TFA teachers in lower elementary grades (prekindergarten through grade 2) had a positive, statistically significant effect on reading achievement of 0.12 standard deviations¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i1 TFA teachers in prekindergarten through grade 2 raised students' reading achievement by 0.12 standard deviations, about 1.3 additional months of learning, relative to other teachers in the same schools. → Clark 2017

Evidence¶

Clark 2017¶

Clark, Melissa A.; Isenberg, Eric; Liu, Albert Y.; Makowsky, Libby; Zukiewicz, Marykate. (2017). Impacts of the Teach For America Investing in Innovation Scale-Up. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/impacts-of-the-teach-for-america-investing-in-innovation-scaleup

q3 · i1 · causal · r?

The report's key findings state that TFA teachers in lower elementary grades "had a positive, statistically significant effect on students' reading achievement." The printed effect size is 0.12 standard deviations, equated to about 1.3 additional months of learning.

"TFA teachers in lower elementary grades (prekindergarten through grade 2) had a positive, statistically significant effect on students' reading achievement of 0.12 standard deviations, or about 1.3 additional months of learning for the average student in these grades nationwide."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• 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 have positive effects on mathematics achievement for students in grades pre-K-12, based on six studies — related
• Teach For America teachers had no impact on student reading achievement — reports the opposite
• No statistically significant TFA impacts were found for upper elementary grades (3 through 5) in reading or math or for other examined subgroups — related
• 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 — related