Every school day, Texas teachers willingly embrace the responsibility of shepherding our children toward bright futures. In return, it is our duty as parents, employers and taxpayers to empower these teachers with the best tools so our students are prepared to succeed.

Teacher effectiveness is the cornerstone of a series of innovative recommendations recently released by Texans for Excellence in the Classroom, which are now being considered by the Legislature. The Governor's Business Council developed the report, "Excellence in the Classroom," working with education experts, researchers and teachers with years of classroom experience.

Texas sits at a critical crossroads. Thanks to previous reforms, Texas ranks near the top in the U.S. for math performance up to eighth grade. But those numbers are not nearly as good for reading, nor do improvements continue in either discipline after the eighth grade.

Even at the top of U.S. rankings, American students are significantly behind their international peers who consistently outperform our students in science and math. Korea, Norway, Japan and Canada, for example, all have a higher percentage of adults with a high school diploma than Texas.

Based on gross domestic product, if Texas were a country, it would be the 10th largest economy in the world. Texas must have a globally competitive education system. Yet each year, the world is leaving our students further behind.

Perhaps most troubling, 82 percent of Texas high school graduates are not fully prepared for college or a high-paying job. In fact, for the first time, today's children are less educated than their parents. Texas employers report great difficulty in finding qualified employees.

We must embrace change.

Every element of the report embraces the notion that teachers matter. Recent research showed that if a student had an effective teacher, as opposed to an average teacher for only five years in a row, the increased learning would be sufficient to entirely close the gap between low- and middle-income students during that amount of time.

So if effective teaching is key, how can we encourage it? First, we need a new way to measure effective teaching. The report recommends improved evaluations that would consider more than test scores and include such criteria as principal and multiple peer evaluations. To equip principals with the management and leadership skills they'll need to promote effective teaching, the report recommends intensive professional development opportunities.

We also need to develop better tools for teachers. The state must provide teachers with clear direction regarding standards and what students should know and when.

We must improve the collection of information about student, teacher, administrator and school performance. We need to better measure the progress of schools and growth of individual students over time.

We need to do more to attract quality teachers to the classroom. With the exception of the limited pay reforms in HB 1, our teacher salary structure offers virtually no pay differentiation for excellence. Studies show prospective teachers are most deterred by the fact that everyone is paid the same, regardless of performance. As soon as the improved evaluation methods are in place, the report recommends paying more to effective teachers and even more to effective teachers who also take on greater and more difficult assignments, such as mentoring or teaching in hard-to-staff schools.

To encourage effective teaching, enhanced professional development opportunities would be available to all teachers and specifically tailored for teachers who receive an ineffective evaluation. If, after professional development support, any teacher receives a third consecutive ineffective evaluation, the report recommends removal of that teacher. All improvement in professional development should be funded by the state, so local districts and taxpayers do not have an additional financial burden.

And, finally, we need to ensure that colleges of education — the institutions that prepare teachers — are using the most effective teaching methods.

Texas has the opportunity to lead the nation in educational quality and provide a model for the rest of the nation. Passing these important recommendations will be the most direct path to fostering true excellence in the classroom.