Introduction

Concerns about the quality of the nation's public education system have drawn attention to key elements of teacher effectiveness (Darling-Hammond 2000; Lewis et al. 1999; Mayer, Mullens, and Moore 2001; National Commission on Teaching and America's Future 1996). While there is little consensus on what constitutes high-quality teachers, past research has emphasized two broad dimensions of teacher effectiveness: (1) the level of knowledge and skills that teachers bring to the classroom, as measured by teacher preparation and qualifications, and (2) classroom practices. In 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a survey to provide a national profile on the first dimension of teacher quality-teacher preparation and qualifications (Lewis et al. 1999).

In 2000, NCES conducted a second survey on Teacher Professional Development and Training to revisit the issue of teacher preparation and qualifications and measure change since 1998. The 2000 survey repeated key indicators of teacher quality examined in the 1998 survey, in addition to exploring issues such as follow up to professional development. This survey was designed to provide a national profile of all public school teachers, unlike the 1998 survey, which collected data on regular, full-time public school teachers whose main assignment was in a core academic field (English/language arts, mathematics, foreign languages, social studies, and science) or who taught a self-contained class (typically elementary level).² Specifically, the 2000 survey examines the following indicators of teacher quality:

• Teacher education;
• Teacher participation in formal professional development and collaborative activities related to teaching; and
• Teachers" feelings of preparedness for various classroom demands.

In addition to presenting current findings on teacher professional development and training from the 2000 survey, this report makes comparisons with the 1998 data.

The 2000 survey was conducted by NCES using the Fast Response Survey System (FRSS). The FRSS is a survey system designed to collect small amounts of issue-oriented data with minimal burden on the respondents and disseminate findings within a relatively short time period. Questionnaires were mailed to a nationally representative sample of 5,253 public school teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data have been weighted to yield national estimates. Detailed information about the survey methodology is provided in appendix A, and the questionnaire can be found in appendix B.

In addition to national estimates, selected survey findings are presented by the following teacher and school characteristics:

• Teachers" years of teaching experience (3 or fewer years, 4 to 9 years, 10 or more years);
• School instructional level³ (elementary, middle, secondary, combined);
• School enrollment size (less than 500, 500 to 999, 1,000 or more);
• School locale (central city, urban fringe/large town, rural/small town);
• Percent minority enrollment in the school (5 percent or less, 6 to 20 percent, 21 to 50 percent, more than 50 percent); and
• Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (less than 35 percent, 35 to 49 percent, 50 to 74 percent, 75 percent or more).

All specific statements of comparisons made in this report have been tested for statistical significance through chi-square tests and t-tests adjusted for multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni adjustment and are significant at the 95 percent confidence level or better. However, not all significant comparisons have been presented in the report.

² The 2000 sample universe was expanded to all public school teachers to correct for the sample limitations of the 1998 study. The findings of the 1998 study could be generalized only to regular full-time public school teachers in grades 1 through 12 whose main teaching assignment was in English, mathematics, social studies, foreign languages, or science, or who taught in a self-contained setting. See appendix A, survey methodology and technical notes, for more details.

³ Definitions of instructional levels (elementary, middle, secondary, and combined) may differ from other NCES publications. See appendix A for a description of the variable.

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