Queries and Replies

Replies to Query:

We have a fourth-grade assessment that we can use that...

Reply 1: There are really two questions here. First, linking fourth grade achievement results to fourth grade teachers can be done by simply comparing the performance of the fourth grade students in the LSC teachers' classes with those in non-LSC teachers' classes - that is, if one has non-LSC teacher classes available for this purpose. The second question asks how to look at the "cumulative" effect of students' sequences of teachers in previous grades, as well as their fourth grade experience. This requires a more complex analysis, which would require tracking down the sequence of teachers that each student in the sample had. (Do not underestimate the time involved in doing this.) For example, teachers could be characterized as "LSC trained" or "not LSC trained" at the time that the student had that teacher. Thus, a few entries in a data set might look like this:   Student ID 2nd Grade Teacher 3rd Grade Teacher 4th Grade Teacher 1001 Not LSC trained LSC trained LSC trained 1002 LSC trained Not LSC trained Not LSC trained 1003 LSC trained LSC trained LSC trained 1004 Not LSC trained Not LSC trained Not LSC trained The students in the example data set have a variety of exposures to LSC trained teachers over time. Student 1003 has had a three-year diet of LSC trained teachers, while student 1004 has not encountered any LSC trained teachers. Using these dummy variables in a regression model, one can produce effect sizes for the teacher in each year, and also produce a cumulative effect on students with different sequences of teachers (e.g., a trained-trained-trained sequence compared to a not-not-not sequence, etc.). The above response assumes that one has scores for individual students, and can identify which students obtained which scores. If you are not able to match test scores to students, then you may need to work at the classroom level. If your data are only available for a school as a whole, this could be problematic, unless whole schools are brought into the project at a time. If you are not able to determine which mathematics teacher students had, you will not be able to do this type of analysis, unless whole schools are brought into the project at various points of time. That would allow you to compare schools with trained teachers to schools with teachers who have not been trained, unless whole grade levels are trained at one time. Submitted: Joy Frechtling, 2/9/2001