http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-golston-/whats-working-teacher-eng_b_10994544.html - By Allan Golston President, U.S. Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we fund over 40 networks supporting teacher engagement; they foster the combination of will and skill that are hallmarks of engaged teachers, and also create connections that can encourage the spread of engaged teaching across districts, states and regions.

It’s time to add teachers to the employee engagement survey list of beneficiaries. Where do you start the process of improving teacher engagement? You measure it.  Just like a report card, a scientific-based, 3rd-party, confidential employee engagement survey scorecard creates an effective leadership tool. A tool that will help superintendents and principals generate evidence-based dialogs, recommendations for action items, and effective guidance that will improve individual, team, student and school performance.

Why would one think that Independent School Districts (ISDs) don’t face many of the same human resource and performance problems as other businesses?  Teacher and student disengagement drives teacher turnover which can lead to lower individual/team/school performance.

We believe thirty years of data and research proves “employee (teacher) and client (student) engagement programs” are a well-accepted business strategy that provides evidence-based results. Research shows 70% percent of the workforce is disengaged and only 35% of managers are engaged. Furthermore, only 1 in 10 managers have the natural talent to manage, yet are also called upon to lead, mentor, coach, innovate and discipline. Schools and their employees are not exempt from this data. The right employee engagement survey, combined with leadership/principal development training that is aligned with the data, will help drive teacher engagement.