Press Release Archives

For Immediate Release: 21 May 2008

Report Identifies Rates of Student Access to Highly Qualified Teachers in New York State

Boston, Mass. — Schools in rural, urban, and suburban settings in New York State all have high rates of highly qualified teachers teaching core assignments, according to a new study looking at teacher qualifications in that state conducted by the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI). Operated by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), REL-NEI is one of 10 Regional Educational Laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

The research team found that core assignments—defined as English, reading, language arts, mathematics, science, history, geography, economics, civics and government, foreign languages, and the arts—were taught by highly qualified teachers (HQTs) 97.1% of the time in rural schools in New York, a rate that rivaled the frequency of HQTs teaching in suburban schools, which was 98.1%. “We were surprised [by the results],” says the study’s co-author Sarah Guckenburg of Learning Innovations at WestEd, a major partner to EDC in the REL-NEI contract. “Studies from other states have shown that rural districts tend to have fewer teaching assignments taught by highly qualified teachers than other locales.”

The study also revealed that the rate of highly qualified teachers teaching core assignments in New York City is 83.5%, while the rate for other urban areas in New York State was 95.8%. Findings were based on an analysis of available statewide K–12 teacher data for 2005–2006 collected by the New York State Education Department.

To be defined as “highly qualified,” a teacher must hold a bachelor’s degree, be certified to teach in New York State, and demonstrate content knowledge in the core academic subjects he or she teaches. Having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom is one provision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The “highly qualified” label reflects a teacher’s certification status with respect to the content area taught and is not a measure of teacher effectiveness or student learning in the classroom.

The study paid special attention to the distribution of HQTs across the state’s rural schools, which account for nearly 12% of New York State’s student population (over 330,000 students). Research has shown that rural districts often have difficulty hiring and retaining highly qualified teachers.

Based on the data available from the New York State Education Department, these findings paint a picture of equitable access, in most districts in the state, to teachers who have achieved highly qualified status. However, Guckenburg identifies the lower percentage of teaching assignments filled by highly qualified teachers in New York City as “a key area where further research is needed.”

The research team found little discrepancy in the level of HQTs in high- and low-poverty schools in rural areas. Similarly, HQTs were distributed evenly across different teaching levels at these schools, with only a handful of subjects (such as foreign languages) being taught more often by a teacher who had not achieved highly qualified status.

The full study, entitled “An Analysis of State Data on the Distribution of Teaching Assignments Filled by Highly Qualified Teachers in New York Schools,” was written by Guckenburg, Ann Brackett, and Susan Mundry of Learning Innovations at WestEd, and Patricia Bourexis of The Study Group, Inc. The staff of REL-NEI seeks to help educators at the state and district levels make evidence-based decisions that help reduce performance gaps among student groups and boost student achievement. A full text version of the study is available online.

For more information about this report, contact agaddis@edc.org.

The Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) is run by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), the American Institutes for Research (AIR), and WestEd’s Learning Innovations program. REL-NEI is one of 10 Regional Educational Laboratories funded by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. REL-NEI provides rigorous research that is relevant to national education priorities, responsive to local needs, and usable for policy and practice. Visit www.relnei.org.

This project has been funded at least in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under Contract Number ED-06-CO-0025. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Education Development Center, Inc.(EDC) is a global nonprofit organization that develops, delivers, and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges in education, health, and economic development. Celebrating its 50th year, EDC manages more than 300 projects in 35 countries. Visit www.edc.org.