Classroom teaching is complex. This means that pursuing a vision of empowered, highly respected, strongly performance-normed, contextually embedded teaching professionals who cultivate student learning requires a systemic approach to teacher career reform. One such approach is a set of principles called the 5Cs: choose and curate toward commitment to capable and committed teachers.¹

• Education authorities must initially choose prospective teachers based on the best available information.
• Education authorities should also designate the novice phase as a period of curation involving extensive support for teachers’ pedagogical development and careful identification of those teachers who are most likely to make sustained, careerlong contributions to student learning.    
• Such teachers must be technically capable and equipped for cultivating student learning in their specific school, classroom, and curricular contexts.
• Additionally, teachers must also be motivationally committed to the systemwide purpose of cultivating children’s learning.
• After these teachers have demonstrated their capability and commitment, education authorities should make a long-term employment commitment to them.