Mathematica random assignment study of alternative routes to teacher certification¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 9 claims (9 for) · 3 studies (2 causal, 1 review), q3 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 9 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A large-scale random assignment evaluation of alternative routes to teacher certification conducted by Mathematica for the U.S. Department of Education. It "tracked 2,600 students in 63 schools in 20 medium and large school districts in 7 states during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years" and "collected detailed data on coursework requirements and content from 80 teacher training programs." It focused on less selective alternative certification programs producing large numbers of teachers across rural to urban districts.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Random assignment of students to classrooms led by traditionally or alternatively certified teachers

Constraints¶

• Focused on less selective alternative certification programs producing large numbers of teachers, not all alternative routes

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students in medium and large school districts in 7 states

Target Learning Goals¶

• Reading and math achievement

Claims¶

• Most alternatively certified teachers completed some coursework before entering the classroom, though this varied by state [+W]
• Students with alternatively certified teachers did no worse on achievement tests than students with traditionally certified teachers [+W]
• Coursework hour requirements varied widely across certification programs and did not consistently differ by route [+W]
• Students of alternatively certified teachers taking coursework while teaching scored lower in math than students of traditionally certified counterparts [+W]
• No association between amount of teacher training coursework and classroom effectiveness [+W]
• Alternative and traditionally certified teachers were similar on academic credentials but differed in race, education major, concurrent coursework, and first-year mentoring [+W]
• Secondary math teachers from Teach For America and the Teaching Fellows programs are as effective as teachers receiving traditional certification [+W]
• In some cases, Teach For America and Teaching Fellows secondary math teachers are more effective than traditionally certified math teachers [+W]
• A randomized controlled trial found TFA secondary math teachers outperformed non-TFA comparison teachers in mathematics achievement [+W]

Related Elements¶

• Teach For America alternative certification program
• Mathematica's design for the Teacher Preparation Models Impact Evaluation (2003-2009), prepared for the U.S. Department of Education
• Alternative teacher certification routes compared in the IES studies: highly selective (Teach For America, Teaching Fellows) and less selective routes
• IES Research Conference presentation on teacher certification route evaluation
• Passport to Teaching program of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence

Examples¶

• Use within-school random assignment of students as an evaluation design for school-based programs, learning implementation lessons from the TFA experiment

Key Sources¶

• Jill Constantine, Daniel Player, Tim Silva, Kristin Hallgren, Mary Grider, John Deke. (2009). An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee