Lately, there has been an increased focus on the role that certification plays in the long-term performance of classroom teachers. In short, does certification matter? Many studies have analyzed the specific components and requirements of certification programs to determine which might be more predictive of long-term teaching success. This study…

This study examines transfer students in our teacher education programs and their comparative success on the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA®), a content pedagogy assessment currently required by many states for professional educator licensure and program completion. A two-sample t-test using edTPA scores from 2015 to 2019 revealed…

Anecdotal evidence points to the importance of school principals, but the limited existing research has neither provided consistent results nor indicated any set of essential characteristics of effective principals. This paper exploits extensive student-level panel data across six states to investigate both variations in principal performance and…

We use a novel database of over 15,000 teacher candidates from 15 teacher education programs in Washington state to investigate the connections between specific teacher preparation experiences (e.g., endorsements, licensure test scores, and student teaching placements) and the likelihood that these candidates enter and leave the state's public…

All but four states in the nation now permit teachers to come into the profession through an "alternate route," compared to only a few 30 years ago. Alternate routes into the classroom have grown so acceptable that about one in five teachers now enters the profession through one of these programs, which offer some real benefits to the…

Historically, students took Algebra I in high school, but there has been a recent trend toward taking it in middle school (Domina, 2014). In the past two decades the proportion of middle school students taking Algebra I or more-advanced math courses has doubled (Domina, 2014). Success in Algebra I is important because it is a gateway course for…

We investigate the relationship between teacher licensure test scores and student test achievement and high school course-taking. We focus on three subject/grade combinations--middle school math, ninth-grade algebra and geometry, and ninth-grade biology--and find evidence that a teacher's basic skills test scores are modestly predictive of student…

Establishing cut scores using the Angoff method requires panelists to evaluate every item on a test and make a probability judgment. This can be time-consuming when there are large numbers of items on the test. Previous research using resampling studies suggest that it is possible to recommend stable Angoff-based cut score estimates using a…

Policymakers aiming to close the well-documented achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students have increasingly turned their attention to issues of teacher quality. A number of studies have demonstrated that teachers are inequitably distributed across student subgroups by input measures, like experience and qualifications, as well…

In assessment, the ability to construct test items that measure a targeted skill is fundamental to validity and alignment. The ability to do the reverse is also important: determining what skill an existing test item measures. This paper presents a model for classifying test items that builds on procedures developed by others, including Bloom…

Interest in the impact of the teacher advanced certification system instituted by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has resulted in a quickly expanding body of literature. This review examines five critical issues covered in the literature: the extent to which National Board certified teachers (NBCTs) engage in…