About Best in the World Teachers

Best in the World Teachers (BIW Teachers) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to improve and change the way teachers are prepared. The organization is the result of decades of research into the best practices for teacher education and training worldwide that shows that the single-most important factor in student success is effective classroom teachers. To address this, BIW Teachers is developing Open Educational Resources (OER) with experts across the country and worldwide to better prepare America’s teachers.

Decades of research have shown that the single-most important factor in school success is an effective teacher, and yet despite this research, too many teachers need skill development to make them the most effective leader in the classroom. This has the potential to threaten America’s long-term economic competitiveness and vitality which limits equality of opportunity. To ensure long-term growth and national security, students must acquire deep content knowledge, develop frameworks of understanding, and mobilize their competencies to solve complex, sophisticated, and challenging problems. We need teachers with the skills and abilities to equip them to successfully do that.

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Since teacher quality is the most important school-level factor that affects student equity, growth, and achievement, it behooves us to address how teacher candidates are selected and are more fully prepared from day one. BIW Teachers is committed to developing courses and programs for teacher’s colleges which prepare students to become “Best in the World” teachers. By focusing on scientific research and best instructional practice, we aspire to support student achievement to acquire a broad academic background and demonstrate the pedagogical skills, educational knowledge, and passion to prepare students from all walks of life. Our hope is to help them become: 1) much better prepared in their intellectual abilities; 2) more successful in their careers; 3) more knowledgeable of American history and government; and 4) committed to continue their quest for life-long learning.

Our approach is grounded in engaging expert panels to determine student learning outcomes, content and assessments for the courses. This approach democratizes access to the top academics in the field of education. This framework is based on the work of organizations such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and the National Reading Panel. Through the expert panel model, we will bring together the top researchers and practitioners in content fields such as English-language arts, mathematics, science, history, music, foreign languages, and social-emotional learning to identify research-based approaches to instruction. In providing access to the resources we develop to over 1,200 colleges of education currently preparing prospective teachers for the classroom, we aspire to improve teacher readiness and effectiveness.