DOES CERTIFICATION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS MATTER? THE EFFECTS OF CERTIFICATION STATUS ON INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AND ON THE MATHEMATICS AND READING ACHIEVEMENT OF FIRST GRADE PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

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dc.contributor.advisorCroninger, Roberten_US
dc.contributor.authorNyankori, Richarden_US
dc.contributor.departmentEducation Policy, and Leadershipen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2006-02-04T07:06:54Z
dc.date.available2006-02-04T07:06:54Z
dc.date.issued2005-11-30en_US
dc.description.abstractThis study examines teachers' certification status--emergency, standard, or advanced-- as a predictor of teachers' instructional practices and of mathematics and reading of first grade public school students. The study is a secondary data analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey (ECLS-K) and uses ordinary least squared regression as the primary statistical method. The chief finding is that certification, on its face, does not predict either the mathematics or reading achievement of first grade students when students' race, socioeconomic status, prior achievement, teachers' experience, and advanced degrees are controlled. The strongest predictors of first grade reading and mathematics achievement are students' prior achievement, SES, and race. Certification status did have noteworthy indirect effects (i.e. OLS interaction terms) on both mathematics and reading achievement. In reading and mathematics, when emergency certification status was considered with end-of-kindergarten achievement, the results indicated that the students of teachers with emergency certification made fewer gains in reading achievement than the students of teachers with standard certification. Similarly, in mathematics, when advanced certification status was considered with prior mathematics achievement, the results indicated that the achievement of students of teachers with advanced certification remained relatively unchanged. Likewise, certification status did not directly predict the types of instructional practices that first grade teachers utilize in the classroom. Similarly, certification status had significant indirect effects on the examined instructional practice variables in mathematics. Emergency certified teachers who used number sense instruction decreased mathematics achievement scores. The study concludes that the indirect effects of certification status on student achievement should signal educators that use emergency certified teachers may create inequities that result in diminished achievement for the most high need students. Therefore, the recommendations proposed encourage educators and policymakers to retool current certification practices and ensure that first grade students are taught by teachers with at least standard certification.en_US
dc.format.extent941383 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3135
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEducation, Generalen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEducation, Elementaryen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledcertificationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledlicensureen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledECLS-Ken_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledinstructional practicesen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledfirst grade studentsen_US
dc.titleDOES CERTIFICATION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS MATTER? THE EFFECTS OF CERTIFICATION STATUS ON INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AND ON THE MATHEMATICS AND READING ACHIEVEMENT OF FIRST GRADE PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTSen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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