Association Between Teacher Credentials

Association Between Teacher Credentials and Student Success on the Science TAKS By Dr. Anna George, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, and Dr. Diana Mason, University of North Texas

Introduction Teaching is a skill that is learned by doing. In the era of high stakes testing for students and the competitiveness of the current job market, the question regarding what qualifications make an applicant more desirable to principals has become more important. Teachers with less experience and minimal degree requirements for positions are easier to fit into a budget, but how to balance teacher attributes with student performance is a more pressing concern. Prior Research A recent research study completed by Henry, Fortner, and Bastian, in the public schools of North Carolina, focused on the learning curve associated with novice teachers. Novice teachers, defined as teachers with less than five years of teaching experience, in mathematics and science classes were evaluated for up to five consecutive years. This study reported that teacher effectiveness improved greatly between the first year and the second year that a teacher was in the classroom with smaller amounts of improvement in teacher effectiveness, based on student performance on standardized tests, for the next four subsequent years. Additionally, teachers who remained in the classroom for the full duration (5 years) of the study tended to have higher overall teaching effectiveness scores. However, a significant difference was not observed between those who stayed and those who left in regard to geometry, chemistry, and physics teachers. The courses that showed the greatest decrease in student performance on the end-of-course (EOCs) exams were chemistry and physics, when an experienced teacher was replaced with a novice teacher (Henry, Fortner and Bastian). The influence of teacher training and education has been investigated in several situations. A study conducted in Arizona, by Andreasen in 2009, investigated the relationship between teacher training and student performance on a statewide standardized test. Teacher training was defined as formal education, certification, outside subject-specific workshops, and campus-level development, which included mentor programs. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify participation in teacher mentor programs and subject-specific workshops as the most valuable aspects of teacher development in improving student performance on the state standardized test (Andreasen). ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues on 10

July 2013 Leaders of Learners

9

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues from 9

Data and Analysis The present study used data acquired from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to evaluate the impact of teacher experience and degree level on student performance on the Exit Level Science Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) during the 2009-2010 school year. The following data were obtained through an open-record request made of TEA in the fall of 2011. The data on teachers employed in Texas public schools are reported to the TEA by each school using the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) and the percentage of students who successfully met standard on the Exit Level Science TAKS are available as public record for every Texas public school from the TEA. Data kept in PEIMS are reported to TEA on a snapshot date in the fall semester. As of the 2009-2010 school year, there were 13,469 teachers assigned to teach one or more science classes on a campus that administered the Exit Level Science TAKS. Several variables that contribute to student performance on the Exit Level Science TAKS were evaluated using multiple linear regression analysis. The degree levels were recorded in four categories: no baccalaureate degree or higher, baccalaureate degree, master degree, and doctoral degree. Figure 1 is a graph depicting the percentage breakdown of all teachers by degree type.

Figure 1. Distribution of science teachers in Texas by degree type. A large majority of science teachers in Texas have met the minimum degree requirement, with diminishing amounts of teachers holding graduate-level degrees; ‘no baccalaureate degree or higher’ category is the smallest.

The number of teachers was plotted based on the number of years of teaching experience (see Figure 2). Years of teaching experience were then divided into four categories based on the definition of novice teachers in the research presented by Henry Fortner, and Bastian as well as the natural breaks seen in Figure 2. The experience categories were novice teachers with 0-4 years of experience (n = 4835), earlycareer teachers with 5-10 years of experience (n = 2,959), middle-career teachers with 11-20 years of experience (n = 4,044), and full-career teachers with 21 or more years of teaching experience (n = 1,738). As can be seen in Figure 2 from the downward trend of the line, the natural groupings for novice teachers (red) and early-career teachers (orange) fall quickly but the portions of the line describing middle-career teachers (green) and full-career teachers (blue) have less dramatic slopes. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues on 11

July 2013 Leaders of Learners

10

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues from 10

Figure 2. Science teachers and years of teaching experience. The red portion of the graph represents novice teachers with 0-4 years of teaching experience (n = 4,835). The orange portion represents early-career teachers with 5-10 of teaching experience (n = 2,959). Middle-career teachers with 11-20 years of teaching experience are represented in green (n = 4,044). The blue section represents full-career teachers with 21 or more years of teaching experience (n = 1,738).

The distribution of average experience by degree type is shown in Figure 3. This depiction of the average years of experience and degree level indicate that teachers with baccalaureate degrees have on average about the same number of years of experience when compared to the average years of experience of teachers who hold doctoral degrees. However, the distribution of experience between each group of teachers is much different, as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 3. Average years of teaching experience by degree type. On average, science teachers with master degrees tend to have the most experience, followed by baccalaureate and doctoral degrees, which have similar average years of teaching experience. While the average years of teaching experience is similar for teachers who hold baccalaureate degrees and those holding doctoral degrees, what is interesting about Figure 4 is the drop off at year 4 for teachers holding a baccalaureate degree without an accompanying increase of teachers holding graduatelevel degrees implying that teachers are simply leaving the profession before year 5. Additionally, the baccalaureate category is the only one with a large number of teachers in a particular experience category. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues on 12 July 2013 Leaders of Learners

11

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues from 11

Figure 4. Distribution of teachers versus years of experience divided by degree level. A large number of beginning teachers with baccalaureate degrees do not continue teaching after five years.

Results Degree Level and Student Performance The majority of the Texas science teachers included in this study had a baccalaureate degree as the highest level of degree on file, the minimum educational requirement mandated by the TEA State Board of Education (SBOE). Therefore this category was removed from the model and evaluated as the baseline for the multiple linear regression model. The categories of “master degree” and “doctoral degree” were both significant at α = .05 with positive beta weights. These results indicate that there is a positive relationship between teachers having higher degrees and more students meeting standard on the Exit Level Science TAKS. This is consistent with the experiential theory of learning because graduate degrees allow for a greater amount of practice in acquiring, applying, and deepening their knowledge. It is possible that the differences in the beta weights have a direct relationship with the amount of application type requirements involved in completing the higher degree levels. Additionally, according to Figure 3, teachers with master degrees have the most years of experience on average. The relationship between degree type and student performance on the Exit Level Science TAKS are shown in Table 1, and the confidence intervals and collinearity values for these predictor values are given in Table 2. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues on 13

VISIT WWW.TXASCD.ORG OR CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

NEW FALL ACADEMIES OR SEE PAGE 24 FOR MORE INFORMATION. July 2013 Leaders of Learners

12

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues from 12

Table 1 Degree Level Beta Weights and Significance Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

B Std. Error Final Model No baccalaureate degree 0.020 0.018 Baccalaureate degree .a   Master degree 0.009 0.003 Doctoral degree 0.046 0.009 .a Excluded from model .b Not included in the model, but point used in discussion Not statistically significant

t

Sig.

1.095   3.438 5.240

0.273   0.001 0.000

β 0.006 .b 0.021 0.030

Table 2 Degree Level Confidence Intervals and Collinearity Statistics 95.0% Confidence Interval for B Final Model No baccalaureate degree Baccalaureate degree Master degree Doctoral degree

Collinearity Statistics

Lower Upper Tolerance Bound Bound -0.016 0.055 0.964     0.000 0.004 0.015 0.819 0.029 0.063 0.903

VIF 1.037   1.222 1.107

Teaching Experience and Student Performance Of the four categories of teaching experience, only two of them were statistically significant at the .05 level, with one category, mid-career, indicating a positive relationship and the other category, full-career, indicating a negative relationship with the percentage of students who met standard on the Exit Level Science TAKS. These relationships are shown in Table 3, and the confidence intervals and collinearity values for these predictor values are given in Table 4. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues on 14

July 2013 Leaders of Learners

13

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues from 13

Table 3 Experience Level Beta Weights and Significance Unstandardized Coefficients Final Model Novice (0-4 years) Early-career (5-10 years) Middle-career (11-20 years) Full-career (21 or more years) .a Excluded from model Not statistically significant Table 4

B .a 0.004 0.010 -0.018

Standardized Coefficients

Std. Error   0.003 0.003 0.004

t

Sig.

  1.091 2.872 -4.528

  0.275 0.004 0.000

β   0.007 0.022 -0.037

Experience Level Confidence Intervals and Collinearity Statistics 95.0% Confidence Interval for B Final Model Novice (0-4 years) Early-career (5-10 years) Middle-career (11-20 years) Full-career (21 or more years)

Lower Bound 0.000 -0.003 0.003 -0.025

Upper Bound   0.010 0.016 -0.010

Collinearity Statistics Tolerance

VIF

0.000 0.744 0.526 0.453

  1.345 1.901 2.207

The only statistically significant experience categories were middle-career (teachers with 11-20 years of teaching experience) and full-career (teachers with 21 years or more of teaching experience) teachers. The middle-career teachers showed a positive beta weight (0.022) and the full-career teachers showed a larger, but negative beta weight (-0.037). This can provide an indication that teaching effectiveness peaks somewhere between the 10 and 21years of teaching experience and then begins to diminish as teachers enter the latter phase of their careers. The improvement of student performance with established teachers is congruent with the experiential learning theory in that these teachers have had the opportunity to sharpen their skills through their classroom experiences. Discussion and Conclusion Based on the beta weights provided, teachers with doctoral degrees and who have 11-20 years of teaching experience should have the greatest impact on student performance on the Exit Level Science TAKS. However, the number of teachers with doctoral degrees teaching at the high school level is relatively low in comparison to those who have master or baccalaureate degrees. Teachers with master degrees also have a positive relationship with student performance and have a beta weight of 0.021, which is close to the ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues on 15 July 2013 Leaders of Learners

14

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues from 14

beta weight for the middle-career teachers with a beta weight of 0.022. It is the authors’ conclusion that teachers who have had the opportunity to continue studying teaching and learning through practice and advanced degrees have much to offer both the students in the classroom and their colleagues who are still developing their craft of teaching. Future research needs to include an investigation of the factors that contribute to the dramatic difference between students’ performance with teachers classified as middle career in comparison to teachers later in their careers. Armed with the understanding of the relationship between teacher experience and student performance, the primary concern must always be the potential impact on student learning that teachers make in the classroom. References Andreasen, Faith Elizabeth. “Aspects of teacher education that affect student success: A study of Arizona public high schools.” Educate 9.1 (2009): 27-39. Web. . Henry, Gary T., C. Kevin Fortner and Kevin C. Bastian. “The effects of experience and attrition for novice high-school science and mathematics teachers.” Science 335.6072 (2012): 1118-1121. Web. March 2012.

About the Authors...

La Crosse.

Dr. Anna George is currently an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. As a member of the department of chemistry and biochemistry, she teaches introductory chemistry courses. Additionally, she teaches science teacher education courses as well as supervises both field and student teachers as a member of the Secondary Teacher Education Program. Dr. George received her B.A. in Chemistry and B.S. in Biology in 2006, her M.Ed. in Secondary Education in 2008, and her Ph.D. in Chemistry – Chemistry Education in 2012 from the University of North Texas. While completing her graduate studies, she taught chemistry in the north Texas area at the high school level for five years and at the university level for her final year of her graduate studies before joining the faculty of the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin –

Dr. George’s research interests are currently focused on the relationship between teacher credentials and student success as it applies to teacher preparation programs. Additionally, Dr. George’s interests also include issues associated with misconceptions, problem solving techniques, and the use of various teaching approaches and materials used in general chemistry courses. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Continues on 16

July 2013 Leaders of Learners

15

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Continues from 15

Dr. Mason received her B.A. in zoology in 1974 from The University of Texas at Austin and her M.S. in zoology in 1978 from Texas A & M University, Commerce. Following 10 years of teaching high school chemistry and mathematics at Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas, she returned to The University of Texas at Austin and received her Ph.D. in 1994 in science education with the emphasis in chemistry. Currently, as a retired professor, supervising graduate students seeking their PhDs in chemical education. Dr. Mason’s research interests are in the field of chemical education specifically highlighting high school preparation for freshmen chemistry and the study of the effects of online homework on students’ success in general chemistry. She is interested in the improvement of the teaching and learning strategies for general chemistry students and in science teacher preparation. Her work involves issues related to student difficulties in solving problems, misconceptions, and Web-based learning. Dr. Mason has served as the Secondary School Section Editor for the Journal of Chemical Education, and on the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Division of Chemical Education’s Committee on Chemical Education Research. She is a past president of the Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas (ACT2), past chair of the San Antonio Section of the ACS, and currently is actively involved in outreach programs involving live chemical demonstration shows. She is a Regional Director of ACT2 and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Fort Worth Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Recently, she was honored as a member of the ACS 2011 Fellows Class and is a multi-year honoree in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

October 20-22 in Corpus Christi, Texas Learning for Tomorrow...

Today.

REGISTER AT WWW.TINYURL.COM/2013ANNUAL

July 2013 Leaders of Learners

16