The effect of teacher certification in secondary mathematics on mathematical achievement and academic growth of eighth grade students in Mississippi

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) required highly qualified middle school teachers to demonstrate knowledge of the core subjects they teach. NCLB also required the achievement level and academic growth in core subject areas for each student in grades 3--8 to be determined through statewide annual assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine if teacher certification in secondary mathematics affected mathematical achievement and academic growth of eighth grade students in Mississippi. All eighth grade students in Mississippi who could be matched one-to-one with a mathematics teacher were subjects of the study. Student mathematical achievement was tested using an ANCOVA with five classifications of teachers as the independent variable, score on the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) for 8th grade mathematics as the dependent variable, and score on the MCT for 7th grade mathematics as the covariate. Ten Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to compare mathematics achievement of students taught by each teacher group with mathematics achievement of students taught by the other teacher groups. Students' academic growth in mathematics was tested using an ANOVA with the 5 classifications of teachers as the independent variable and academic growth value as the dependent variable. A Crosstabulation with Chi Square statistics between teacher groups and percentages of students with growth values ≥ one standard deviation above the mean growth value was performed. Ten Crosstabulations with Chi Square statistics with the same variables were performed to compare percentages of students taught by each teacher group with percentages of students taught by the other teacher groups. The study was extended to compare gains for students with positive growth values. Results of the study indicated mathematical achievement and academic growth for students taught by teachers in Mississippi who were certified in both elementary education and secondary mathematics education were significantly greater than the corresponding values for students taught by teachers in almost all of the other certification groups. The teachers with both certifications in Mississippi were the only teacher group with students who had a positive academic growth rate in mathematics. Alternate route secondary mathematics education teachers taught students who consistently performed at the lowest levels.