Academic capital

The Illinois Education Research Council is releasing a new study on the “Teacher Academic Capital Gap in Illinois.” (Download the full study or policy brief [pdf])

Teacher academic capital is a measurement combining the mean ACT score of teachers, the percentage of teachers who failed the IL Basic Skills Test on the first attempt, the percentage of teachers who were provisionally or emergency certified, and the mean Barron’s competitiveness ranking of the undergraduate institutions attended by teachers. It represents, according to the IERC, “a collection of intellectual resources and assets that are available to schools through their teachers.”

The study found that between 2001 and 2006, schools with the highest percentage of low-income and minority students made major gains in academic capital. Though Chicago still has a lower average than the rest of the state, it is increasing faster than any other region, and increases in Chicago’s measures are the main driving force behind the statewide increase.

The report points out that Chicago’s huge increases in teacher academic capital are “largely the result of hiring inexperienced teachers with stronger academic backgrounds.”

The found that ISAT scores showed a “positive link between improvements in [academic capital] and achievement gains.” They also found that “[academic capital] gains tend to have a greater positive effect on a school’s student achievement than the negative effect associated with teacher inexperience.”

They specifically warn schools against seeking out experienced teachers as the expense of looking at new teachers with strong academic qualifications. But, to be sure, there are challenges to focusing on academic capital, as the IERC reported last year:

Unfortunately, in a recent study on teacher attrition in Illinois (DeAngelis & Presley, 2007), the IERC found that teachers with the highest ACT scores and degrees from the most competitive institutions are less likely to remain teaching in the lowest-performing schools. If this trend continues, the improvements in the distribution of Illinois’ teacher academic capital in recent years could be eroded. State and district officials need to ensure that all school leaders are implementing effective mentoring and induction support for new teachers, and striving to improve their schools’ teaching and learning climates.

Links to news coverage and related teacher achievement data in New York at This Week in Education.

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