Abstract
In Texas, there are different ways teachers can attain certification. Thus, teachers are entering the classroom through various certification routes with varying levels of training as the traditional and alternative programs differ in their requirements. Classroom management can determine the success or failure of teachers and students. The research involved in this study attempted to determine whether university-certified teachers differ from alternatively certified teachers in the area of classroom management as determined by referrals, while controlling for level of education, years of teaching experience, age, race, and gender at both middle and high school levels. The population for this study was the middle and high school teachers in one rural south central Texas school district. Data were collected from the school district’s personnel database as well as from the campus-level administrators. Hierarchical regressions were used to test null hypotheses and recommendations were suggested.
Highlights
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) reported that in 2010 there were 338,191 classroom teachers in Texas
Teacher demographic data, including age, gender, ethnicity, years of experience, and degree earned, and the number of discipline referrals written by each teacher were captured into a Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) file
The results suggest that when adding the variable of certification to the demographic variables, there was no significant effect on the number of discipline referrals that were written
Summary
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) reported that in 2010 there were 338,191 classroom teachers in Texas. According to TEA (2010), universities offer certification to persons who either have graduated high school and are entering college seeking a teaching degree, or who have earned a degree and wish to become a certified teacher. Usually university or service center based, allow students to obtain a paid internship or probationary teaching position based on coursework progress and the completion of appropriate certification tests. There are alternative certification programs, such as Texas Teachers, that will allow a student to accept a paid teaching position almost immediately after acceptance into the teacher training program (TEA, 2010). Baines (2010) continues by saying that nonuniversity-based alternative programs exist in two forms: the “learn while you earn program,” which has an expedited summer course preceding a full-time teaching position as an internship year, or the Internet-based programs, which have no field experience requirement. Alternatively certified teachers struggle with student achievement as students who had universitycertified teachers outperformed students from alternatively certified teachers (Baines, 2006)
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