Descriptive Findings on Teachers and Programs

AC Teachers' Program Experiences

The AC teachers were required to take varying amounts of instruction in their programs, ranging from 75 to 795 hours. For analytical purposes, we divided AC teachers into two groups: the 47 who were required to complete 274 hours of instruction or less formed the low-coursework group, and the 40 who were required to complete 308 hours or more formed the high-coursework group. The low-coursework AC teachers' programs required an average of 179 hours of instruction (with a standard deviation [SD]of 54), while the high-coursework teachers' programs required, on average, 432 hours (SD of 112). Assuming that a typical college course involves about 45 hours of instruction (3 hours per week for 15 weeks), these means represent the equivalent of 4.0 and 9.6 courses, respectively.

Low- and high-coursework AC teachers also differed in the amount of coursework they were required to complete before, during, and after their first year of full-time classroom teaching, as shown in Exhibit 2.⁹ For example, high-coursework AC teachers had to complete, on average, 150 hours of instruction during their first year of teaching, which translates to about 17 hours a month, compared with 63 hours, on average, among lowcoursework AC teachers, which translates to about 7 hours a month.

TC Teachers' Program Experiences

TC teachers, like their AC counterparts, received varying amounts of instruction, ranging from 240 to 1,380 hours. On average, they completed a total of 642 hours of instruction (SD of 225), equivalent to 14.3 typical college courses. This mean was more than double that of the AC teachers.

Comparisons of Instruction Required for AC and TC Teachers

We present data on four different groups of teachers: (1) teachers who chose lowcoursework AC programs, (2) their TC counterparts, (3) teachers who chose highcoursework AC programs, and (4) their TC counterparts. In discussing the average amount of instruction that original study teachers were required to complete as part of their training programs, we examine differences between (1) the low- and high-coursework AC teachers, to explore the extent of differences in their programs' coursework requirements for certification; (2) the two groups of TC teacher counterparts to the low- and high-coursework AC teachers, to explore whether they provide a common benchmark for our experimental analyses¹⁰; and (3) each AC group and its counterpart TC group, to explore differences in coursework requirements that might be related to the results of the experimental and nonexperimental analyses presented below.

Coursework hours data collected for the study focused on five topics: reading/ language arts pedagogy, math pedagogy, classroom management, student assessment, and child development. We hypothesized that coursework hours in these specific topic areas would be most related to student achievement. However, because hours of instruction in topics other than these five accounted for 38 to 51 percent of the average total hours of required instruction for each group of teachers, we also discuss required hours of such instruction.

Low- and High-Coursework AC Teachers. AC teachers from high-coursework programs were required to take more hours of instruction overall than AC teachers from low-coursework programs, as shown in Exhibit 3. As discussed above, dividing AC teachers into two similar-sized groups based on a gap in required coursework of AC programs yielded two groups with large average differences in required coursework. High-coursework AC teachers were required to complete 432 hours of instruction, compared with 179 for lowcoursework AC teachers. This difference in total hours of instruction is due to differences in all five subject areas of interest as well as other instruction (defined below). Highcoursework AC teachers were required to complete more hours of instruction in all five subjects, on average, than AC teachers from low-coursework programs: 3.9 times as much instruction in reading/language arts pedagogy, 4.8 times as much in math pedagogy, 2.0 times as much in classroom management, 1.9 times as much in student assessment, and 37 percent more in child development. Although not shown in Exhibit 3, all these differences were statistically significant at the 0.01 level, except for child development, which was statistically significant at the 0.05 level.

TC Teachers Matched to Low- and High-Coursework AC Teachers. TC teachers matched with low-coursework AC teachers were required to complete a similar amount of total instruction as TC teachers matched to high-coursework AC teachers, 671 hours versus 607, and the difference was not statistically significant. TC teachers matched with low-coursework AC teachers were required to complete, in each of the five subject areas, on average, the same amount as or more instruction than TC teachers matched with highcoursework AC teachers, with statistically significant differences for classroom management and child development (at the 0.05 level; analysis not shown in Exhibit 3). Thus, in terms of required coursework, TC teachers matched to low- and high-coursework AC teachers served as a common benchmark in conducting the subgroup analysis.

Matched AC and TC Teachers Subgroups. AC teachers from low-coursework programs were required to complete, on average, about one-quarter of the total hours of instruction overall as their TC counterparts (179 hours versus 671 hours). In addition, they were required to complete less coursework in all subject areas of interest. For example, their programs required about one-fifth the instruction in reading/language arts pedagogy (26 versus 121 hours), less than one-fourth in math pedagogy (9 versus 41 hours), and less than half in classroom management (24 versus 54 hours). All the differences were statistically significant.

AC teachers from high-coursework programs were required to complete, on average, less instruction than their TC counterparts, 432 hours versus 607 hours, a difference that was statistically significant. They were required to complete less coursework in two topics of interest (student assessment, and child development), with the differences statistically significant. However, their programs required more instruction in classroom management (49 versus 39 hours), a difference that was statistically significant. There was no statistically significant difference in the amount of math pedagogy instruction (43 versus 41). Considering all five topics of interest together (that is, excluding "other" instruction), highcoursework AC teachers' programs required 91 percent as much instruction as their TC counterparts' programs (267 versus 295 hours), a difference that was statistically significant at the 0.05 level.

"Other" Instruction. For all teachers, some of the required coursework fell outside the five subjects of most interest in this study. Instruction in other topics accounted for, on average, 42 percent of total coursework for the low-coursework AC teachers, 48 percent for their TC counterparts, 38 percent for the high-coursework AC teachers, and 51 percent for their TC counterparts. "Other" instruction accounted for half the statistically significant 493-hour difference in total instruction between low-coursework AC teachers and their TC counterparts, and for 84 percent of the statistically significant 176-hour difference between high-coursework AC teachers and their TC counterparts.

AC and TC Teachers' Backgrounds

As context for interpreting the findings, Exhibit 4 presents information on the average background characteristics of the two AC teacher groups and their TC counterparts. Both low- and high-coursework AC teachers were more likely than their TC counterparts to identify themselves as black (40.5 percent versus 17.5 percent and 32.4 percent versus 7.5 percent) and less likely to identify themselves as white (50 percent versus 75.5 percent and 40.5 percent versus 70 percent). In addition, the low-coursework AC teachers were more likely than their TC counterparts to report having children (70.2 percent versus 28.3 percent). Low-coursework AC teachers had fewer years of teaching experience at the time of their first year in the study, although the difference was less than one year. Highcoursework AC teachers were more likely than their TC counterparts to be taking courses toward initial certification or an advanced degree during the study year (57 percent versus 30 percent). All these differences were statistically significant. Neither AC group had a statistically significant difference from its TC counterpart group in terms of college entrance exam scores or educational attainment.

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