The No Child Left Behind Act recognizes the importance of quality teachers in improving student achievement in that it mandates that all students have to be taught by “a highly qualified teacher”. The increasing demand for highly qualified teachers has led to a shortage of qualified teachers. In the United States, however, an uneven distribution of high quality teachers exists. A closer look at urban areas reveals that the problem is more severe in those localities than the national average. In order to address the teacher shortage problem in urban areas, more than 40 states initiated an alternative certification route for candidates who hold a bachelor’s degree (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Heilig, Cole, & Springel, 2011), although teachers’ certification or licensing status play an important role in differentiating teacher quality. The purpose of this study was to examine how high quality teachers are distributed across a large, urban district in Texas according to student’s characteristics, school characteristics and student achievement. In addition, more importantly, this study explored how teacher’s quality influences student achievement and, more specifically, on achievement of students with limited English proficiency (LEP). Due to the differences of characteristics in student characteristics and a school system, elementary schools and middle schools were separated in the analyses. In order to examine which students were allocated to high quality teachers and to determine the effect of teacher quality on students’ achievement in an urban district, Southeast Independent School District (SISD), which is a major urban district in Texas with more than 200,000 students, was chosen. As the largest public school system in Texas, SISD has large shares of minority and low-income students. Student data utilized in this analysis came from the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), which is data collection and reporting system produced by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the public schools of Texas. SISD provided individual level teacher’s data, students’ data, and a matching file so that teacher’s and their students’ data could be linked. All data that SISD provided are protected by using masked identification. To address the research questions, the study involved three statistical approaches – descriptive analysis, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and three-level hierarchical linear models (HLM). Results from ANOVA indicated unequal distribution of high quality teachers across an urban school district. Economically disadvantaged students, minority students, and students with limited English proficiency were more likely to be allocated to alternatively certified teachers. It implies that students with economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds lose a chance to have fully-certified or highly qualified teachers. The test scores of students who had fully-certified teachers were higher than the test scores of under-certified teachers’ or alternatively-certified teachers’ students. Campus accountability ratings were also significantly lower for schools that had more Teach for America (TFA) teachers than schools that had more fully-certified teachers. There were also clear distinctions among teacher’s qualifications, student characteristics, and school conditions between elementary schools and middle schools. There were more alternative certified teachers and less fully-certified teachers in middle schools. Middle schools served a higher percentage of students that are economically disadvantaged, at-risk of dropping out, were LEP, and Hispanic. The average campus accountability rating was also lower in middle schools than elementary schools. Overall, school conditions in middle schools were more inferior than in elementary schools among urban schools in Texas. In order to explain the effect of teacher quality and school condition besides student’s characteristics on student performance, a multilevel analysis was necessary to explain each variance of students, teachers, and schools. Through multilevel analyses (or three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM)), I confirmed that student background or ability was the strongest predictor of student achievement as many previous studies have found. The results showed that student achievement significantly differed by students’ background or ability even when they have the same reading teachers. However, HLM results also showed that teacher’s and school’s effects on student achievement were not negligible based on their proportions of variances. It implied that student achievement could be differentiated by teacher’s quality or school’s conditions. Among variables regarding teacher qualifications, the fully-certified teacher variable was a solely significant and positive factor of student achievement in middle schools. That is, students who had fully-certified teachers were more likely to achieve higher test scores than those who had under-certified and alternatively certified teachers after controlling all variables. However, in elementary schools that had 95 percent of fully-certified teachers did not show the significant differences of student achievement by teacher’s qualifications. The years of teaching experience and teacher educational attainment was not significant factors to explain student performance. Among school-level predictors, campus accountability ranking was a positively significant factor to predict student achievement in both elementary schools and middle schools. The percentage of economically disadvantaged students in campus was negatively associated with student achievement in middle schools. Since the study focused on reading achievement, the effect of teacher’s quality on the achievement of LEP students was particularly concerning. To address research questions, an interaction effect between teacher certification status and the achievement of LEP students was added on the three-level model. Results from the analysis showed that after accounting all variables LEP students who had fully-certified teachers achieved 0.1 scores higher on the TAKS reading test in the middle schools. Considering that LEP students typically achieved lower than their peers, the results implied that fully-certified teachers mitigate the effect of LEP on TAKS reading. The finding showed a positive effect of fully-certified teachers for students in need and corresponded with previous studies that high quality teachers played a more important role for socially and economically disadvantaged students. To sum up, this study found that teacher quality is a significant factor to predict student achievement, yet highly qualified teachers are unequally distributed across an urban school district. Socially and economically disadvantaged students were less likely to be taught by fully-certified teachers and were more likely to be taught by alternatively certified teachers. Furthermore, their achievement was significantly lower than their peers who were taught by highly qualified teachers. These aspects were more noticeable in middle schools. / text

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand and describe the sources of Nicaraguan EFL teacher educators’ knowledge base, the types of knowledge and skills that constructed their knowledge base, and the relationship of this knowledge base and classroom practices in a teacher education program at a Nicaraguan University. This study presents a literature review on the sources of knowledge and knowledge base of EFL teacher educators in the field of language teacher education. I used a purposeful sampling technique to select both the research site and the six EFL teacher educators who participated as research participants in this study. Data were collected from three sources: a curriculum analysis, six one-shot semi-structured interviews, and a document analysis to lesson plans, syllabi, and assessment instruments used by the research participants. To analyze the data collected, I used the qualitative data analysis model proposed by Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014). As a mode of findings, I describe the sources of knowledge, a categorization of knowledge base and skills that Nicaraguan EFL teacher educators possess as well as the relationship they identified between their knowledge base and their teaching practices in EFL teacher education classrooms. Findings revealed that Nicaraguan EFL teacher educators possess sixteen types of knowledge and fourteen types of skills that resulted from eight sources of knowledge, among which English proficiency, own experiences as language learners, subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, teaching experience in EFL teacher education programs, assessment knowledge of language student teachers, and knowledge of students’ L1 seem to be the most important when it has to do with actual teaching in language teacher education classrooms. In addition, according to the findings, the process of becoming an EFL teacher educator may take many years. It begins with the professional coursework teacher educators take in their language teacher education programs where they first become English teachers. It continues with teaching experiences either in high schools, English teaching centers, or universities. Their professional knowledge as teacher educators is completed through the interaction with EFL preservice student teachers in teacher education classrooms, in which their previous pedagogical, linguistic, and teaching experiences as EFL teachers is transformed. In other words, their professional identity as EFL teacher educators is developed as they begin teaching in EFL teacher education programs. Pursuing this further, this study presents some pedagogical implications based on the findings that can help improve the quality and preparation of EFL teacher educators in Nicaragua. Finally, it offers some avenues for more research regarding the knowledge base of EFL teacher educators in Nicaraguan teacher education programs.

I used teacher data from the Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education (SPeNSE) to compare the characteristics, qualifications (e.g., credentials, preservice preparation, self-efficacy, and induction) and work conditions (e.g., school support, work manageability and induction support) of early career special education teachers in high- and low-poverty districts and the effects of these variables on teacher commitment. Organized as a set of thee articles, this research presents findings from a nationally representative sample of 935 early career special education teachers. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analyses, and logistic regression. Significant differences were found in the credentials and preparation of teachers working in high poverty vs. more affluent districts, with those in high poverty schools having fewer credentials and less preparation. In contrast, the two teacher groups reported similar induction opportunities and gave themselves comparable ratings on both self-efficacy and in skillfulness in various work tasks. Teachers in high poverty districts also reported less desirable work conditions than their counterparts in more affluent districts. When compared to teachers in low poverty districts, those in less affluent districts viewed their principals and colleagues as less supportive, perceived less involvement in school decisions, reported having fewer materials, and indicated higher and more diverse caseloads. In contrast, the two teacher groups reported similar professional development and induction opportunities. Finally, logistic regression results suggest that problems with work manageability were negatively related to teacher commitment, whereas positive school support and good match between preparation and assignment positively influenced teachers' commitment. However, district level of poverty, district support, and perceived helpfulness of induction support were not significantly related to teachers' commitment. These studies draw attention to inequalities in the education of students with disabilities in high poverty districts; and emphasize the critical need not only to recruit and prepare qualified teachers for high poverty schools, but also to address disparities in work conditions. Policymakers and educational leaders concerned with fostering teachers' commitment should consider developing supportive work environments, involving teachers in decision making, and creating manageable work assignments. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 79-88).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-88). Also available in print.

As an exploration of some of the major provisions of NCLB, this dissertation applies the resource substitution perspective (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003) to the early years of elementary school and examines various forms of teacher human capital (e.g., educational background, certification, experience) to capture the pool of potential compensatory resources for segments of the child population deemed at-risk for academic problems because of their race/ethnicity and/or economic status. The research literature concerning teacher effects on academic performance and disparities in the elementary grades (vs. later levels of schooling) is limited, and the prevailing research on teacher effects in general either focuses on factors that are less relevant to early childhood education or provide mixed results. Applying multilevel modeling and other statistical techniques to data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, I found that poor and non-poor Black children are consistently the most at-risk groups in math between kindergarten and third grade and in reading by the end of third grade. Poor Black and poor Hispanic children appear to benefit more from teachers who have regular and/or elementary certification than their non-poor White peers. In general, Hispanic children tend to be more responsive to resources in the early grades than other at risk groups. / text

South Africa has a unique cultural, historical, socio-economic and linguistic contextual complexity that influences the implementation the intended curriculum and educational policies. The contextual complexity continues to result in Science teachers entering into the teaching profession with a wide spread diversity in background and qualifications. The secondary data analysis used a concurrent mixed methods approach (QUAL + quan) to explore the interconnection between teacher characteristics, classroom practices and learner achievement in Physical Science. The primary sample consisted of 18 schools that were stratified by district and quintile. From the available data, nineteen Grade 12 Physical Science teachers with varying levels of qualifications and experience were analysed. A combination of qualitative and quantitative instruments, specifically, Science teacher questionnaires, Science lesson observations and Science teacher interviews, were explored. The data was analysed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, frequency tables and Pearson correlation coefficients. The qualitative data involved content analysis and the presentation of case studies and the themes that emerged. Significant Pearson correlations indicate a positive relationship between years of related experience and pass rates and also pointed to an interconnection between professional qualifications, related experience and learner achievement. Differences in teacher characteristics were also indicators of competency in content knowledge and ultimately influenced classroom practices. Four case studies are offered in an attempt to provide in-depth descriptions of the teacher characteristics and practices for Grade 12 Physical Science teachers in Gauteng. Recommendations for future research, teacher training and policy implementation are presented. The diversity in teacher characteristics, particularly in Physical Science classrooms, influences the classroom practices that teachers select in their day-to-day teaching and impacts learner outcomes in terms of achievement. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

A major component of the screening process for prospective teachers is the licensure examination. The examination serves two important functions: (a) sorting and screening candidates and (b) defining the knowledge base for professional practice. The first function receives the most attention from policymakers and serves the symbolic purpose of creating selectivity for entry into the profession. Initial entry typically is controlled by raising or lowering examination passing requirements which simply allows more or fewer persons to pass (Darling-Hammond, Wise & Klein, 1995). The second function presumes that a single instrument exists that not only contains the essential knowledge required for professional practice, but accurately identifies those most qualified to teach.The Virginia Board of Education (VBOE), like several other state boards of education, has authorized validation and standard-setting studies related to its teacher licensure examination policy, and the most recent studies have occurred in the past 20 years. The first study was authorized in April 1981 for the potential use of the National Teachers Examination (NTE). Following completion of validation studies for the Specialty Area Tests and the Core Battery Tests, the NTE was adopted as Virginia's licensure examination which was made effective on July 1, 1986. Ten years later (effective July 1, 1996), the VBOE agreed that prospective teachers would be required to take Praxis I Academic Skills Assessments. Praxis I would replace the NTE Core Battery, however, and the original NTE Specialty Area Tests would be retained. The decision to change teacher licensing examinations was precipitated primarily by the announcement by Educational Testing Service (ETS) that it would introduce new tests and eventually discontinue the NTE Core Battery. The passing requirements for Praxis I (as established in 1995) exceeded those of all states administering the test and were as follows: reading and mathematics - 178, and writing - 176. Review of test data obtained after the effective date of this policy revealed that the passing percentage for all test takers in 1995-96 was reading 72; mathematics 62; and writing 58. For minorities, the passing percentages were 34, 18, and 18, respectively. When these results were compared to test taker performance one year later (1996-97), there were modest percentage increases for all test takers: reading - 74; mathematics - 66; and writing - 63. For minorities, passing percentages were 36, 35 and 28, respectively. Despite these increases, 26 percent of all test takers failed the reading test; 34 percent failed the mathematics test; and 37 percent failed the writing test. The long-range effects of the Praxis I passing requirements on test takers are unknown; however, one of the near-term effects likely will be a reduction in the passing rate for a significant number of persons, particularly racial minorities.This study examined current Virginia teacher licensure policy, its intent, and near-term effects of examination results on teacher availability and minority representation. / Ph. D.

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