Methods & Procedures

Read brief descriptions of the methods and procedures used for each wave of BTLS. For more complete information, refer to the user’s manual and/or survey documentation that accompanied each dataset.

• Wave 1 – 2007–08 school year
• Wave 2 – 2008–09 school year
• Wave 3 – 2009–10 school year

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Wave 1: ¹

The first wave of BTLS was administered using the Teacher Questionnaire of the 2007–08 SASS. The major objectives of the first wave questionnaire were to obtain information on topics such as teachers’ education and training, teaching assignment, certification, workload, and perceptions and attitudes about teaching.

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Wave 2: ²

Questionnaire Design

The second wave of BTLS was administered using the beginning teacher versions of the Questionnaire for Former Teachers (Form TFS–2L) and the Questionnaire for Current Teachers (Form TFS–3L) of the 2008–09 TFS. The Questionnaire for Current Teachers obtained information on sampled teachers who were teaching any of grades pre–K–12 in the 2008–09 school year; the Questionnaire for Former Teachers obtained information on sampled teachers who left K–12 teaching after the 2007–08 school year.

The major objectives of the second wave were to measure the 1–year attrition rate of beginning teachers, examine the characteristics of teachers who stayed in the teaching profession and those who changed professions or retired, obtain activity or occupational data for those who left the position of a K–12 teacher, obtain reasons for moving to a new school or leaving the K–12 teaching profession, and collect data on job satisfaction. [former teacher; current teacher ]

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Wave 3: ³

Questionnaire Design

The third wave was the first time BTLS data were collected separately from SASS and TFS. Data were collected during the 2009–10 school year. The major objectives of the third wave were to measure the 2–year attrition rate of teachers who began teaching in the 2007 or 2008 calendar year; examine the characteristics of teachers who remained in the pre–K–12 teaching profession and those who returned to it after leaving in the previous year; obtain activity or occupational data for those who left the pre–K–12 teaching profession; obtain reasons for moving to a new school, leaving the pre–K–12 teaching profession, or returning to the pre–K–12 teaching profession; and obtain data on the further development of teachers’ educational and professional credentials.

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Further Information on Wave 1:

¹ Tourkin, S., Graham, S., Chambers, L., Strizek, G., Parmer, R., Jackson, B., Dial, S., Wang, Y., and Kaiser, A. (2011). User’s Manual for the First Through Third Waves of the 2007–08 Restricted–use Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study Preliminary Data File (NCES 2012–315). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Tourkin, S., Thomas, T., Swaim, N., Cox, S., Parmer, R., Jackson, B., Cole, C., and Zhang, B. (2010). Documentation for the 2007–08 Schools and Staffing Survey (NCES 2010–332). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Further Information on Wave 2:

² Tourkin, S., Graham, S., Chambers, L., Strizek, G., Parmer, R., Jackson, B., Dial, S., Wang, Y., and Kaiser, A. (2011). User’s Manual for the First Through Third Waves of the 2007–08 Restricted–use Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study Preliminary Data File (NCES 2012–315). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Further information on Wave 3:

³ Tourkin, S., Graham, S., Chambers, L., Strizek, G., Parmer, R., Jackson, B., Dial, S., Wang, Y., and Kaiser, A. (2011). User’s Manual for the First Through Third Waves of the 2007–08 Restricted–use Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study Preliminary Data File (NCES 2012–315). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.