How are the dynamics of social and economic context related to policy, teacher recruitment, retention and assignment, and student outcomes?
Policies do not operate in isolation. Nor does individual decision making by teachers. Social and economic contexts make a difference; and these contexts are often far from stable. Two dynamics will be given special attention in the CALDER research program: student population dynamics and labor market dynamics.
Immigration is the driving force behind changing demographics in local jurisdictions in the United States. The number of immigrants in the United States is at an all time high. As a percentage of the population, it has more than doubled since 1970, from 4.7% to 11%. Projections for the next decade go to 13%, not much below the historical peak of 14.8% in the late 1880s.
Schools have been particularly affected with dramatically increased numbers of limited English proficient immigrant students and the recent dispersion of LEP students into new areas of the country. Foreign born children and children of immigrant parents represent 20% of the school age population and 25% of the low-income student population. From 1990 to 2000 the number of children from homes speaking a language other than English doubled, from 5.1 million to 10.6 million (Hannaway, Fix and Passell, 2004; Fix and Passell, 2003).
And while immigrants tend to be mainly in urban areas and a handful of states, including major destinations such as Texas, Florida and New York, immigrants are increasingly moving into suburb and ring city areas (Frey, 2001) and into states that have historically not been a destination. Indeed, North Carolina is a leader in the growth rate of its immigrant population. These changing demographic conditions have important implications for teacher policies and for accountability policies that we will examine. For example, we will study to what extent and in what ways will states and school districts respond to new student demands.
Because we have longitudinal data we are particularly well positioned to examine how changing student demographics may, for example, influence the flow of teachers in and out of schools and school districts, as well as the emergence of new policies to attract and retain quality teachers.
In addition to dynamics associated with immigration, we are also interested in student mobility in general. It is well known that student mobility is high in high poverty schools. One GAO study, using the Prospects data, showed that over 30 percent of low income students changed schools three or more times just between first and third grades. The costs to students of changing schools are high. Recently CALDER researcher Eric Hanushek and colleagues, using the Texas data, have showed that even the stable students suffer academically when student mobility in a school is high (Hanushek, Kain and Rivkin, 2004).
Changing labor markets is a second dynamic that we will include in our research program. As economic conditions change and the salaries for other jobs requiring a college degree expand, districts might have a hard time hiring qualified teachers. Indeed, during the boom of the late 1990s many states and districts faced shortages of math and science teachers. In addition, financial resources available to local districts also shift with state and local economic conditions, tax rates, and competition for public monies. We will explore how changing economic conditions affect the ability to recruit and retain qualified teachers for schools and districts serving different student populations.
Other CALDER Research Questions:
Or, go back to the description of outcomes examined by CALDER research.
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