High School English Language Arts Teachers and Postsecondary Outcomes for Students With and Without Disabilities

Abstract

We used longitudinal data on high school students in Washington State to assess the relationships between English Language Arts (ELA) teacher qualifications and the high school and postsecondary outcomes of their students, and whether these relationships differed for students with and without disabilities. We found that students assigned to 10th-grade ELA teachers with higher value added had better test scores, were more likely to graduate on-time, and were more likely to attend and graduate from a 4-year college than observably similar students assigned to 10th-grade ELA teachers with lower value added. We also found that many of these relationships varied for students with and without disabilities, as 10th-grade ELA teacher value added was more positively predictive of on-time graduation and 4-year college attendance for students without disabilities, but more positively predictive of 2-year college attendance and employment within 2 years of graduation for students with disabilities.