National Board Certification and Teacher Effectiveness: Evidence from Washington State
Cowan, James; Goldhaber, Dan (2016). Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, v9 n3 p233-258. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1106512
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examining1,312,657Students, grades3-8
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification Intervention Report - Teacher Training, Evaluation, and Compensation
Review Details
Reviewed: February 2018
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Elementary and middle school students;
|
0.03 |
0.02 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
All middle school students;
|
0.05 |
0.04 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school EL students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school special education students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Free or reduced price lunch eligible students in elementary schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Students in high-poverty middle schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
EL students in middle schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Free or reduced price lunch eligible students in middle schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary schools, apparently random sample of students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Students in high-poverty elementary schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school teachers have MC/ GEN certifications;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school teachers have EMC/LRA certifications, apparently random sample of students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school teachers have MC/GEN certifications, apparently random sample of students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school teachers have other certifications;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school teachers have other certifications, apparently random sample of students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Middle school teachers have other certification areas (includes track fixed effects);
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Middle school teachers have EA/ELA certifications;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Reading Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Middle school teachers have other certifications (includes track fixed effects);
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Elementary and middle school students;
|
0.03 |
-0.01 |
Yes |
|
|
|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
All elementary school students;
|
0.02 |
0.00 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school English learners;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary school special education students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Free or reduced price lunch eligible students in elementary schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Students in high-poverty elementary schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Apparently random sample of elementary school students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
EL students in middle schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Free or reduced price lunch eligible students in middle schools;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
-- | ||
|
Washington Assement of Student Learning, Math |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary teachers have MC/ GEN certifications;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary teachers have MC/ GEN certifications, apparently random sample of students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary teachers have EMC/LRA certifications;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary teachers have EMC/LRA certifications, apparently random sample of students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Elementary teachers have other certifications, apparently random sample of students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Washington's State Standardized Math Test |
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certification vs. Business as usual |
0 Years |
Middle school teachers have other certification areas;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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5% English language learners -
Female: 49%
Male: 50% -
Rural, Suburban, Urban
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Washington
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Race Asian 9% Black 4% Native American 2% White 63% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 17% Not Hispanic or Latino 82%
Study Details
Setting
This study was conducted in elementary and middle school grades throughout Washington state.
Study sample
This study examined two groups of students: elementary school classrooms, defined as those in self-contained classes, primarily grades 3–5, but some sixth-grade classes; and middle school classrooms, defined as those in non–self-contained classes, primarily grades 7 and 8, with some sixth-grade classes. The students in elementary school classes were examined between the 2005–06 and 2012–13 school years, while students in middle school classes were examined between the 2009–10 and 2012–13 school years. The analytic sample for the mathematics scores includes 110,634 students taught by NBPTS-certified teachers, and 1,202,023 students taught by comparison teachers. The analytic sample for the English language arts scores includes 113,129 students taught by NBPTS-certified teachers, and 1,121,795 students taught by comparison teachers. Because the study spans multiple school years, individual students may be included more than once in the sample size counts. Demographics are not provided for the full sample of elementary and middle school students. The WWC-calculated weighted average demographics between the elementary and middle school math samples suggest that in the analytic sample, 49% of students were female; about 63% were White, 17% Hispanic, 9% were Asian, 5% Black, 5% multiracial, and 2% were American Indian. Among the students in the sample, about 7% had limited English proficiency, 6% had a learning disability, and 46% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. In addition, the authors present subgroup findings for school level (elementary school or middle school classrooms), NBPTS-certification subject area (Middle Childhood: Generalist [MC/Gen], Early/Middle Childhood: Literacy, Reading, and Language Arts [EMC/LRLA], Early Adolescence: English Language Arts [EA/ELA], and Early Adolescence: Math [EA/Math]), special education status, eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, and schools with low high-poverty rates (Challenging Schools Bonus vs. non-Challenging Schools Bonus).
Intervention Group
The intervention consisted of regular instruction for 1 year by an NBPTS-certified teacher.
Comparison Group
The comparison consisted of regular instruction for 1 year by a teacher who was not NBPTS-certified.
Support for implementation
Teachers are provided incentives to become NBPTS-certified teachers, and they are also offered financial incentives to teach in lower performing schools. Prior to 2008, Washington state provided a $3,500 salary incentive for certified teachers, which increased to $5,000 in 2008. Also starting in 2008, Washington state NBPTS-certified teachers were offered a $5,000 incentive to teach in lower performing schools. Individual school districts may offer additional incentives such as financial support, release for certification activities, and mentoring.
Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
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Cowan, James; Goldhaber, Dan. (2016). National Board Certification and Teacher Effectiveness: Evidence from Washington State. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, v9 n3 p233-258.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).