Certification / Licensing

Teacher preparation began in the mid-19th century with the normal school, a 2-year course of study that prepared candidates for teaching. This model remained unchanged until the early 20th century, when universities created the undergraduate model, which currently predominates.

The purpose of this overview is to provide an understanding of the research base on professional development and its impact on student achievement, as well as offer recommendations for future teacher professional development.

This article attempts an analysis of the accumulated literature on collegial relations with the intent of formulating a more robust conception, one that accounts for variation in teachers’ involvements with one another, the circumstances that surround those involvements, the meanings teachers and others attach to them, and the consequences that flow from them.

This report presents PEDS findings from the 2011 and 2012 surveys, which reported on the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years. Some of the findings in this report counter common myths about higher education-based preparation programs. Others show that there is still much work to be done. 

The authors examined the effects of six types of teacher professional learning activities on student achievement growth over 4 years using statewide longitudinal survey data collected from 467 middle school mathematics teachers in 91 schools merged with 11,192 middle school students' mathematics scores in a standardized assessment in Missouri. 

This essay suggests potential research avenues in the area of technology-mediated learning. It seeks to motivate greater depth of research into the question of how technology enhances learning. 

The work of the New Teacher Center (NTC) highlights the importance of the conditions for success in its Program Theory of Action model. This paper also provides Conditions for Success Self-Evaluation Worksheet that will help you to evaluate your program’s readiness to effectively implement the Teacher Induction Pathway presented in the Adult Education Teacher Induction Toolkit. 

This article discusses instructional coaching as well as the eight factors that can increase the likelihood that coaching will be a real fix for a school. Instructional coaching holds much potential for improving the way teachers teach and the way students learn, but that potential will only be realized if leaders plan their coaching program with care. 

This Research & Policy Brief addresses the aspect of the teacher support system that is perhaps the most important and often the most weakly implemented: teacher learning and development.

In this article, we challenge the status quo of current student-teaching practice, which has
remained relatively unchanged for close to 100 years. This 4-year study identifies the
differences between a coteaching and a non-coteaching model of student teaching.

This study examined results associated with a field-based undergraduate early childhood teacher education program designed as a response to calls for enhanced field experiences and community-situated teacher education that narrows the preparation-to-practice gap.

Researchers at Learning Sciences International wanted to take a closer look at the impact PLCs have on the schools we work with. We hoped to tease out answers to two related questions about PLCs. When PLCs are working at optimum levels, what is their relationship to student achievement? Secondly, do cohesive and focused high-functioning PLCs have any impact on teacher morale?

This study examines the impact of a nationally disseminated professional development program, Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI), on teachers' specialized knowledge for teaching mathematics and illustrates how such research could be conducted.

As part of a federally funded study of NCLB, RAND Corporation researchers, in collaboration with researchers from the American Institutes for Research, analyzed the progress that states, districts, and schools have made in implementing the teacher qualification provisions of NCLB through the 2004–2005 school year. 

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) was awarded a grant from the
National Science Foundation to conduct a meta analysis study with the goal of providing
state and local education leaders with scientifically-based evidence regarding the effects of
teacher professional development on improving student learning. 

Teacher professional development is essential to efforts to improve our schools. This article maps the terrain of research on this important topic. It first provides an overview of what we have learned as a field, about effective professional development programs and their impact on teacher learning. 

The purpose of this guide is to help district leaders take on the challenge of ensuring that students have equitable access to excellent teachers. It shares some early lessons the Education Trust has learned from districts about the levers available to prioritize low-income students and students of color in teacher quality initiatives. The guide outlines a seven-stage process that can help leaders define their own challenges, explore underlying causes, and develop strategies to ensure all schools and students have equitable access to effective teachers.

CEELO reviewed data on 21 states’ principal licensure requirements, conducted structured interviews with experts on principal preparation and professional development in 7 states, and spoke with staff at the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Institute for School Leadership.

Using data from a large urban school district, this article tests the impact of structural, human, and social factors on the emergence of school-based professional community and examines the extent to which such developments in turn promote learning and experimentation among faculty

This document includes the excerpts of five articles that provide a substantial evidence-based argument for the power of collaborative communities to improve teaching and learning. 

The purpose of this overview is to provide an understanding of the research base on professional development and its impact on student achievement, as well as offer recommendations for future teacher professional development.

We use a rich administrative dataset from North Carolina to explore questions related to the relationship between teacher characteristics and credentials on the one hand and student achievement on the other. We conclude that a teacher's experience, test scores and regular licensure all have positive effects on student achievement, with larger effects for math than for reading. 

By analyzing data from the Schools and Staffing Survey, the authors empirically test four of the core assumptions embedded in current arguments for expanding alternative teacher certification (AC):

This study aimed to look into this by asking, “Which features of high quality online professional development were noted by participating educators in a statewide online teacher professional development program?” A survey was used to collect educators’ voices in this FIP professional development (PD) program.

The study compares the effectiveness of different routes to teaching. It finds there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of teachers who were traditionally trained when compared to teachers who obtained training through alternative credential programs.

We study the effectiveness of teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in Washington State, which has one of the largest populations of National Board-Certified Teachers (NBCTs) in the nation. Certification effects vary by subject, grade level, and certification type, with greater effects for middle school math certificates. We find mixed evidence that teachers who pass the assessment are more effective than those who fail, but that the underlying NBPTS assessment score predicts student achievement.

Research shows how schools can create more powerful professional development experiences.

The authors respond to Dan Goldhaber and Dominic Brewer’s article in the Summer 2000 issue of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis that claimed from an analysis of NELS teacher and student data that teacher certification has little bearing on student achievement. Goldhaber and Brewer found strong and consistent evidence that, as compared with students whose teachers are uncertified, students achieve at higher levels in mathematics when they have teachers who hold standard certification in mathematics. 

Recent debates about the utility of teacher education have raised questions about whether certified teachers are, in general, more effective than those who have not met the testing and training requirements for certification, and whether some candidates with strong liberal arts backgrounds might be at least as effective as teacher education graduates.

This paper discusses best practices in teachers’ professional development (PD) in the United States (U.S.).

This paper examines data on 39 charter schools and correlates these data with school effectiveness. We find that class size, per-pupil expenditure, teacher certification, and teacher training—are not correlated with school effectiveness. In stark contrast, we show that frequent teacher feedback, the use of data to guide instruction, high-dosage tutoring, increased instructional time, and high expectations—explains approximately 45 percent of the variation in school effectiveness.

This study investigates the relationship between measures of mathematics teacher skill and student achievement in California high schools. Test scores are analyzed in relation to teacher experience and education and student demographics. The results are consistent with the hypotheses that there is a shortage of qualified mathematics teachers in California and that this shortage is associated with low student scores in mathematics.

This study employed a randomized experiment to examine differences in teacher and student learning from professional development (PD) in two modalities: online and face-to-face. 

This study examines the influence of administrator credential programs, on-the-job experiences, and the standards in the development of urban public school principals.

This study uses a national probability sample of 1,027 mathematics and science teachers to provide the first large-scale empirical comparison of effects of different characteristics of professional development on teachers' learning.

The authors fit multilevel logistic regression models to a large state administrative dataset in order to examine (1) if the percentage of SWDs a teacher instructs was associated with turnover, (2) if this association varied by student disability, and (3) how these associations were moderated by special education certification.

In this paper, we describe the results of the first large-scale study, based on a unique data set from North Carolina, assessing the relationship between the certification of teachers by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and elementary level student achievement

This brief quantifies the fundamentally chaotic nature of elementary teacher preparation for initial certification, which is by far the most popular choice of individuals who consider teaching. While there is overlap in the topics each undergraduate/graduate program pair covers, what's more striking are the different course requirements--even though both programs are offered by the same education school at the same institution. Ideally, teacher candidates in each program pair should receive preparation that is not only consistent, but also high quality in its design.

This paper investigate the most commonly used exam, the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA), using 10 years of data on Tennessee test takers. This paper found that although candidates with higher scores are more likely to be hired as principals, we find little evidence that SLLA scores predict measures of principal job performance, including supervisors’ evaluation ratings or teachers’ assessments of school leadership from a statewide survey.

The authors use their experience with a professional development project to propose a model of teacher community in the workplace. They describe a project that brought together 22 English and social studies teachers (and a special education and ESL teacher) from an urban high school over a period of 2 1/2 years.

This article reviews U.S. administrative licensure regulations, focusing on type of school leader licensure, provider types, and leadership quality. Licensure obtained through university-based and alternative routes is examined.

This new research addresses a number of critical questions:  Are a teacher’s cognitive skills a good predictor of teacher quality? This study examines the student achievement of 36 developed countries in the context of teacher cognitive skills. This study finds substantial differences in teacher cognitive skills across countries that are strongly related to student performance.

The authors study the effects of various types of education and training on the ability of teachers to promote student achievement.

Is a popular innovation for increasing human capital in the teaching profession—competitive college scholarships for teachers—effective? 

The authors report an investigation of a five-step structured study-group approach to promoting a self-sustaining learning community that supports teachers in developing the ‘habits of mind’ necessary for improving literacy acquisition and development for urban African American students attending a low-performing, high-poverty elementary school. 

This paper defines and describes what is meant by "professional learning community"; describes what happens when a school staff studies, works, plans, and takes action collectively on behalf of increased learning for students; and discusses what is known about creating such communities of professionals in schools.

This paper is based on an analysis of seven alternative certification programs to determine the characteristics of effective programs. Overall, findings suggest that an effective alternative certification program places candidates in schools with strong leadership, a collegial atmosphere, and adequate materials. 

This article reports on a longitudinal study designed to explore these questions. In 1999, researchers from The Project on the Next Generation of Teachers selected and interviewed a diverse group of 50 new teachers in the Massachusetts public schools.

This paper presents case study research that explores the dynamics and experience offered for a professor and learners participating in a hybrid-modeled classroom in teacher education. 

ESSA got rid of the requirement in the law it replaced, the No Child Left Behind Act, that teachers must be highly qualified, which typically meant they needed to have a bachelor’s degree in the subject they are teaching and state certification. Instead, states must come up with their own definition of an “effective teacher.”

The authors introduce Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) as a way of representing what teachers need to know about technology and argue for the role of authentic design-based activities in the development of this knowledge.

Starting in independent professional schools 150 years ago, teacher education in the United States ended up in universities. This was not the result of a plan to enhance the quality of professional education for teachers. Instead, it was a side effect of the growing dominance of the university over all matters educational, which meant that teacher education, like other professional domains, had no other place to go.

In trying to improve American public schools, educators, policymakers, and philanthropists are overselling the role of the highly skilled individual teacher and undervaluing the benefits that come from teacher collaborations that strengthen skills, competence, and a school’s overall social capital.

In this paper we examine social capital and its relationship with performance at the organizational level.

This paper focuses on two questions: (a) What patterns in certification currently exist across the states? and (b) What might these current patterns indicate for the future of school principal certification?

This study examines the Noyce Program, which provides scholarships for STEM majors in return for teaching in high need schools. Implications for teacher education programs include that recruitment strategies should identify candidates who are committed to teaching in high need schools and programs should provide experiences to encourage this commitment not just to become certified.

This paper draws on intensive case studies of teacher knowledge, practice, and learning among teachers of mathematics and English in two high schools to take up the problem of how classroom teaching practice comes to be known, shared, and developed among teachers through their out-of-classroom interactions.

This paper reports findings of a study that is grounded in the assumption that the ways in which teachers interact outside their classrooms may be critical to the future of school restructuring and the effects of restructuring on students.

This study investigated the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards'(NBPTS)
assessment process in order to identify, quantify, and substantiate learning outcomes from
the participants.

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) identified five studies of NBPTS certification that both fall within the scope of the Teacher Training, Evaluation, and Compensation topic area and meet WWC group design standards.

This annual publication is one of the best ongoing sources for tracking and analyzing important developments and trends in education over time using the latest available data. In 2019 the spotlights were on: “Early Childhood Care Arrangements”; “Choices and Costs Characteristics of Public School Teachers Who Completed Alternative Route to Certification Programs”; and “Trends in Student Loan Debt for Graduate School Completers.”

This publication seeks to help answer those questions by bringing together findings from four reports commissioned by The Wallace Foundation to inform its development of a potential new initiative regarding university-based principal training.

This paper is the story of Fast Start. This paper will explain exactly how they transformed their approach to pre-service training and built Fast Start, and what they’ve learned along the way. They hope that their experience—including our failures—can serve as a road map for other preparation programs that want to find new ways to help new teachers find success.

Th is publication is an eff ort to answer basic questions and to inform and engage more people in strengthening the quality and improving the results of professional development.

National Center for Education Statistics. U.S. Department of Education presents the data of public school teachers who held a postbaccalaureate degree, public school teachers who held the certificate, and the year of experience.

The book recommends that federal and state policy makers take on the responsibility of promoting equal access to technology while the federal government and foundations play an important role by supporting the development, evaluation, and revision of OTPD.

NTC's most recent report explores: 1) The impact on teacher retention rates, 2) Expected months of additional learning for students and potential of lifetime earnings, 3) Districts' expected savings on this investment. 4) Long-term economic impact of students and in their communities.

This article focuses on the response of one urban middle school to a major school reform initiative.

This study examined the influence of three year-long cohorts of elementary school teachers' participating in a learner-centered mathematics professional development program.

The quality of the teacher workforce is especially important in the early grades, when teachers bear an extraordinary responsibility, building a solid foundation for students in both the knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in later grades, as well as in their future lives. The past year and a half has laid bare the tremendous challenges teachers face and the essential role they play in supporting students. As the pandemic abates and we reckon with the damage it wrought, we must acknowledge that recovery places unprecedented demands on our education system and its teachers.

This Statistics in Brief provides a snapshot of the state of teacher professional development activities among U.S. public school teachers using data collected through the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) Public School Teacher Questionnaire.

This study examines how mathematics and science teachers' classroom assessment
practices were affected by the National Board Certification process.

High teacher turnover imposes numerous burdens on the schools and districts from which teachers depart. Some of these burdens are explicit and take the form of recruiting, hiring, and training costs. Others are more hidden and take the form of changes to the composition and quality of the teaching staff. This study focuses on the latter. 

This 3-year study examined the dynamics of school culture in 3 elementary schools that
have beaten the odds in improving low-income and minority student achievement.

The authors recommend a shift in focus for TFA from a program of mixed impact to one that makes measureable changes in the quality of education in America. Recommendations for policymakers and districts are provided.

After an overview of the characteristics of professional learning communities (PLCs), this manuscript presents a review of 10 American studies and one English study on the impact of PLCs on teaching practices and student learning.

Providing alternative routes to teacher certification is an approach to recruit teachers. A definition of alternative teacher certification is provided, followed by a summary of the research on this strategy, state policy examples and considerations for policymakers.