Teacher Quality in Low- Performing Schools

1
Teacher Quality in Low- Performing Schools

• Kevin C. Bastian
• Shanyce L. Campbell

2
Overview

• Presentation
• Question and Answer
• Group Assignment
• Further Discussion
• Key players
• Policy experts Kevin Bastian Shanyce
  Campbell
• State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Doug Lauen
• Hiring Human Resource Department Class

3
Food For Thought

• Think back to your time as a K-12 student.
• Who were your favorite teachers?
• What made them great teachers?

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What is Teacher Quality?

• Years of Teaching Experience
• Degree Level and Subject Matter Knowledge
• Licensure/Certification Status
• Teachers Test Performance
• Advanced Credentials

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What is Teacher Quality?

• Years of Experience
• Teachers are more effective as they gain
  classroom experience
• Most gains occur during the first 3 to 5 years
  when marginally teachers are learning more
• Teaching seniority confounds experience effects
  due teacher sorting
• Degree-Level
• Teachers degree not strong proxy for teacher
  quality
• Any effect of degree level is likely to be
  overestimated due to credentialed sorting

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What is Teacher Quality?

• Subject Level Knowledge
• In secondary school/upper level math, subject
  matter training and knowledge improves teacher
  quality
• Other subjects and grade levels do not show
  similar results
• National Board Certification
• Previous research showed a positive relationship
  between certification and teacher quality
• More current research finds little evidence of
  statistical significance
• Positive effects may be due to non-random
  teacher-student matching

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What is Teacher Quality?

• Teacher Test Performance/Academic Proficiency
• There is a positive relationship between
  teachers scores on standardized exams and
  student achievement
• Teachers with higher test scores may be
  disproportiately employed in higher achieving
  schools
• Licensure/Certification Status
• Little statistical evidence that
  licensure/certification are predictive of teacher
  quality

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What is Teacher Quality?

• Greater variation within than between
• For example, there is greater variation for
  teachers who passed the NC licensure test than
  all those who passed and failed
• This means that a teachers paper credentials are
  a relatively weak screen for teacher quality

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Teacher Quality Effects on Low-Performing Schools

• Student Sorting
• Teacher Sorting
• Clotfelter et al. Model of Teacher Sorting
• Between Districts Sorting
• Within District Sorting
• Other Problematic Factors
• Out of field teaching
• High attrition rates

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Student Sorting

• Student sorting is a necessary component of
  teacher sorting
• Students are segregated by race, SES, or prior
  achievement
• Leads to schools serving disproportionate numbers
  of low performing students
• High concentrations of low performing students in
  schools makes teacher sorting feasible

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Teacher Sorting

• Economic Efficiency Model
• Suggests that high quality teachers should be
  placed with lower performing students
• Clotfelter et al. Model
• Demand side constraints from parents
• Parents of better off students demand high
  quality teachers
• Principals respond to parental demands to keep
  better off students at the school

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Teacher Sorting

• Clotfelter et al. Model
• Supply side constraints from teachers
• Teachers with more experience, higher degrees
  and proven ability prefer to be in classrooms
  with easier to educate students
• Principals fear losing highly qualified
  teachers, and thus respond to demands
• Demand and supply side effects may widen the
  learning differences among groups of students

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Teacher Sorting

• Sorting Between Districts
• Working Conditions
• Teachers prefer fewer low SES and racially
  different student s in schools
• Teachers prefer better facilities and closer
  relationships amongst peers
• Economics of Geography
• Teachers prefer schools near their high school
• Teachers prefer schools close to where they live

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Teacher Sorting

• Sorting Between Districts cont.
• Late Hiring Factors
• Late notification by existing teachers of their
  resignation in poor districts
• Comparative ease to transfer for experienced
  teachers
• Sorting Within Districts
• Salary
• Single-salary schedule hampers low performing
  schools in their recruiting and retaining high
  quality teachers

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Teacher Sorting

• Sorting Within Districts cont.
• Experience
• Comparative ease to transfer to higher performing
  schools
• Principals
• Steer poorly-performing teachers to low
  performing schools

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Other Problematic Factors

• Out of field teaching
• Ingersoll (2008) finds that in low performing
  schools, teachers are more likely to teach out of
  their field
• High attrition rates
• Low performing schools have higher attrition
  rates, which results in less experienced teachers

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Policy Initiatives in Teacher Quality

• Salary Incentives
• Longer probationary periods for teachers
• Alternative pathway programs to attract qualified
  individuals to the profession
• Training and professional development

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Group Assignment

• Groups of 3-4
• Facts
• Design a comprehensive teacher hiring policy for
  the district that will improve the quality of
  classroom instruction and assist in narrowing the
  test score achievement gap
• The district is low performing
• Resources are scarce available funding is
  comparable to other low performing districts