Data Collection and Measurement

Data for the study were collected from a variety of sources.

Student Achievement. We obtained information on students' reading and math achievement by administering the California Achievement Test, 5th Edition (CAT-5), published by CTB Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. See Appendix A for additional details.

Teacher Practices. We collected information on teachers' classroom practices in two ways. First, we directly observed and rated the quality of their instruction in literacy and math using the Vermont Classroom Observation Tool (VCOT), a proprietary instrument for classroom observations developed by the Vermont Institutes which covers three domains— lesson implementation, lesson content, and classroom culture. Second, we had principals rate the quality of the study teachers' reading/language arts instruction, math instruction, and classroom management relative to those of other teachers in the school. See Appendix A for additional details.

Teacher Characteristics. The main data source was a survey, administered in the spring, that collected information on teachers' professional backgrounds, the support they received during their first year as a full-time teacher, and their personal background characteristics. We also obtained their college entrance examination (SAT and ACT) scores.

Teachers' Certification Program Experiences. We interviewed program directors to collect detailed information on several major aspects of the training programs that study teachers attended, including the admission requirements, the amount of instruction required (overall and in five areas of particular interest designated by the study: classroom management, reading/language arts pedagogy, math pedagogy, student assessment, and child development), the timing of instruction, the amount of required fieldwork, the length and features of student teaching assignments for TC teachers, and the provision of mentoring to AC teachers during their first year of teaching. The designation of AC teachers as either lowcoursework or high-coursework, as well as measures of coursework in different subjects, reflects the requirements of the programs they attended and the amount of coursework required for certification, not the amount actually completed at the time of the study.