Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (BTLS)

3. KEY CONCEPTS

Some of the concepts and terms used in the BTLS data collection and analysis are defined below.

Beginning public school teachers. Beginning public school teachers are defined as teachers who began teaching in 2007 or 2008 in a traditional public or public charter school that offered any of grades K–12 or comparable ungraded levels. These teachers include regular full- and part-time teachers, itinerant teachers, and long-term substitutes as well as any administrators, support staff, librarians, or other professional staff who taught at least one regularly scheduled class in the 2007–08 school year, excluding library skills classes.

Current/former status. This created variable indicates whether teachers are currently teaching during the year of data collection. Starting with the second wave of data collection, the instrument included screening questions that set different paths for current teachers, former teachers, and returning teachers.

Stayer/mover/leaver/returner status. This is a created variable indicating whether teachers stayed in the same school as in the previous year of data collection, moved to a new school, left the teaching profession, or returned to the teaching profession after a leave of absence.