Issue link: https://takingitglobal.uberflip.com/i/1542824
R. Adeboye, C. Flewelling,V. Ogbole, E. O'Sullivan 36 students will be subjected to less effective teaching in more than one school year, thus compromising the quality of long-term student achievement. (Mueller et al., 2011, p. 60) The authors also describe the detrimental effects that high turnover can have on workplace culture and morale, while Burleigh (2016) underscores that this kind of instability is especially difficult in First Nations communities because Indigenous ways of knowing and learning are relational in nature, making trusting relationships essential not only between teachers and students, but also with parents and the wider community. Interestingly, Ronfeldt et al. (2013) discuss how the presumed negative impacts of teacher attrition on student outcomes have been contested, with some arguing that turnover could actually have a positive effect if the replacement teachers were better suited for a given post than the ones who left. That said, their own research based on 850,000 students over 8 years supported the deleterious effect of attrition on student achievement, and described additional disruptive effects, including the costs to schools of onboarding, and the strain on existing staff who are expected to support their new colleagues. The link between teacher performance and student outcomes is a complex and contested area of research; however, in the absence of consistent results, it remains reasonable to expect a relationship—particularly with respect to improved performance in delivering culturally responsive education. The effects of teacher performance on student outcomes have already been touched on above, and many scholars identify teacher performance or quality as essential to student success (see, e.g., Borman and Kimball, 2005). Defining and measuring "quality teaching," however, can be challenging (see, e.g., Rivkin et al., 2005). A synthesis by Goe (2007) describes how teacher effects are variously measured in terms of teacher qualifications (i.e., credentials), characteristics (including experience but also things like race and gender), or practices; and that the effects of each seemed to vary across studies and contexts. With respect to teacher practices - probably the conceptualization that is more relevant to the Connected North Program Theory - Goe concluded that "although most of the studies summarized in this section found some positive correlation between what teachers practice and student achievement, the results generally are not statistically or practically significant" (2007, p. 31) and that many of the research methods used were suboptimal, making drawing conclusions a challenge. A more recent study by López-Martín et al. (2023) likewise highlighted this complex context, while also affirming the important, if variable, role of teachers in student performance. While Goe asserts that "despite all the time and effort spent researching this topic, in only a few aspects of teacher quality does strong and consistent evidence suggest that certain dimensions make a significant difference in student learning" (2007, p. 2), the measurement challenges described suggest that this is a case where the adage "absence of [definitive] evidence is not evidence of absence" applies; accordingly, it remains reasonable to situate teacher performance as an important contributor to student outcomes in the Connected North Program Theory. The final element of the outcomes chain relates to teacher cultural competency, which is intended to strengthen teacher performance by supporting the delivery of culturally responsive education. The central role of teachers in shaping culturally safe and inclusive learning environments was examined in detail under Evaluation Question 3. To reiterate this point,