An Evaluation of American Board Teacher Certification: Progress and Plans

Alternative routes to teaching have been promoted during the past decade because of concerns about teacher shortages and quality. Education policymakers have long sought to establish teaching standards and measure new and continuing teachers against these standards, but existing methods for certifyi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2006
Main Authors: Glazerman, Steven, Tuttle, Christina
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Education
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:Alternative routes to teaching have been promoted during the past decade because of concerns about teacher shortages and quality. Education policymakers have long sought to establish teaching standards and measure new and continuing teachers against these standards, but existing methods for certifying teachers have been criticized for being either so onerous as to deter good candidates or so lax as to keep weak teachers in the profession. To provide another approach, the U.S. Department of Education funded the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) to develop portable teacher credentials that would identify qualified beginning teachers and recognize accomplished veterans. To help inform the debate, Mathematica's five-year study is evaluating Passport to Teaching, ABCTE's new approach to alternative teacher certification. We are comparing the effectiveness of ABCTE-certified teachers to traditionally certified, novice teachers, as well as the effectiveness of experienced teachers with differing scores on the ABCTE teacher exam. The primary outcome is student performance on district-administered standardized tests. Our approach combines random assignment with nonexperimental methods in a self-validating design with three phases: collect qualitative data via case studies to supplement the analyses of test scores, provide context for interpreting the results, and prepare impact reports after each year of data collection. This report on the first six months of the evaluation presents an early look at participants and plans for the remainder of the study. This early look focuses on the 109 candidates who have received a Passport to Teaching certificate in the program's first year. Findings show that the average age of new Passport holders is 39, and one-third are male. Just over half are teaching in grades K-12 in the United States during the 2005-2006 school year, mostly in states such as Idaho and Florida that currently accept the credential for initial licensure.