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The effects of experience and attrition for novice high-school science and mathematics teachers
Gary T Henry1, C Kevin Fortner, Kevin C Bastian
1Department of Public Policy and Education Policy Initiative at Carolina, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3435, USA. gthenry@unc.edu
Abstract:
Because of the current high proportion of novice high-school teachers, many students' mastery of science and mathematics depends on the effectiveness of early-career teachers. In this study, which used value-added models to analyze high-school teachers' effectiveness in raising test scores on 1.05 million end-of-course exams, we found that the effectiveness of high-school science and mathematics teachers increased substantially with experience but exhibited diminishing rates of return by their fourth year; that teachers of algebra 1, algebra 2, biology, and physical science who continued to teach for at least 5 years were more effective as novice teachers than those who left the profession earlier; and that novice teachers of physics, chemistry, physical science, geometry, and biology exhibited steeper growth in effectiveness than did novice non-science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers.
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