A recent report, Taking Human Capital Seriously: Talented Teachers in Every Classroom, Talented Principals in Every School, calls for states and school districts to overhaul how they recruit, prepare, evaluate, and compensate teachers.

The report, released November 3, 2009 by Strategic Management of Human Capital (SMHC), is a project of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education supported by funding from foundations. It is headed by Allan R. Odden, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and James A. Kelly, the founding president of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

In this report, SMHC offers 20 policy recommendations for state and district actions to improve student achievement by recruiting, developing, evaluating, compensating and retaining more effective teachers and principals.

The report calls for close cooperation between states and districts, determined commitment from all parts of the education policy community including teachers, teacher union/associations, and administrators, and strong political leadership. Odden said, "This report lays out a clear blueprint for reform. We urge state and local policymakers to implement these recommendations as soon as they are able."

Note: Allan R. Odden was a leading resource for Ohio's new evidenced-based school funding model.