Indicator: Teacher credentials

Definition

Students have access to teachers who have earned credentials demonstrating their knowledge and preparation for teaching.

Recommended Metric(s)

Pre-K: 

  • Percentage of lead teachers with at least a bachelor’s degree
  • Percentage of lead teachers with specialized training in pre-K

K–12: 

  • Percentage of courses taught by full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers (that is, teachers other than substitutes or those with emergency or provisional licenses)
  • Percentage of courses taught by teachers certified to teach the given subject or grade level

Type(s) of Data Needed

Administrative data

Why it matters

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have struggled to fully staff classrooms, and more students than before are being taught by substitute teachers or those with emergency certificates.1 Research is divided on the importance of teacher credentials. In pre-K, some analyses find that teachers’ levels of education are related to higher-quality early childhood learning environments,2 whereas other analyses show no relationship to classroom quality or children’s academic gains.3 In K–12, there is some evidence that being taught by a K–12 teacher with a regular or full certificate, as opposed to an emergency or provisional license, benefits students’ math and English language arts achievement,4 but many other studies conclude that teacher credentials, such as National Board certification or graduate degrees, are not a meaningful signal of teaching quality.5, 6  Nevertheless, the current challenges of staffing schools raise concerns about increasing inequities, as there was already evidence of disparate access to teachers with higher-level credentials.7, 8, 9 For example, in 2016, schools enrolling a high proportion of students of color were four times more likely to employ uncertified teachers than those with a low share of students of color (4.8 versus 1.2 percent), although it was an uncommon practice.10

What to know about measurement

Data on teacher credentials can be tracked as part of districts’ or states’ staff data management systems. Virtually all states with a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for their pre-K programs include staff education and training as part of their program quality rating indicators.11 K–12 districts must report school-level data to the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) on the number of math and science courses taught by certified teachers.

Source frameworks

This indicator appeared in 11 source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our recommendations for the pre-K sector align with the National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER) national standards for high-quality pre-K as well as the definition of Early Education Teacher Credentials put forth by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT. Our proposed metric in the K–12 sector is adapted from the definition for “teacher qualifications” in StriveTogether’s Guide to Racial and Ethnic Equity.

References

    • 11

      Build Initiative & Child Trends. (2020). Quality compendium. https://qualitycompendium.org/

    • 1

      Kini, T. (2022). Tackling teacher shortages: What can states and districts do? Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/teacher-shortage-what-can-states-and-districts-do 

    • 2

      Manning, M., Garvis, S., Fleming, C., &. Wong, G. T. W. (2017). The relationship between teacher qualification and the quality of the early childhood education and care environment. Campbell Collaboration. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED573516 

    • 3

      Early, D. M., Maxwell, K. L., Burchinal, M., Alva, S., Bender, R. H., Bryant, D., Cai, K., Clifford, R. M., Ebanks, C., Griffin, J. A., Henry, G. T., Howes, C., Iriando-Perez, J., Jeon, H. J., Mashburn, A. J., Peisner-Feinberg, E., Pianta, R. C., Vandergrift, N., & Zill, N. (2007). Teachers’ education, classroom quality, and young children’s academic skills: Results from seven studies of preschool programs. Child Development, 78(2), 558-580. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01014.x

    • 4

      Clotfelter, C. T., Ladd, H. F., & Vigdor, J. (2007). Teacher credentials and student achievement: Longitudinal analysis with student fixed effects. Economics of Education Review, 26(6), 673-682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2007.10.002 

    • 5

      See Early et al. (2007).

    • 6

      Goldhaber, D. D., & Brewer, D. J. (2000). Does teacher certification matter? High school teacher certification status and student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 22(2), 129–145. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737022002129 

    • 7

      Rahman, T., Fox, M. A., Ikoma, S., & Gray, L. (2017). Certification status and experience of U.S. public school teachers: Variations across student subgroups (NCES 2017-056). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2017056

    • 8

      Boyd, D., Lankford, H., Loeb, R., & Wyckoff, J. (2008). The narrowing gap in New York City teacher qualifications and its implications for student achievement in high-poverty schools. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w14021

    • 9

      See Clotfelter et al. (2007).

    • 10

      Cardichon, J., Darling-Hammond, L., Yang M., Scott, C., Shields, P. M., & Burns, D. (2020, February). Inequitable opportunity to learn: Student access to certified and experienced teachers. Learning Policy Institute. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED603398