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The Narrowing Gap in NYC Teacher Qualifications and its Implications for Student Achievement. Don Boyd, Hamp Lankford, Susanna Loeb, Jonah Rockoff, & Jim Wyckoff First Annual CALDER Conference October 4, 2007. Learning from Data on Teachers and their Students – An Example.
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The Narrowing Gap in NYC Teacher Qualifications and its Implications for Student Achievement Don Boyd, Hamp Lankford, Susanna Loeb, Jonah Rockoff, & Jim Wyckoff First Annual CALDER Conference October 4, 2007
Learning from Data on Teachers and their Students – An Example • Changing qualifications in NYC, 2000-05 • Role of teachers in student achievement – distinguishing effective teachers through measured characteristics • Implications of improved observed qualifications for student achievement
Data • NYC teachers 2000-2005 • teacher qualifications: cert exam scores, cert areas, initial routes to teaching, SAT scores, experience, BA institution ranking • Students • Achievement scores in math and reading (ELA) grades 3-8 • student fixed effects • Classroom • Class size, average student characteristics • Schools - categorized • Free Lunch Quartiles in 2000, also by year and by race/ethnicity and achievement
LAST Exam Failure Rate of Elementary Teachers by Poverty Quartile, 2000-2005
LAST Exam Failure Rate of New Teachers by Poverty Quartile, 2000-2005
Percent Teachers with Fewer than Three Years Experience, NYC Elementary Schools, 2000-2005
Policies Contributing to Change • In 2000 the NYS Regents created alternative certification routes • In 2000 the NYC Department of Education created its first cohort of Teaching Fellows • Effective September 2003, NYS Regents eliminated temporary licenses for uncertified teachers with very limited exceptions • Between 2000 and 2003 starting salaries in NYC increased from $33,186 to $39,000
Average Certification Exam Scores, First Taking (2004; Passing= 220,SD=~30)
Estimating Effects of Teacher Attributes Aisgty - Ais’g(g-1)t’(y-1) = β0 + Siyβ1 + Cty β 2 + Tty β3 + πi + πg + πy + εisgty • Change in student achievement is a function of: • student, grade and year fixed effects, • time varying student characteristics, • time varying classroom characteristics, and • teacher characteristics. • Specification checks • Achievement levels with school fixed effects • Only those with fewer than 3 years of experience • Alternatives for missing teacher test scores
Changes in Grades 4 & 5 Math Attributable to Teacher Qualifications, Rich and Poor Deciles 2001 & 2005
Characteristics of Teachers in Poorest Quartile of Schools by their Value Added Attributable to Observed Qualifications
Summary • Gap in teacher qualifications narrowed substantially between 2000 and 2005 • Likely result of changes in the state and city rules governing teachers • Changing qualifications appears to have improved student achievement • Greater improvements could result from more selective hiring, combined with effective evaluation for the purposes of improvement / professional development and selection.
Papers and other documents available at:www.teacherpolicyresearch.orgWe are grateful to the New York City Department of Education and the New York State Education Department for the data used in this paper