For Broadcast and Publication:
December 10, 2003

Contact: John McDonald
(310) 798-3252 or (310) 880-5332
Email: john.mcdonald@stonesthro.com

Center Calls on Governor to Ensure All California Students Have Access to Teachers They Need to Achieve State’s Ambitious Education Standards.

New report details concentration of least prepared teachers in schools serving students with greatest needs. Calls patchwork approach to teacher development inadequate to ensure all students achieve state’s ambitious academic standards.

(Sacramento) A new report released today by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning concludes that the persistent assignment of the least prepared teachers to students with the greatest needs is unfair and inequitable, and that the state’s patchwork system of teacher development falls short of building a teacher workforce capable of helping all students reach California’s academic standards. Citing the findings of its report, the Center asked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to act to ensure that all California students have access to the prepared and effective teachers they need to meet the state’s ambitious standards and federal requirements for student achievement.

“Candidate Schwarzenegger said ‘we need to have the best teachers in inner-city schools where there are lots of problems.’ He was absolutely right,” said Margaret Gaston, executive director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning. " It is exactly in these schools the Governor is talking about that students continue to be assigned teachers who are the least experienced and least prepared to meet their needs. Hardest hit are special education and English language learning students from poor, urban areas. We hope governor Schwarzenegger will act now to address the crisis.”

The Center made their request to the governor and the Legislature as they released The Status of the Teaching Profession 2003: Research Findings and Policy Recommendations. The new report concludes that while the supply of teachers is increasing, there are significant shortages in key geographic, subject matter, and special program areas such as special education, and also finds that California’s least prepared teachers continue to be unfairly distributed among low achieving schools serving poor, minority and English language learning students. Further, the report finds that California faces serious challenges in how it prepares, ushers into the profession, and supports its teaching workforce.

“This report shows us that the state needs but does not have a system of teacher development that ensures that all who enter the classroom have the knowledge and skills they need to help their students reach the academic standards the state has set,” said Patrick Shields of SRI International and the principal researcher for the report. “Instead, we have an inequitable and inadequate patchwork of programs that result in the least prepared teachers getting the most difficult assignments with the least support. We’re calling on the governor to make the development of a coherent teacher development system a priority for his administration.”

The new report cites particular problems with teachers assigned to special education and in schools serving English language learning students in poor urban areas. Eighteen percent of special education teachers in California did not hold a full teaching credential during 2002-2003. Further, 62 percent of first- and second-year special education teachers do not yet have a preliminary teaching credential and lack training to help students with special needs reach the state’s ambitious academic standards. And because these teachers have not earned a credential, they are not eligible to participate in California’s Beginning Teacher and Assessment Program (BTSA), the state’s primary means of support for new teachers. Students in schools with high percentages of English language learners are more than twice as likely to have underprepared teachers. In schools with more than 40% English language learning students, 16% of teachers were underprepared, compared with 7% of teachers in schools with less than 6% English language learning students.

“Given the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that all children, including those in special education and those learning English meet the new standards in reading and mathematics, all of our schools should be equally able to get them there. But the inadequacy of the state’s patchwork of teacher development programs to ensure that all students have fully prepared and effective teachers is placing California schools on a collision course with rising state and national expectations for student achievement,” said Gaston.

“These findings add to the long chain of evidence that in California the students most in need of fully prepared and effective teachers are the least likely to get them,” added Harvey Hunt, an advisor to the Center. If California’s children are to reach the state’s ambitious education standards, then we need a teacher development system that can consistently deliver a high quality workforce. This should be a top priority for the new governor and Legislature.”

Key findings of the report include:

The supply of teachers is increasing.

• During the 2002-2003 school year, nearly 310,000 individuals were working as public school teachers in California, up from 223,000 in 1992-1993.
• Of those, about 37,000 or 12% of the teaching workforce were underprepared teachers working without even a preliminary teaching credential. That’s down from 2000-01 when the state had 42,427 underprepared teachers.
• The percentage of first-year teachers teaching without a full teaching credential declined from 53% in 1999-2000 to 42% in 2002-2003.
• More underprepared teachers are participating in programs designed to lead to a credential. In 2002-2003, 7505 teachers participated in intern programs, up from 3,700 in 1997-1998.

Though improving, the distribution of underprepared teachers is inequitable and unfair.

• In 2002-2003, in 18% of California schools (1400 schools serving approximately 1,380,000 students), 20% or more teachers were underprepared.
• Schools with large minority populations are five times as likely to have underprepared teachers than those with low percentages of minority students. In 2002-2003, in schools with 90% or more minority students, 20% of teachers were underprepared, compared to 4% in schools with minority populations of 30% or less.
• Students in high poverty schools are approximately three times as likely to face underprepared teachers as those in low poverty schools. In 2002-2003, 17% of teachers in schools where over 75% of students met federal poverty guidelines were underprepared, compared to 6% of teachers in low poverty schools.
• Students in low achieving schools as measured by the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) are 4.5 times as likely to face underprepared teachers as those in high achieving schools. In 2002-2003, in schools performing in the bottom quartile of the API, on average 18% of teachers were underprepared. In schools in the top quartile, on average, 4% were underprepared.

There are significant problems in key programs and subjects.

• Qualified special education teachers are in short supply. In 2002-2003, of the more than 36,000 individuals working as special education teachers, 18% did not hold a full teaching credential. The problem is even worse in schools with large minority populations. In those schools, 22 percent of special education teachers did not hold a full teaching credential. The trends are similar when examined by poverty level or performance on the API.
• Students in schools with high percentages of English language learners are more than twice as likely to have underprepared teachers. In 2002-2003, in schools with 40% or more English language learning students, 16% of teachers were underprepared, compared to 7% of teachers in schools with less than 6% English language learning students.
• There are shortages of qualified mathematics and science teachers. In 2002-2003, 15% of mathematics teachers and 13% of physical science teachers did not have a teaching credential.

Induction and support of new teachers is inadequate and inequitable. The least prepared teachers facing the most difficult assignments get the least support.

• California’s $88 million Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program provided valuable support and assistance to 21,000 beginning teachers in 2002-03.
• But in 2002-03, 42% (14,651) of first- and second-year teachers did not have a preliminary or professional credential and were thus ineligible for participation in BTSA.
• First- and second-year teachers in high poverty schools were less likely to be eligible for BTSA than their counterparts in low poverty schools. In 2002-03, 49% of first- and second-year teachers in the highest poverty schools were underprepared, deeming them ineligible for BTSA support, compared to 30% of first- and second-year teachers in low poverty schools.
• In 2002-2003, sixty-two percent of first- and second-year special education teachers were underprepared and thus ineligible for participation in BTSA.
• Schools and districts that hire large proportions of underprepared teachers often have fewer experienced, accomplished teachers to serve as support providers and mentors to new teachers. In high poverty schools, there were 4 experienced teachers for every new teacher, compared to 7 experienced teachers for every new teacher in low poverty schools in 2002-2003.
• Teachers with 5 or fewer years of experience in schools with 20% or more of underprepared teachers were less likely to participate in BTSA. 74% of these teachers did not participate in BTSA, compared to 66% of teachers with 5 or fewer years of experience in schools with fewer than 20% underprepared teachers who did participate.
• Beginning teachers who did not participate in BTSA received less mentor assistance than BTSA participants. Only 38% of non-BTSA participants planned a lesson with their mentor at least once compared to 77% of BTSA participants. 59% of non-participants talked about students needs with their mentor at least once compared to 86% of participants. 63% of non-participants reported their mentor conducted formal observations at least once compared to 85% of participants. 80% of non-participants reported their mentor visited their classroom during instruction at least once compared to 98% of participants.

The report offers specific recommendations to assist the state in strengthening its teaching workforce. Highlights include:

• Strengthen preparation and licensing for special education, math, and science teachers
• Ensure an adequate supply of fully qualified, experienced teachers to urban areas
• Build teacher knowledge and skill in working with English language learning children and children with special needs
• Include in state-sponsored professional development for all subject matter areas required for student graduation
• Give priority over the next two years to the development of a more comprehensive and coherent system of teacher development for the state.

Detailed recommendations can be found in the full report or online at www.cftl.org.

The Status of the Teaching Profession 2003: Research Findings and Policy Recommendations is part of an ongoing effort by The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning to inform and improve teacher development policy and practice in California. SRI International (SRI) conducted the research for the report. The report provides the latest available data and analysis of California’s teaching workforce and examines the preparation, induction and professional development of teachers. The report also examines the preparation of those assigned to teach special education and English language learning students, and the shortage of qualified teachers in the fields of mathematics and science. The research includes an analysis of current year data in a sample of school districts across the state. The report was prepared in consultation with the California State University, Office of the Chancellor; Policy Analysis for California Education; University of California, Office of the President; and WestEd. Funding for the project was provided by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation; The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; James Irvine Foundation; Walter S. Johnson Foundation; Stuart Foundation and Washington Mutual. Findings and recommendations from the report will be reviewed Wednesday, December 10th at 9:00 a.m. at a news briefing in Room 112 of the State Capitol.

#30#

The Status of the Teaching Profession 2003: Research Findings and Policy Recommendations is available from The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning by calling (831) 427-3628 or via email at info@cftl.org. The full report will be available online on Wednesday December 10th at www.cftl.org. Reporters who would like to receive a print copy of the full report should contact John McDonald at (310) 798-3252 or by email at john.mcdonald@stonesthro.com.

<- Back to Press Releases