"[Green] makes the case through thoughtful details that great teachers are made, not born...She brings hope and renewal to the field."

"At the heart of Green's exploration is a powerfully simple idea: that teaching is not some mystical talent but a set of best practices that can be codified and learned through extensive hands-on coaching, self-scrutiny, and collaboration."

"Both a history of the research on effective teaching as well as a consideration of how that research might best be implemented. What emerges is the gaping chasm between what the best teachers do and how we go about evaluating what they've done."

"Elizabeth Green draws upon years of interviews and research as an education writer and CEO of Chalkbeat to make the case for why teaching is a craft and that it can be taught to anyone. Her excellent book should be read for a detailed account of the history of teacher education, an international context, and an entertaining narrative."

"Elizabeth Green reveals, in cinematic detail, what makes great teaching such a dazzling intellectual challenge--and why it has taken us so unforgivably long to care. A must-read book for every American teacher and taxpayer."

"Great education is the foundation of a flourishing society, and it depends on great teachers. Building a Better Teacher illuminates how we can develop gifted educators who prepare children for a brighter future. With strong evidence and compelling cases, Elizabeth Green has written an important book that every educator ought to read."

"Green has spent years looking at what makes a great teacher--and whether the teachers we remember most fondly were born great or simply learned key skills."

"Ideas from a former principal on what makes for an exceptional teacher... Green...suggest[s] that the reverence surrounding the best teachers is misguided, in that it elevates the 'natural born educator' mythos that suggests an inborn talent. Green deflates the 'I could never do what they do' aura of the best teachers, but in a good way. In extensive conversations and observations that uncover the approaches that the best educators share, she distills how they apply those approaches in similar ways despite differences in extraversion/introversion, humorous/serious teaching approaches, and flexible/rigid standards...A powerful, rational guidebook to creating genuinely effective education, written in a manner useful not just for schoolteachers but everyone involved in the care of children."

"In this fascinating and accessible book, Elizabeth Green tells the story of the country's leading researchers on the all-important questions of what makes for an effective classroom teacher and how teachers can be trained to do their jobs better. That the story feels completely fresh is testament not only to Green's skill as a reporter and writer but also to how beside the point much of the national conversation about education is. Green's book ought to persuade the country to focus on what really matters in education."

"In vivid detail, Elizabeth Green chronicles the long, uncertain, but ultimately promising efforts, based on research, to improve teaching in American schools."

"It's a no-brainer: Teaching teachers better is a key to bettering education. To achieve that laudable goal, author Elizabeth Green gathers diverse stories from classrooms, cognitive-science labs, teacher training specialists, and the teaching methods of other cultures...[with] scores of lessons, prompts, and clues that educators can use to improve their game. Both entertaining and illuminating; a valuable tutorial. A Barnes & Noble editor's recommendation."

"Peek[s] into real classrooms, allowing readers to observe what great teachers do and how."

"Should be part of every new teacher's education."

"We romanticize teachers, and we vilify them, but we don't do much to help. This beautifully written, defiantly hopeful book points the way to a better future for American teachers and the children they teach."

"Will be of practical use to budding or aspiring teachers."

Elizabeth Green is cofounder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Chalkbeat, a nonprofit education news organization. A former Spencer Fellow at the Columbia School of Journalism, she has written for New York Times Magazine and other publications.