Bridging Racial Divides in the Educator Workforce Using Large-Scale Assessment Data From Prospective Teachers

• In Event: 69.041 - Recruiting and Retaining Teachers From and for Underserved Schools

Abstract

Concern over the mismatch between the racial composition of the teacher workforce and U.S. public school students has been discussed over the past two decades (Riley, 1998), yet differences persist to the current day (USED, 2016). The percentage of white teachers is often much higher than the percentage of white students, when computed at the national and state level. This study works toward the challenge of increasing sustainable access to a diverse and high quality teaching pool through applications of models that identify small institutional differences in passing rates between black and white teacher candidates and models reflecting repeat test taker behavior on large-scale assessments used for admissions to teacher education programs and as a part of teacher licensure.

Authors

• Zachary Kendall Collier, University of Florida

• Heather Marie Buzick, ETS

• John R Lockwood, Educational Testing Service