Teachers are the most important in-school factor on students’ academic achievement. Relative to peers taught by ineffective teachers, students taught by highly-effective teachers gain 7.5 additional months of learning in mathematics and 3 additional months of learning in reading.
A report from the Education Policy Initiative at Carolina (EPIC) underscores a stark reality in North Carolina: Black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students have less access to well-credentialed and effective teachers. The study also concludes that students with low test scores have inequitable access to effective teachers, and it highlights the lack of diversity in the teacher workforce.
Targeted teacher recruitment, retention bonuses, teacher leadership roles and strengthened clinical experiences are highlighted as practices to increase equitable access to effective teachers. Furthermore, the research brief highlights where the inequitable access occurs: at the school level, or within or across districts. Different strategies should be considered at each level to increase the odds that low income and/or students of color have access to effective teachers.
“Across each measure that we considered—exposure to first-year and NBC teachers, prior-year NCEES ratings, prior-year EVAAS estimates—we find that students from historically marginalized populations have less access to well-credentialed and effective teachers. These differences in access are meaningful in size and add up over the course of a student’s K-12 education.„
Access to a Well-Credentialed, Effective, and Diverse Teacher Workforce in North Carolina
February 2021
Authored by: Kevin Bastian
In 2019, The Belk Foundation invested $233,492 in EPIC to conduct analyses on the North Carolina teacher workforce, including on the distribution of effective teachers. In 2019, The Belk Foundation placed greater emphasis on equitable access to effective teachers by expanding the pool and extending the reach of effective teachers.