Teacher Quality Gaps (TQGs) in North Carolina and Washington

There is growing interest in the distribution of teachers across students in U.S. Public Schools. In response to mounting evidence of the importance of teachers and the existence of “teacher quality gaps” (TQGs), the federal government recently directed states to develop plans to reduce inequity in the distribution of teacher quality across public schools. This data visualization is part of a broader project, funded by the William T. Grant Foundation and CALDER funders, that uses longitudinal data on public school students,teachers, and schools from two “focal states”—North Carolina and Washington—to provide a descriptive history of the evolution and sources of TQGs.

For an overview of project findings: Summary

For details on the methodology and data used in this data visualization: Journal Version

Working Paper

See the video below for information about how to interpret these graphs:

Teacher Quality Gaps (TQGs) in Washington

Figure 1. TQGs by Proportion of Novice Teachers (Less than 5 Years Experience)

Figure 2. TQGs by Proportion Bottom Quartile on Teacher Licensure Tests

Figure 3. TQGs by Proportion Bottom Quartile on Teacher Value Added

Teacher Quality Gaps (TQGs) in North Carolina 

Figure 4. TQGs by Proportion of Novice Teachers (Less than 5 Years Experience)

Figure 5. TQGs by Proportion Bottom Quartile on Teacher Licensure Tests

Figure 6. TQGs by Proportion Bottom Quartile on Teacher Value Added

For more details on TQG Issues 

Cowan, James, Dan Goldhaber, and Roddy Theobald. "Teacher Equity Gaps in Massachusetts." ESE Policy Brief, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2017).

Goldhaber, D., Quince, V., and Theobald, R. (2016). Reconciling different estimates of teacher quality gaps based on value-added. Washington, DC: National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), American Institutes for Research.

Goldhaber, D., Quince, V., & Theobald, R. (2018a). How Did It Get This Way: Disentangling the Sources of Teacher Quality Gaps Across Two States. CALDER Working Paper 209-1118-1.

Goldhaber, D., Quince, V., & Theobald, R. (2018b). Has it always been this way? Tracing the evolution of teacher quality gaps in U.S. public schools. American Educational Research Journal, doi 10.3102/0002831217733445.

Goldhaber, D., Theobald, R., & Fumia, D. (2018c). Teacher quality gaps and student outcomes: Assessing the association between teacher assignments and student math test scores and high school course taking. CALDER Working Paper 185.

These visualizations are created in part from confidential data from the North Carolina Education Research Center (NCERDC) at Duke University, directed by Kara Bonneau and supported by the Spencer Foundation. We wish to acknowledge the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for its role in collecting this information and making it available, as well as the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for collecting the student-level data from Washington State and sharing it through data-sharing agreement No. 2015DE-028. Thanks to Becca Ortega and Wezi Phiri for excellent research assistance