Table 4.  Percentage of beginning public school teachers who completed a degree after December 31, 2008, enrolled in in courses not leading to a degree or certificate, and percentage distribution of the teachers who reported various reasons for enrolling in the degree program, certificate, or non-degree courses, by selected teacher and school characteristics: School year 2009–10
 
Percent of teachers who reported the reason for enrolling in the degree program, certificate, or non-degree courses  
Selected teacher or school characteristic in 2009–10 Percent of teachers who completed a degree after December 31, 2008   Percent of teachers who enrolled in courses not leading to a degree or certificate   For pre-K-12 teaching position   For use in position in the field of education but not as a pre-K-12 teacher   For use in a position outside the field of education   For reasons unrelated to obtaining or using in a job  
Total  13.2   21.4   74.6   13.0   2.3   10.1  
Age                         
Less than 30 years  13.3   18.0   68.9   14.0   2.7 ! 14.3  
30 or more years  12.9   27.3   81.9   11.7     4.6 !
Grade level                         
Primary/middle  12.5   23.3   81.2   9.4 !   9.0 !
High/combined  13.8   20.3   68.0   17.2   2.3 ! 12.6  
Community type                         
City/suburban  14.3   21.1   75.1   13.7     11.0 !
Town/rural  11.1   23.7   78.8   9.7 ! 2.2 ! 9.3 !
Percent of K-12 students who were approved
for free or reduced-price lunches 
                       
0-49  12.2   21.5   77.3   10.3     11.4  
50 or more  14.6   23.0   76.1   12.8 !   10.1 !
School did not participate in free or
reduced-price lunch program
14.0 ! 19.0   62.4   21.9 ! 9.5 !  
! Interpret data with caution. The standard error for this estimate is equal to 30 percent or more of the estimate's values.
‡ Reporting standards not met.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Cases with missing data are not included in the analysis.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (BTLS), "First Through Third Wave Preliminary Data File," 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10. For more information about the data file, please go to http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011359.