The impact of principals' teacher certification on middle school student achievement in an urban South Texas school district.

摘要

Increasing demands for students to perform at higher levels at the middle school level have caused educators to closely examine the quality of personnel working with middle level students. Middle school advocates and professional organizations have claimed that the preparation of teachers and principals who work with middle school students should be specifically customized to meet the needs of young adolescents in order to better prepare this group for more rigorous standards of achievement (McEwin, 2003). Specifically, an examination of the qualifications of middle school principals is warranted due to the impact of instructional leadership on student achievement (O'Donnell, 2005).;The ex post facto study examined the impact of the middle school principal's teacher certification on the scholastic achievement of eighth grade students in an urban South Texas school district, as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in reading, mathematics, science, and social studies. The assessment results were reviewed in order to determine achievement differences between students who attended a school led by a principal who had an elementary teacher certification and groups of students who attended a school led by a principal with a secondary teacher certification. The study provided information on this impact as reflected by the results of the first administration of the reading, mathematics, science, and social studies sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in the 2007-2008 school year. The test was administered to 2,796 students. The assessment results of different groups of student populations, as designated by the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS), established by the Texas Education Agency, were reviewed. Also reviewed were the unique contributions made by the different student demographic characteristics to the variation of outcomes in all sections of the TAKS test.;Analysis of the data showed that students who attended middle schools led by principals with an elementary type certificate outscored students who attended schools led by a principal with a secondary certificate on the basis of the Grade 8 Social Studies TAKS; however, the effect size was small and statistically significant differences could be attributed to a large sample size. There were gender main affects on reading, favoring females; science, favoring males; and social studies scores, favoring males. There were ethnicity main affects on reading, mathematics, science, and social studies, favoring non-Hispanics in all the content areas. There were socioeconomic main affects on reading, mathematics, social studies, and science, favoring those who did not receive free/reduced lunch. There were certification type main affects on social studies scores, favoring students in middle schools which were led by principals with elementary certification. The best predictor of achievement in reading was socioeconomic status, followed by ethnicity, gender, and certification type. The best predictor of mathematics achievement was socioeconomic status, followed by ethnicity, certification type, and gender. The best predictor of achievement in science was socioeconomic status, followed by ethnicity, gender, and certification type. The best predictor of achievement in social studies was ethnicity, followed by socioeconomic status, gender, and certification type. The existence of statistically significant results could have been due to large sample sizes. The overwhelming majority of the effect sizes were very small.