Students of certified teachers outperformed students of under-certified teachers, including TFA teachers, on all three SAT-9 subtests in low-income districts¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2002 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Students of certified teachers out-performed students of under-certified teachers on the reading, mathematics, and language arts subtests of the SAT-9, by about 2 months on a grade equivalent scale. → matched-pairs-1

Evidence¶

Laczko-Kerr 2002¶

Laczko-Kerr, I., & Berliner, D. C. (2002, September 6). The Effectiveness of "Teach for America" and Other Under-certified Teachers on Student Academic Achievement: A Case of Harmful Public Policy. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(37). http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n37/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Matched-pair comparison of 109 pairs of recently hired under-certified and certified teachers (from N=293) in five low-income Arizona districts; students all took the mandated state SAT-9 achievement test. The study reports students of certified teachers outperformed students of under-certified teachers "by about 2 months on a grade equivalent scale."

"In reading, mathematics, and language, the students of certified teachers outperformed students of under-certified teachers, including the students of the TFA teachers, by about 2 months on a grade equivalent scale."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• TFA teachers have positive effects on mathematics achievement for students in grades pre-K-12, based on six studies — reports the opposite
• A randomized controlled trial found TFA secondary math teachers outperformed non-TFA comparison teachers in mathematics achievement — reports the opposite
• Teach For America teachers had a positive impact on student math achievement of about 15 percent of a standard deviation, equivalent to about one month of instruction — reports the opposite
• Prior experimental studies of TFA consistently showed a positive, statistically significant effect on student math achievement but no discernable effect on reading — reports the opposite
• Teach For America teachers had no impact on student reading achievement — related
• TFA shows a small positive effect on reading for early elementary students (PreK to grade 2) but not in math — reports the opposite
• Students of TFA teachers did not perform significantly differently from students of other under-certified teachers — related
• TFA secondary math teachers increase student math achievement by 0.07 standard deviations over one school year relative to other math teachers in the same schools — reports the opposite
• BVI students in schools with more academic supports outperform on standardized math tests — related
• TFA teachers in grades 1 and 2 had a positive effect on math achievement of 0.16 standard deviations that was almost statistically significant (p-value = 0.054) — related
• TFA teachers show no discernible effects on English language arts achievement for students in grades pre-K-12 — related