National Council on Teacher Quality

The National Council on Teacher Quality is issuing a call for proposals for the second biennial research competition. This competition culminates in a national conference in March 2011 in Washington, D.C., when finalists will defend their paper before some of the nation's top teacher quality scholars. The 2009 jury included Jane Hannaway, Eric Hanushek, Susan Moore Johnsonand Michael Podgursky.

In the 2011 competition, NCTQ is seeking topics to increase knowledge of the impact of collective bargaining agreements, school board policies and state laws on teacher quality and student achievement. NCTQ's TR³ database (www.nctq.org/tr3) can serve as a core resource for the selected research pursuit, but its use is not a prerequisite for the competition. Scholars of any experience level are eligible, although NCTQ is particularly interested in attracting new scholars from a variety of fields, intent on investigating untapped topics.

In June 2010 the jury will select up to 12 semi-finalists, who will be awarded $5,000 to develop their proposals into full papers. After the papers are submitted, in January 2011 the jury will select the best five to eight papers for presentation at the national conference.

Finalists will each receive an all expenses paid trip to D.C. to present their paper. The first prize winner will receive $10,000 and the second prize winner will receive $5,000. All other finalists will receive $1,000. In addition, NCTQ and jury members will endorse the papers for publication in leading academic journals.

Proposals are due midnight EST, June 10.

For more information, click here.