|
Private schools and schools with high minority enrollments are more likely to
employ teachers with 3 or fewer years of teaching experience than are public schools
and schools with low minority enrollments.
This indicator examines the distribution of beginning teachers (i.e., those with 3 or fewer
years of experience) by various teacher
characteristics and across different types of schools.
Looking at the characteristics of beginning
teachers provides some indication of the
demographic profile of the nation's future teacher
population. Examining their distribution across schools
provides a measure of inequalities in student
learning opportunities because, as indicated by research, teachers in the early years of
their teaching careers are typically less effective
than more experienced teachers (Murnane and Phillips 1981). This research suggests that
there is discernible improvement in teacher
effectiveness (as measured by student achievement
scores) each year for a teacher's first few years of
teaching; however, there is little evidence of
significant improvement after about 5 years of teaching.
Among full-time teachers, approximately 16 percent of public school teachers were beginning
teachers in 1999–2000, compared with 23 percent of private school teachers. Beginning teachers
were evenly distributed by sex. There was no
detectable difference in the proportions of male and female teachers who were beginning teachers in
public and private schools. Beginning teachers were
not, however, evenly distributed by race/ethnicity.
Compared with White teachers, a greater proportion of Black and Hispanic teachers in public and
private schools were beginning teachers, as were a greater proportion of Asian/Pacific Islander
teachers in public schools (see table
29-1).
Beginning teachers were also not evenly distributed across all schools. Public and
private schools with the highest percentages of
minority students and those with the highest
percentages of limited-English proficient (LEP)
students were more likely to employ beginning
teachers than schools with the lowest percentages
of minority students and those with the lowest percentages of LEP students. Furthermore,
public schools with the highest percentages of
low-income students (those eligible for free or
reduced-price lunch) were more likely to employ beginning teachers than were schools with
the lowest percentages of such students (see tables 29-2 and 29-3).
| 
