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, Role of teachers in student achievement – distinguishing effective teachers through measured characteristics Implications of improved observed qualifications for student achievement

Data NYC teachers  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,

LAST Exam Failure Rate of New Teachers by Poverty Quartile,

Percent Teachers with Fewer than Three Years Experience, NYC Elementary Schools,

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

New Teachers by Pathway,

Average Certification Exam Scores, First Taking (2004; Passing= 220,SD=~30)

Estimating Effects of Teacher Attributes A isgty - A is’g(g-1)t’(y-1) = β 0 + S iy β 1 + C ty β 2 + T ty β 3 + π i + π g + π y + ε isgty 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: We are grateful to the New York City Department of Education and the New York State Education Department for the data used in this paper