KY Stats Teacher Impact Report

University of Kentucky Teacher Impact Round 2

With the goal of informing University of Kentucky about their graduates post-graduation, we describe these graduates along with comparison groups. This document is broken into three parts. First, we describe the placement of each teacher, including the demographics of their students and characteristics of their schools. Second, we provide information concerning the KPREP scores of students in the year prior. Lastly, we narrow the cohort down to a group for which we can analyze beginner teachers’ median growth percentiles as compared to all teachers in order to assess their performance in the classroom.

General Placement

We begin with all \(4^{th}\) through \(8^{th}\) grade math or reading teachers in the 2019 academic year and consider their placement, both at the school level and individual teacher level. In order to focus on one group for which we can eventually provide some analysis, the teachers examined are restricted to all 4th through 8th grade teachers who are primary teachers for either a math or reading course, math and reading to be described separately. The groups in this section are the following:

  • All 2019 \(4^{th}\) through \(8^{th}\) grade primary teachers in either math or reading.
  • All 2019 \(4^{th}\) through \(8^{th}\) grade primary teachers in either math or reading with between 1 and 3 years experience.
  • All 2019 UK \(4^{th}\) through \(8^{th}\) grade primary teachers in either math or reading.
  • All 2019 UK \(4^{th}\) through \(8^{th}\) grade primary teachers in either math or reading with between 1 and 3 years experience.
  • All 2019 UK \(4^{th}\) through \(8^{th}\) grade primary teachers in either math or reading with between 1 and 3 years experience and without reenrollment in a graduate education programs.

This last group is included to fully view a teacher as a product of UK and not UK and another institution (graduate school institution). In the final section, statistical tests will be conducted that will utilize the last two groups.


Grade Distribution Teachers

Teachers can either teach only students in one grade or over multiple grades. In the tables below, if a teacher teaches students in more than one grade, they are counted in the ‘’Multiple Grades’’ column only. All other columns teach students only in that grade.

Grade Distribution of Math Teachers


Grade Distribution of Reading Teachers


Time to Graduate Education Program

Many beginner teachers enroll in a graduate education program within the first few years after successful completion of a traditional initial undergraduate program. The year of initial undergraduate teacher preparation program completion is only known for those students who completed their program at a Kentucky postsecondary institution since 2008. Of teachers meeting this criteria, the number of years from first successful initial undergraduate program completion to graduate enrollment is given below.

 

School Characteristics

What are the characteristics of each teacher’s school? Let us keep in mind that these statistics are from the teacher perspective. That is, among all 2019 \(4^{th}\) through \(8^{th}\) grade math or reading teachers, 73.6% of them are in schoolwide Title 1 schools. This is not the same as the percentage of schoolwide Title 1 schools in the state.


KPREP

Teachers are working with students that enter their classroom at different proficiency levels. What was the typical proportion of previously successful students that a teacher taught? “Success” is defined as K-PREP level of Proficient or Distinguished. For each teacher’s set of students, the prior success rate was calculated. The means of these success rates are given in the table below.


Group for Analysis

Who are the feasible teachers to examine teacher impact by institution of undergraduate education?

  • Teacher Feasibility Criteria for Analysis:

    • Each teacher had only one undergraduate institution of record of which they successfully completed a traditional initial undergraduate teacher preparation program.

    • The teachers of interest had at most 3 years of experience in Kentucky public schools.

    • Each teacher analyzed was the primary teacher of record in an eligible course during the 2019 AY.

    • In order for a student to be counted toward a teacher’s class, the teacher and the student were present at the same school at the end of 2019.

    • The students of these teachers did not have more than one primary teacher of record for a given subject area (math or reading).

    • Each teacher must had at least 10 students with K-PREP scores in both 2019 and 2018 for a given subject (math or reading). This requirement is from the Kentucky Department of Education business rules for median student growth percentile (MSGP) calculation. These students also must have met the previous two criteria.

    • No teacher analyzed began a graduate program in education prior to or during the 2019 AY.

    • According to the policies of KYSTATS, there must be at least 10 feasible teachers from the undergraduate institution in order to be eligible for reporting.

To analyze University of Kentucky beginner teachers we pair students of these beginner teachers with students of a teacher with similar school and student characteristics that are not beginner teachers and did not attend University of Kentucky for their initial undergraduate education institution. This pairing was based on a student’s subject, grade, previous year’s KPREP score, previous year’s student growth percentile, free or reduced price lunch status, ethnicity, race, and gender. The analysis shows that there is not a statistically significant difference between University of Kentucky beginner teachers and teachers in similar teaching situations that are not beginner teachers nor graduated from a University of Kentucky education program. The analysis also shows that there is not a statistically significant difference between University of Kentucky beginner teachers and teachers in similar teaching situations that are not beginner teachers nor graduated from a University of Kentucky education program. Effect size is also given although it may be overestimated due to the small sample sizes.

At the request of institutions, we also provide analysis on the same group as above, but relaxing the requirement that a teacher re-enrolled in a graduate education program.This analysis has potential to be biased as these teachers may also receive influence from their graduate institution.

For this group of teachers and the same pairing process, the analysis shows that there is not a statistically significant difference between University of Kentucky beginner teachers and teachers in similar teaching situations that are not beginner teachers nor graduated from a University of Kentucky education program. The analysis also shows that there is not a statistically significant difference between University of Kentucky beginner teachers and teachers in similar teaching situations that are not beginner teachers nor graduated from a University of Kentucky education program.

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KYSTATS periodically updates data when new data from a stakeholder is provided and more people are identified. Thus values may be slightly different than the initial document.