Policy Implications of Long-Term Teacher Effects on Student Achievements	Karen L. Bembry, Heather R. Jordan, Elvia Gomez Mark C. Anderson, Robert L. Mendro Dallas Independent School District Dallas, TX 75204

Dallas Independent School District Mathematics Study

The Dallas Independent School District initiated a two-year analysis of its mathematics program to determine why so many students in Algebra 1 were failing the state end-of-course exam (the passing rate has been under 10% for the past two years). In the first year of the study, elementary mathematics was evaluated (Bearden, 1997). As a part of this study, classes of some of the most effective elementary mathematics teachers were visited. The relevant conclusions of this study to the arguments in this paper are these. The common factors among the top elementary math teachers were

1.	they knew mathematics and were able to provide better in-depth explanations to students,
2.	they covered all objectives in the curriculum, and, an important point, they covered higher-order skills and concepts thoroughly,
3.	they assessed students frequently through multiple means, and
4.	they engaged more in deep instruction, i.e., they went beyond the printed curriculum to add deeper insights into mathematics for students.