Noted education researcher, Dr. Ed Fuller, recently warned that if state lawmakers don’t fix serious inequities in teacher quality and experience between rich and poor schools, Texas is headed for big problems.
Not only is there a general consensus that the single most important factor in improving any student’s performance is the quality of the teacher, but researchers have found that the impact of a higher-quality teacher is particularly significant for low-performing, minority students.
The results of an ATPE-commissioned study on teacher quality found that low-performing schools with high poverty rates and high minority populations have much larger percentages of teachers lacking proper qualifications than wealthy, high-performing, low-minority schools. The study took a comprehensive look at the degree to which teacher quality is disproportionately distributed across the state and within school districts, and the impact this inequality has on student learning and standardized test performance in secondary schools.
All across the state, low-performing schools have a much higher number of teachers who lack experience, aren’t fully certified, or are teaching out of field. Twice as many teachers in schools with high populations of low-income students are not properly certified to teach math and science compared to schools in more affluent neighborhoods, according to the report.
Nearly 20 percent of math teachers and 40 percent of science teachers in high poverty schools were assigned to teach courses for which they were not properly certified. Unless state legislators take action during the upcoming session, the gap is expected to grow, as incoming high school students are now required to take four years of math and science.
“We could be in a world of trouble in five years when this plays out,” said Fuller, a professor in the Department of Educational Administration at The University of Texas at Austin. Unfortunately, the students most in need (poor, minority, and low achieving) of the most qualified teachers are the least likely to be taught by them.
To entice experienced and high-quality teachers to low-income, low-performing schools, some districts offer incentive pay to teachers on these campuses. According to Fuller, the typical $1,000 to $3,000 bonus is insufficient for teachers to deal with the extra stress and pressures.
The state requires that school districts equalize teacher quality, but Fuller said that legislators and district officials are not providing the necessary resources or are ignoring the mandate altogether. He added that it is going to take extra mentoring, more professional staff development, and meaningful incentive pay to improve the teacher quality at low-income, low-performing schools, he said. “Otherwise, we will continue to have the inequity. It’s not going to go away.” Fuller said.
Even though lawmakers set aside extra money last session for teacher incentive pay, many districts did not apply because matching funds were required. Lawmakers are expected to consider legislation next year involving high-quality teachers and teacher retention at hard-to-staff schools. House Education Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said he would like to see bonuses in the $10,000 range for hard-to-fill positions.
“It’s been shown that the most important factor in closing the achievement gap is the work of an effective teacher. We need to get as many as we can in the right places,” Eissler said.
ATPE presented a summary of the teacher quality study to the Select Committee on Public School Accountability and plans to use the results to advocate for the Legislature’s and other state agencies’ long-term commitment to address inequities in teacher quality.
—“Teacher quality in Texas inequitable, study says: Disproportionate number of poorly certified educators in poor schools,” by Gary Scharrer, Houston Chronicle, August 5, 2008.
