiveness includes input factors but also extends to teachers' effects in the classroom and school community and the results, or output, of those efforts.

Undoubtedly preparation is an important determinant in teacher abilities, but once a teacher has completed preservice training, schools need to be able to identify and support highly effective teaching. State and local education agencies must now consider defining expectations for the work teachers do once they are in the classroom and aligning measures, supports, and rewards in ways that are fair, are valid, and improve teaching and learning.