about the teacher qualification index
Frequently Asked Questions about the TQI
What is the Teacher Qualification Index (TQI) and how is it calculated?
The TQI developed for this website is a standardized rating system that reflects the credential status and experience level of teachers at each public K-12 school in California. Schools receive a rating from 1 to 10 based on the percentage of teachers at the school who are qualified. Schools with higher percentages of underqualified teachers have lower TQI ratings. TQI ratings are reduced in schools with high percentages of beginning teachers (i.e., first and second year). Click here for a more detailed explanation of how the TQI is calculated.
In addition to the TQI, this website also provides an indication of how underqualified teachers are distributed within each school district in California. Using statistical calculations which measure distribution patterns, each school district receives a distribution rating (i.e., Very Uneven, Uneven, Even, and Very Even). For example, a district that has high percentages of qualified teachers in some of its schools and low percentages of such teachers in other schools receives a "spread" designation of "Highly Uneven."
Is a Credentialed teacher a Qualified teacher?
This is an extraordinarily important question--one that is raised frequently by those who question the value of professional teacher education programs. If the answer to this question is "NO," then the TQI is meaningless because it is based in large part on the credentialed status of teachers in a school. We would have to conclude, too, that The Federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is seriously flawed because it defines a "highly qualified" teacher as one who, in addition to having strong subject matter knowledge, is "fully certified" (i.e., credentialed). There is strong evidence, however, that individuals who earn a teaching credential are much more likely to be successful in the classroom than those who have not earned a teaching credential. More...
If a school is staffed with qualified teachers will it be successful?
The presence of qualified teachers is a necessary condition for educational success, but it is far from being a sufficient condition. If a school is staffed with qualified teachers, but most of them happen to be beginning teachers, chances are the school will struggle because the teachers will not receive the support and mentoring that is critical to their effectiveness (not to mention their willingness to continue teaching). This is why teacher experience is factored into the calculations of TQI ratings. (More on beginning teachers...)
Even if all of the teachers at a particular school are qualified and most of them are experienced, there is no guarantee that this collection of teachers will be a good fit with the students at this school. What if many of the students are English learners and few teachers have the kind of training and experience necessary to teach these students effectively? What if there is an abundance of qualified social studies teachers at a high school but not enough to staff the science and math courses? Not only must a school be staffed with qualified teachers, they must have the "right" qualifications--that is, the ones dictated by the particular needs of the students.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, even if we were able to hand pick just the right group of teachers for students in a particular school, they would be ineffective in the absence of conditions such as those listed below. This is merely speculative, of course, since few would be willing to come in the first place.
An effective principal who provides educational leadership and support for teachers
Ongoing professional development programs for teachers that are aligned with academic standards and that address the needs of teachers
A clean, safe, and inviting learning environment
Active involvement at school and home by parents
Access to current books, learning materials, supplies, and technology
Availability of auxiliary personnel (e.g., school nurses, special education teachers, public health specialists, guidance counselors, and social workers)
The point being made here is that solving the staffing problem is only one piece--albeit a critical one--of the school reform challenge.
Click here to read about a reform plan that addresses the whole school.
Why is the SPREAD of underqualified teachers important and how is it derived?
The type of spread of underqualified teachers in a school district is important because it indicates how equitably schools within the district are staffed. In districts where underqualified teachers are distributed "unevenly" or "very unevenly," some students have a far greater chance of having underqualified teachers than many of their peers in the same district. School districts face two challenges with respect to improving the qualifications of their teachers: 1) they must decrease the overall percentage of underqualified teachers, and 2) they must ensure that underqualified teachers are spread as evenly and, as equitably, as possible.
Districts with five or more schools receive one of four SPREAD designations: Very Even, Even, Uneven, and Very Uneven. These designations are based on a statistic that measures variance around the average. Click here to learn more about how SPREAD designations are derived.
Support for a Teacher Qualification Index
Assembly Bill 833 (2001-02 Legislative Session)
In February, 2001, California Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg introduced legislation to establish a Teacher Qualification Index (TQI). The intent of Assembly Bill 833 was to create a rating system that would reflect a) the professional qualifications of teachers in each public K-12 school in the state, and b) the distribution of underqualified teachers within each school district. AB833 passed the State Assembly 78-0 and the State Senate 29-6. Among those offering official support for the bill were:* The California Federation of Teachers
* Kern County Office of Education
* The California Commission for Teacher CredentialingIn October, 2001, the Governor vetoed the bill, citing two reasons for doing so in his veto message: the bill was too expensive and considerable funds had already been spent to address the teacher quality problem in California.
State Task Force Report
In 2002, a Professional Development Task Force was convened by the then-State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Delaine Eastin whose purpose was "to envision a comprehensive, aligned, and integrated statewide system that will develop and sustain a high-quality teaching and administrator workforce." In its report titled, "Learning, Teaching, Leading..." members of the task force offered several recommendations including this one that calls for a Teacher Qualification Index.Evaluate sources of difficulties in districts that hire large numbers of underqualified teachers and develop remedies to improve hiring outcomes. Publicly report a Teacher Qualifications Index for all schools annually.
The examination of hiring practices and needs in districts with the highest proportions of uncredentialed teachers should focus on developing appropriate state and local remedies for improving hiring outcomes. State salary aid should be tied to hiring fully credentialed teachers and create incentives for hiring prepared teachers in high-need schools. California should develop an annual Teacher Qualifications Index that gives school and district information, such as the numbers of emergency permit teachers and the number of National Board Certified teachers.
The Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
Beginning not later than the 2002-03 school year, the NCLB Act will require each state to provide ‘‘information on the quality of teachers and the percentage of classes being taught by highly qualified teachers in the State, local educational agency, and school."
How was the TQI for this website developed?
As a non-paid consultant to Assemblyman Steinberg, Ken Futernick, the author of this website, helped formulate a method for computing a Teacher Qualification Index rating for each public K-12 school in the state. After the Governor vetoed the bill, Dr. Futernick developed this website to publish a user-friendly TQI database along with discussions of issues related to teacher quality. A TQI rating, based on the percentage of qualified teachers and the percentage of beginning teachers, is calculated for each school. This rating is displayed with other demographic and achievement data for the school.
What is the source of the data?
All of the data used for this site was obtained from the California Department of Education Demographics Website.
California recently adopted the first set of academic standards for all K-12 schools, and we have an Academic Performance Index (API) that enables us to compare achievement scores for all schools in the state. We have accountability measures that reward schools and teachers that perform well and impose sanctions on those that do not. We have adopted Standards for the Teaching Profession that all teachers are expected to meet and we have a new set of standards for the institutions that prepare teachers.
What we lack, however, is a set of standards that indicate what children need in order to learn and succeed in school. For instance, we have no standards that describe an acceptable the level of safety or cleanliness in a school. We have no standards that specify a minimal number of computers per student in a school. We have no standards that specify how equitably school districts must distribute resources to their schools. Most pertinent to the focus of this website, not until the No Child Left Behind Act was passed by Congress in 2002, has California been required to comply with a standard that ensures that all students have access to a qualified teacher. In September 2003, the California legislature passed SB495 which to establish the Opportunities for Teaching and Learning (OTL) index. According to the legislative counsel's digest this bill would "measure the opportunities for teaching and learning as evidenced by access to high-quality learning resources, conditions, and opportunities, based on standards that specify what all schools should have available for instruction and support." On October 12, 2003, Governor Davis vetoed this bill (see the veto message).
For several years, California published data on the internet about teachers in each school. One can visit any number of websites and determine the precise number of teachers who are working with emergency permits, the number of interns, the number teachers in their first and second year, and the number of teachers who are fully credentialed. Currently, however, there is no standardized way of ascertaining the qualifications and experience level of teachers in a school. Nor is there an easy way to see how evenly (or unevenly) underqualified teachers are distributed throughout schools within a district. The Teacher Qualification Index published on this site is an attempt to fill this void, to provide a tool for educators, parents, and policy makers in order to better understand and address this critical educational challenge.
