California Teacher Preparation and Placement Data: What Do We Know? What Can We Learn?

• In Event: Pipe Dreams: Humanizing the Teaching Profession and Pipeline Through Liberatory Imagining

Abstract

Objectives. California lags behind other states in building a data system enabling policymakers, researchers, and those leading educator preparation programs to follow individuals’ progress through the pipeline. Our goals for this session are to: (1) describe California’s Teacher Education Research and Improvement Network (CTERIN) large-scale teacher-level data set, (2) share recent findings, and (3) discuss how these findings along with qualitative research may support efforts in humanizing teacher work.

Methods. CTERIN combines data from two state agencies—the California Department of Education (CDE) and California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC). Together, these data allow us to examine questions including:
What is the demographic background of new California teachers?
Through what licensure routes (i.e., preliminary, intern, or emergency/waiver permit) are teachers first entering the classroom?
What are the characteristics of schools where new teachers first teach? Who are the students they serve?
How long do they stay?

Answers to these foundational questions provide pieces in a much larger puzzle. Our data set includes over 44,000 individuals who began teaching in California public schools between 2012-2013 and 2016-2017. To our knowledge, this is one of the first large-scale efforts in California to explore such questions by combining these data sources.

Our most recent analyses focus on a subset of this sample, new secondary teachers in core subject areas (English Language Arts, math, science, social studies) (n=14,004). We generated a range of descriptive statistics, specifically two or three-way crosstab tables (e.g., number of new teachers by subject area, grade band, and licensure route) and regression analyses of each crosstab to determine the magnitude and direction of the differences.

Findings. First, we found different patterns in new teachers’ demographic characteristics by subject area. New secondary teachers of color (Black, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander) were more likely to teach math than other core subject areas in both middle and high school. This was largely driven by Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander teachers.

Second, we found differences in how new teachers entered the pipeline within and across subject areas. For instance, the percentage of new teachers entering the classroom via emergency/waiver permits ranged from 7% in middle school social science to 17% in middle school math. Those beginning their career on emergency/waivers or as interns were more likely to be Hispanic and Black.

Third, new teachers entering on emergency/waiver permits left at higher rates than fully prepared teachers across all grade levels and subject areas. Attrition rates were particularly high for ELA and social studies teachers (at or around 40%). Similarly, those who began their careers in schools with relatively low levels of experienced teacher retention were more likely to leave the classroom by their third year.

Significance. Findings can inform efforts to reimagine recruiting and retaining a diverse California teacher-workforce. Yet, numbers only tell so much. Qualitative studies like those showcased here help capture individuals’ lived experiences and interrogate the current pipeline.

Author

• Christine Ong, University of California - Los Angeles