| Julie Riordan
University of Pennsylvania
The cumulative effect of high quality teaching on the cognitive development of early elementary students
FINAL REPORT
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between having a highly qualified teacher in each grade over a multi-year period and the cognitive achievement of early elementary children. In this study, I employ the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) and a multi-level model to test this hypothesis. In this model, IRT scale scores in mathematics and reading serve as dependent variables. Teacher quality is defined as one of three NCLB-mandated teacher qualifications: (1) elementary education certificate, (2) bachelor's degree, and (3) highest state certificate available. A cumulative teacher quality index (CTQI) for each student is computed as the number of teachers a student has had with one of these qualifications during four of the first six years of schooling. Because ECLS-K only gathered data during kindergarten, first, third and fifth grades, a student could have as many as four or as few as zero Òhighly qualifiedÓ teachers during this period. In my model, I also include an array of student characteristics and school characteristics as covariates.
Previous findings suggest that there is no systematic relationship between the teacher qualifications required by No Child Left Behind and the cognitive achievement of early elementary children when analyses are limited to a single year. However, the hypothesis of this dissertation is that these teacher qualifications are significantly related to the cognitive achievement only when the cumulative multi-year effect is considered. A secondary hypothesis is that this cumulative effect is greater for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, or students whose initial achievement status scores are low. The cumulative effect of the elementary certificate CTQI is statistically significant for both reading and mathematics, and substantively very large in reading. The teacher education CTQI is negative, as has been shown in many previous studies. The highest state certificate CTQI is insignificant.
The positive and large findings for the elementary certificate CTQI suggest that pre-service teacher preparation programs should be emphasized for elementary school teachers. The negative findings for education, however, suggest that the training of teachers may require less educational attainment and more focus on components of the elementary education curriculum. Finally, the dissertation reveals the importance of monitoring the assignment of teachers so that the children are not taught teachers with elementary education certificates.
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