REL Central Ask A REL Response

“Many school districts and states have long encouraged teachers to pursue graduate education. Teachers are frequently permitted to use graduate credits for recertification (Hill, 2007), and teachers with graduate degrees generally earn a higher salary or receive an annual stipend (Miller & Roza, 2012). Advocates have argued that graduate education may improve teacher effectiveness (e.g., Harris & Sass, 2011) and raise the status of the teaching profession (e.g., Sahlberg, 2015). The purpose of this brief is to examine the prevalence of graduate degrees among teachers in the United States and to summarize research on the relationship between teacher educational attainment and student achievement. Main findings include: (1) Among early childhood, primary, middle, and junior high school teachers, those with a master’s degree do not have a larger effect on student reading achievement, relative to teachers with only a bachelor’s degree; (2) The effect of master’s degree attainment on student reading and math achievement during high school remains unclear; and (3) Overall, past research depicts a complex, poorly understood relationship between teacher educational attainment and student outcomes that may vary by such factors as level of schooling, academic subject, and major-course congruence.”

“This study uses detailed administrative data on teachers and students from the state of North Carolina to revisit the empirical evidence on master’s degrees, with attention to teachers at the middle and high school levels. It provides descriptive information on which types of teachers obtain master’s degrees, for which subjects, at which institutions, and during what phase of their career. The study estimates returns to master’s degrees using teacher fixed effects to control for time-invariant characteristics of teachers, thus separating the effects of teacher decisions to get an advanced degree from the effects of having one. Even with this careful attention to selection bias, we confirm the findings of prior studies showing that teachers with master’s degrees are no more effective than those without. The only consistently positive effect of attaining a master’s degree emerging from this study relates not to student test scores but rather to lower student absentee rates in middle school.”

“In light of the strong correlation between Kindergarten performance and later cognitive and achievement outcomes, this paper investigates the link between student achievement and the educational background characteristics of Kindergarten teachers. This study will utilize the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative dataset, in order to address the following questions: (1) Does a teacher having a master’s degree or higher have a positive effect on student achievement gains in reading and math in kindergarten compared to teachers with only a bachelor’s degree?; (2) Are there effects of teacher coursework in reading, math, and child development on student achievement gains in kindergarten? If so, do impacts of coursework on reading and math scores vary by number of courses taken?; and (3) Do regular and highest certification levels for teachers have a different effect on student achievement gains than no certification or alternative certification? Does being certified as an early elementary school teacher matter for student achievement? Additionally, this study will analyze students who score in the bottom 25% of all students on the initial tests of reading and math to see whether teacher educational background characteristics make a differential impact on students that begin school at the bottom of the achievement spectrum. The ECLS-K started to track students in the 1998–1999 school year and tracks them through eighth grade. However, for the purposes of this study, the data will only be looked at for the Kindergarten year of 1998–1999 where tests and surveys were administered in the Fall of 1998 and Spring of 1999. The findings of this study suggest that most teacher credentials, or degrees, appear to have little impact on student achievement in reading or math in Kindergarten with some small significant effects (See Tables 2 and 3). This is consistent with the findings of others (Darling-Hammond, Berry, and Thoreson, 2001; Goldhaber and Brewer 1997). However, some previous studies such as Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor (2007a) actually found negative effects of high-level degrees on student achievement, which was not the case in this study. The quantity of teacher coursework had mixed effects on student achievement (See Table 4). Regarding math achievement, teacher coursework in math and child development appeared to have no significant effects on math test scores. While the school level variable model does show significant results for math courses on student achievement, the school fixed effects model does not, suggesting that there are unobserved characteristics of schools that are not being accounted for in the school-level variable model. These findings are consistent with Croninger, et al. (2007) findings of no effects of teacher coursework on math achievement. The findings also suggest that the math and child development courses taken by kindergarten teachers are need improvement. Perhaps math courses in teacher education programs are not useful for kindergarten teachers if teachers from many grades are taught together. Teacher certification also appears to have a mixed effect on student achievement (See Table 5). Highest and temporary levels of certification appear to have a negative effect on reading and math test scores. However, the fixed effects models show no effects of highest or temporary certification on reading and math, but the direction of the coefficient is still negative. The findings also suggest that alternative certification has no effect on math scores, which contradicts the findings of Lutz and Hutton (1989). Elementary certification has a significant positive effect on student math scores. Certification in other education levels may not touch upon aspects of behavior, development, and other skills that are especially important in Kindergarten. This relationship of elementary education certification and math should be explored further to help identify the aspects of elementary education certification that may have an impact on teaching students math in Kindergarten.”

“This study critically examined the math content knowledge (MCK) of teacher candidates (TCs) enrolled in a two-year Master of Teaching (MT) degree. Teachers require a solid math knowledge base in order to support students’ achievement. Provincial and international math assessments have been of major concern in Ontario, Canada, due to declining scores. Research aimed to investigate the development of TCs’ math capacities for effective teaching is important to teachers, school districts, universities, professional learning associations, and policy makers. The researchers of this study analyzed the basic numeracy skills of 151 TCs through pre- and post-tests. In addition, eight TCs took part in semi-structured interviews and shared their experiences in the MT math program. Test results indicated improvements in many areas, however, not all numeracy skills improved significantly. Interviews revealed TCs’ perceptions of the math test, courses, and instructors, as well as the importance of teaching math during their practicum placements. The researchers made recommendations to teacher education programs in areas such as: establishing minimum math competency standards, enhancing coherence between MT math courses and practicum placements, and providing additional support for TCs with low math proficiency.”