WWC Quick Review: National Board Certification and Teacher Effectiveness Study June 2009

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What is this study about?

This study examined whether having a teacher with National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification improves student achievement.

The study analyzed data on about 3,800 second through fifth grade students taught by 198 teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Study data were from 2003–04 and 2004–05.

Each teacher who had applied for NBPTS certification was matched with a comparison teacher who taught the same grade at the same school but had not applied for certification. Classrooms of students were then randomly assigned to either the NBPTS applicant teacher or the comparison teacher.

The authors compared the test scores of students assigned to NBPTS-certified teachers and teachers who failed to receive NBPTS certification to those of students assigned to comparison teachers.

What did the study authors report?

The study found no statistically significant differences between the math and language arts test scores of students assigned to NBPTS-certified teachers and those assigned to teachers who did not apply for NBPTS certification.

Students assigned to teachers who applied for and failed to receive NBPTS certification had lower test scores than students assigned to teachers who did not apply for certification, however. When controlling for student and classroom characteristics, the difference in math test scores was about one-sixth of a standard deviation (equivalent to moving a student from the 50th to the 43rd percentile). The difference in language arts test scores was about one-eighth of a standard deviation (equivalent to moving a student from the 50th to the 45th percentile).

WWC quick reviews are based on the evidence published in the report cited and rely on effect sizes and significance levels as reported by study authors. WWC does not confirm study authors’ findings or contact authors for additional information about the study. The WWC rating refers only to the results summarized above and not necessarily to all results presented in the study.