Key Findings From Research on Teacher Quality and Student Achievement (continued)

9.  Teachers with greater cognitive abilities tend to have students who perform better. An overall positive relationship appeared between a teacher’s verbal ability and student performance. This attribute was also reflected in higher ACT scores associated with higher reading scores (Ferguson & Ladd, 1996; Greenwald, Hedges, & Laine, 1996).

The distribution of teachers who possess these characteristics of teacher quality is inequitable across schools, with poor and minority students much less likely to get qualified teachers than those who are better off.

10.  African American students were about twice as likely to be taught by the least effective teachers (Sanders & Rivers, 1996).

11.  Students in high schools where the majority of students were poor were 77 percent more likely than their more affluent counterparts to be taught by teachers without degrees in the subject they were teaching. Students in schools where the majority were non-white were 40 percent more likely to be taught by out-of-field teachers (Jerald & Ingersoll, 2002). 

12.  Poor and minority students were about twice as likely to have teachers with less than three years of teaching experience; and districts in which the majority of students were poor or minority were considerably more likely to employ uncertified teachers (National Center for Education Statistics, 2000; Darling-Hammond, 1999).

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This document was prepared by Policy Studies Associates (PSA) for the Center for Public Education. PSA, based in Washington, D.C, is a research and evaluation consulting firm specializing in education and youth development. PSA’s clients include federal, state, and local government agencies, foundations, and other organizations.


Posted: Oct. 4, 2005

© 2005 Center for Public Education