Report Examines KERA Goal for Teacher Quality in the Commonwealth

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FRANKFORT, KY (March 8, 1999) — The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center released a report today on the status of a central goal of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act—teacher quality in the Commonwealth. While Kentucky teachers meet or exceed many national performance measures, the report concludes that the state does not collect sufficient data to evaluate teacher quality and track the critical relationship between teacher performance and student outcomes. The report also finds that teaching at the middle- or high-school level in subject areas for which teachers are inadequately prepared may be widespread in Kentucky.

Kentucky’s Teachers: Charting a Course for KERA’s Second Decade, which was prepared by Stephen Clements, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky, outlines mounting national evidence of the importance of teacher quality to student performance. "As social research has repeatedly demonstrated, the socioeconomic status of children’s parents has the greatest impact on their achievement levels," Dr. Clements reports. "This study reaffirms that perennial conclusion but finds teacher quality is only slightly less influential in its impact on achievement." For example, the report cites a National Commission for Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) study which found that home and family factors explained 49 percent of the variance in student achievement on grade 3 to 5 math test scores while teacher qualifications explained 43 percent of the variance.

Kentucky teachers, according to the report, have significantly higher levels of graduate education than the national average, score above state and national averages on the ACT college admissions test, and, on average, have higher grade point averages than required by the colleges of education they enter. Graduates of Kentucky teacher training programs also score at the national average on "core" knowledge and skills and in a number of disciplines, but they lag behind the national average in as many as a dozen disciplines.

Many teachers also may be teaching in subject areas for which they are inadequately prepared. In a study of the college transcripts of Kentucky middle school math teachers, the Center and the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) found that 61 percent were teaching out of field, which the National Commission for Teaching and America defines as having neither a major nor a minor in mathematics or math education. Moreover, the report finds that Kentucky presently has no way of assessing the extent of out-of-field teaching in other subject areas or at other levels, as data on the disciplines in which teachers major or minor are not routinely collected. Instead, the state relies on its teacher certification system for indicators of teacher preparedness. That system shows an almost fully certified teaching force.

The report cites a number of trends that will influence the quality of Kentucky’s teaching force in the years to come, including the anticipated retirement of as many as a quarter of those currently teaching within the next three years and predicted shortages of teachers in some subject areas. Additionally, the report examines the roles that teacher training, alternative certification, professional development, and teacher salaries play in teacher quality.

Many believe it will be necessary to raise teacher salaries in order to elevate the quality of the teaching force, but to do so will present an enormous fiscal challenge, the study finds. At present, Kentucky teacher salaries rank 28th in the nation while state per capita income ranks 42nd. Kentucky teacher salaries, however, stand at just 87 percent of the national average. To increase teacher compensation to the national level over the next decade, a Long-Term Policy Research Center analysis finds that an additional $1.75 billion in revenue would be needed. A lesser goal of 91 percent of the national average would require $500 million in additional revenue over the next decade.

To improve teacher quality and fully realize the goals set forth in the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, the report offers a series of recommendations:

Build a comprehensive education data collection system to ensure proper deployment of teachers, assess professional development needs, gauge supply and demand imbalances, and assess the relationship between teacher skills and student outcomes.
Dramatically improve the professional development system, grounding it more solidly in academic content.
Examine and evaluate our teacher training system, particularly in light of subject-area preparation, and make changes accordingly.
Institute alternative career paths and salary improvements for teachers.
Expand alternative certification routes and create a new incentive structure.

Interested citizens who wish to obtain a free copy of Kentucky's Teachers: Charting a Course for KERA's Second Decade, are encouraged to write, phone, fax, or e-mail the Center.