Differences in Teacher and Student Characteristics by Accountability Ratings: A Texas Statewide Multiyear Study

Purpose

Four purposes were present in this journal-ready dissertation. The first purpose was to examine the degree to which the percentage of beginning teachers in traditionally configured elementary, middle, and secondary Texas schools differed as a function of two distinction designations (i.e., Academic Achievement in Reading/English Language Arts and Academic Achievement in Mathematics). The second purpose was to determine the extent to which differences were present in student ethnic/racial enrollment as a function of two distinction designations for traditionally configured elementary, middle, and secondary Texas schools. The third purpose was to ascertain whether trends were present in the percentage of beginning teachers and student ethnic/racial enrollment with respect to distinction designations in reading and in mathematics. The final purpose was to determine the degree to which prior trends established by Martinez-Garcia and Slate (2010, 2012a, 2012b), Moreno and Slate (2015), and Lopez and Slate (2014) were commensurate with the 2011-2012 through the 2014-2015 school years that were examined in this study.

Method

A non-experimental causal-comparative research design was used in this study. Archival quantitative data were obtained and analyzed from the Texas Academic Performance Reports for the 2012-2013 through the 2015-2016 school years. Only data from traditionally configured public elementary, middle, and high schools were analyzed. Inferential statistical procedures were calculated to determine the degree to which the percentages of beginning teachers and student ethnicity/race enrollment percentages differed between two distinction designations (i.e., Academic Achievement in Reading/English Language Arts and Academic Achievement in Mathematics).

Findings

Statistically significant differences were present in the percentage of beginning teachers between the two different distinction designations. Higher percentages of beginning teachers were present in schools that did not meet the two distinction designations than in schools that did meet the two distinction designations. With respect to student enrollment percentages by ethnicity/race, higher percentages of Asian students and lower percentages of Black students, Hispanic students, and White students were present at schools that met the two distinction designations. Results from this study were congruent with much of the recent empirical literature. Implications for policy and recommendations for research were provided.