We use North Carolina data to explore the extent to which teachers in the lower grades (K-2) of elementary school are lower quality than in the upper grades (3-5) and to examine the hypothesis that accountability contributes to a shortfall in teacher quality in the lower grades. Our concern with early elementary grades arises from recent studies that have highlighted that children’s experiences in the early school years have long lasting effects on their outcomes, including college going and earnings. Using licensure test scores as the primary measure of teacher quality, we find that concern about teacher quality in the lower elementary grades is warranted. Teachers in those grades are of lower quality than teachers in the upper grades. Moreover, we find that accountability, especially the form required by the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, increases the relative shortfalls of teacher quality in the lower grades and increases the tendency of schools to move teachers of higher quality from lower to upper grades and teachers of lower quality from upper to lower grades. These findings support the conclusion that accountability pressure induces schools to pursue actions that work to the disadvantage of the children in the lower grades.
Community colleges are complex organizations and assessing their performance, though important, is difficult. Compared to four-year colleges and universities, community colleges serve a more diverse population and provide a wider variety of educational programs that include continuing education and technical training for adults, and diplomas, associates degrees, and transfer credits for recent high school graduates. Focusing solely on the latter programs of North Carolina’s community colleges, we measure the success of each college along two dimensions: attainment of an applied diploma, or degree; or completion of the coursework required to transfer to a four-year college or university. We address three questions. First, how much variation is there across the institutions in these measures of student success? Second, how do these measures of success differ across institutions after we adjust for the characteristics of the enrolled students? Third, how do our measures compare to the measures of success used by the North Carolina Community College System? We find that most of the system’s colleges cannot be statistically distinguished from one another along either dimension.
CALDER Researchers are experts in their field and the nation has taken notice. Recently, some of our researchers have been appointed to or re-appointed to positions of national importance.
Jane Hannway - Director of CALDER and AIR Vice President - was elected president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) at their national conference, held March 15-17th in Boston, MA. Susanna Loeb - CALDER Researcher and Professor of Education at Stanford University - has been nominated by President Obama to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences. Eric Hanushek- CALDER Researcher and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University- is currently serving on Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan's Equity and Excellence Commission.
5th Annual CALDER Research ConferenceHuman Capital Policies in Education: Further Research on Teachers and PrincipalsFriday, January 27, 2012
|
CALDER Relocates to American Institutes for Research |
National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research Joins National Leader in Education Research and Evaluation
Washington, D.C. (July 18, 2011) - Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to education research and evaluation, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) today announced that the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education (CALDER) will relocate to AIR, effective July 18, 2011...Read more »
In Focus |
Teacher-Layoff Policies Examined in 2 Studies
Faced with budget shortfalls, states and localities are considering cuts to K-12 education, including reductions in teaching staff. Consequently, governors, lawmakers, and school officials are taking a second look at seniority provisions in their collective bargaining agreements and weighing the costs and benefits of the prevailing system under which the last hired is typically the first fired.
Two recent CALDER studies, one using data from New York City and the other using data from Washington state, compare scenarios in which teachers are laid off according to measures of their effectiveness versus the seniority system currently in place...Read more »
|
|
CALDER |
