Report
Finds Underqualified Teachers More Likely to Work in Schools
with Poor or Low-performing Students
Contact: Karl
Luntta (518) 437-4980
ALBANY,
N.Y. (September 12, 2003) -- A new study by the University
at Albany's Education Finance Research Consortium (EFRC) examines
how teacher qualifications are distributed across New York
public schools.
In
�Understanding Teacher Labor
Markets: Implications for Equity,� professors Hamp
Lankford and Jim Wyckoff of the University at Albany; Don
Boyd, deputy director of UAlbany�s Center for Policy Research;
and Susanna Loeb, assistant professor at Stanford University,
examine the distribution of teacher attributes in New York
and identify characteristics of teacher "sorting"
that create an uneven distribution of teacher qualifications
across the state�s labor markets.
The
authors find �substantial
variation across schools in the qualifications of teachers."
Less-qualified teachers, such as those failing the general
knowledge certification exam, are more likely to teach in
schools with higher numbers of non-white, poor or low-performing
students. The authors attribute the disparity to teacher preferences
(new teachers prefer to work close to their hometown and in
a school that matches the urbanicity of their high school),
transfer requests (teachers in schools with higher numbers
of non-white, poor or low-performing students are more likely
to transfer out after a few years), and compensation (in 2000,
starting salaries for novice teachers with master�s degrees
in New York City were 15 percent lower than those of similar
teachers at suburban schools). The authors conclude that targeted
strategies such as hiring incentives, compensation and improvements
to teacher preparation are needed to close the qualifications
gap.
Boyd,
Lankford and Wyckoff have studied secondary education in New
York State since the early 1990s. Along with Loeb and Pam
Grossman, professor of education at Stanford, the authors
have begun a three-year study of teacher preparation programs
in the state and what role they play in student achievement.
In
a separate EFRC report, Developing
a Financial Condition Indicator System for New York School
Districts, authors William Duncombe and Bernard Jump,
professors at Syracuse University, and Salwa Ammar and Ronald
Wright, professors at LeMoyne College, release their work
on a financial review system for New York schools. The Financial
Condition Indicator System, or FCIS, was developed with input
from state agencies and school groups, and has garnered the
wide-spread support it needs for implementation. FCIS measures
four main components: a school�s short- and long-run financial
condition, the economic condition of the school�s location
and student performance. It applies a �fuzzy rule-based system,�
a step-wise process of measuring data that incorporates informed
judgment in the variables. The model allows for separate analysis
of any of the four components so that targeted reviews can
be made as needed.
The
authors anticipate that the FCIS will be ready to pilot within
the year.
For
the full text of these and other EFRC education research reports
and related information, visit the Education
Finance Research Consortium website.
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