Dates of Study:

2000

Focus of Study:

This report examines a study that analyzes data from The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Known as "the Nation's Report Card," NAEP is administered to students across the nation every year or two in a variety of subjects along with questionnaires. From these data it is possible to relate various aspects of teacher quality to student test scores while taking into account other potential influences on these scores such as class size and student social background.

Three types of teacher quality are measured:

• Teacher inputs, such as teacher education levels and years of experience
• Among teacher inputs, in both math and science, one out of three teachers has at least a master's degree; three out of four majored or minored in the subject they are teaching; and six out of 10 have at least 10 years of teaching experience.
• Classroom practices, such as the use of small-group instruction or hands-on learning
• In math, teachers are more likely to prepare students to answer routine problems than to answer problems involving new or unique situations.
• Less than one out of four math teachers engages in hands-on learning activities with their students, whereas two out of three science teachers report engaging in such activities.
• Professional development, meaning training to support certain classroom practices.
• In both math and science, approximately half of all teachers have received more than two days of professional development in the last year.
• In both math and science, the most common topic for professional development is cooperative learning.

Additional findings include:

• In science, students whose teachers have received professional development in laboratory skills outperform their peers by more than 40% of a grade level.
• In math, students whose teachers emphasize higher-order thinking skills outperform their peers by about 40% of a grade level.

• Students whose teachers conduct hands-on learning activities out-perform their peers by more than 70% of a grade level in math and 40% of a grade level in science.
• Students who frequently take point-in-time tests outperform those frequently using on-going forms of assessment, such as portfolios, by 46% of a grade level in math and 92% of a grade level in science.

Conclusions:

Overall, these findings suggest that policymakers are correct in emphasizing the importance of improving teacher quality as a mechanism for improving student academic performance. However, these findings indicate that greater attention needs to be paid to improving teachers' classroom practices.

Teachers should be encouraged to promote higher-order thinking skills, conduct hands-on learning activities, and rely primarily upon tests to monitor student progress.

Policymakers can encourage these practices by providing rich and sustained professional development, and, provided that teachers have access to such professional development, perhaps by rewarding them either financially or through advanced forms of certification for engaging in these practices.

©2001 Riverdeep Interactive Learning Limited. All rights reserved.