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FEATURED NEWS
 

 

CALDER on Teacher Quality
 

The National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) released two new publications focused on access to effective teachers--a teacher quality gap--between low- and high-income students. "Has It Always Been This Way? Tracing the Evolution of Teacher Quality Gaps in U.S. Public Schools" adds data to the conversation around the teacher quality gaps (TQGs) between advantaged and disadvantaged students using longitudinal data from two states: North Carolina and Washington. Researchers found variation in magnitudes of TQG: 1) between different periods of time; 2) between the two states; 3) depending on which measurement of student disadvantage and teacher quality was used. Of note, CALDER finds that TQGs are not a new phenomenon, "in fact, disadvantaged students in both states were more likely to be exposed to low-quality teachers in every single year of available data and under every definition of student disadvantage and teacher quality."  

In a related brief, "Reconciling Different Estimates of Teacher Quality Based on Value Added", CALDER compares its own research findings to other studies looking at the teacher quality gap.  A recent Mathematica study found that students in low- and high-income communities had similar chances of being taught by both effective and ineffective teachers, while a study published in Economics of Education Review found TQGs are, "large enough to have meaningful consequences for children's opportunity to learn." CALDER believes the contrasts in findings may be attributed to:

Recent articles in U.S. News & World Report and The 74 offer further discussion of the specific contrasting elements of recent findings.
 

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In "Landscapes in Teacher Preparation" the National Council on Teaching Quality (NCTQ) examined 875 undergraduate elementary teacher preparation programs and found that overall, the programs have made improvements in the way they train teachers. The review ranked programs in four areas: admissions criteria, graduates' knowledge of key subjects including reading and math, student teaching, and classroom management. While quality varied from program to program, the report notes that programs have made gains in selectivity, increasing diversity without compromising candidate quality. In comments to Education Week, NCTQ President Kate Walsh said, "...research shows that more-selective programs carry a prestige factor that may result in more candidates vying for entry. Half of all the selective programs included in the review, 113 of them, managed to assemble a diverse class of future teachers despite their tough entry requirements." 

The review also notes that 851 of the programs were evaluated for their student teaching, but only seven percent evaluated the qualifications of teacher mentors. Of that seven percent, three percent of programs earned an A and two percent earned a B "for making the effort to match candidates to qualified teacher mentors and requiring programs supervisors to observe candidates' teaching and provide feedback at least four times."