November 16, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
First-ever Comprehensive Analysis of City Teaching Takes Center Stage in Landmark Education Lawsuit
Examination of Certification Exam Failures Shows
City Teachers Near The Bottom of the Class
Dr. Hamilton Lankford, Professor of Economics at SUNY Albany and author of the report, "A Descriptive Analysis of the New York State and New York City Teaching Force," today took the stand to begin the groundbreaking lawsuit's fifth week of testimony.
Dr. Lankford analyzed data for city teachers in the 1997-98 school year. The Lankford Report found that on average New York City teachers are not as qualified as teachers either in the surrounding suburbs or in the rest of the State, measured by experience, certification status, educational attainment above a Bachelor's Degree and performance on certification exams.
Nearly one-third – 31.1 per cent – of teachers working in a New York City public school today who took the basic Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST) have failed at that test least once. All teachers must pass the LAST (offered since 1992) within their first four years of teaching to clear the first hurdle towards certification. Comparatively, only 4.7 of New York State teachers outside the city have failed.
Many teachers who did pass barely scored above the passing grade. Teachers who fail are often later hired as uncertified teachers. The exam tests for general knowledge, including questions involving basic algebra computations and American history.
"This report offers the strongest evidence to date that cash-starved city schools do not have the resources to hire enough qualified teachers," said Michael Rebell, Executive Director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), the non-profit coalition suing the State to reform Albany's public school budget allocations.
"Although there are many high-quality, dedicated teachers working in New York City schools, unfortunately this data shows that there are not enough of them," Mr. Rebell said.
City teachers must also pass either the Elementary Assessment of Teaching Skills Test or the Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills Test (ATS) to complete their certification. More than one-quarter of city teachers have failed the ATS exams as well, compared to roughly 4 per cent of non-city teachers.
The Lankford Report also analyzed certification test results for teaching students recently graduated from colleges and universities. The mean percentage of students failing their first certification exam at institutions attended by city teachers was 23.9 per cent. The mean percentage for institutions attended by teachers elsewhere in the State was 8.2 per cent.
The same can be said for students taking the Elementary ATS and Secondary ATS. The mean failure rate for institutions attended by city teachers taking the Elementary and Secondary ATS's was just over 20 per cent, but for institutions attended by teachers outside the city, the mean rate hovered at 6 per cent.
"The relatively low New York city salaries and poor working conditions are the central factors explaining the poor quality of the City teaching force," the report concludes.
Two weeks ago, Deputy Schools Chancellor Harry Spence testified that suburban salaries were as much as 28 per cent higher than the city's. "We are having a hard time attracting first-rate teachers," he said.
Currently, 14 per cent of city teachers are uncertified. Many of those teachers are concentrated in poor, minority neighborhoods, in schools that score poorly on statewide exams.
The report found that 42 per cent of city elementary school teachers who have failed the LAST work in schools with the highest need index, based on the proportion of students having limited English proficiency and receiving free lunch. Forty-nine per cent of all elementary students enrolled in New York City attend schools in this category.
The report also revealed that the city has high percentages of uncertified teachers in math and science classrooms. Nearly one-half of teachers, 47.3 per cent, failed the Math Content Specialty Test (CST); 48.3 per cent failed the Physics CST, and 37 per cent failed the Biology CST.
In addition, in 1997, more than 42 per cent of high school math teachers who took the Math CST failed. Outside of the city, just 17 per cent of high school math teachers who took the exam failed.
"It's no wonder that two-thirds of city eighth graders failed the statewide math test when half of the city's math teachers had trouble passing their own certification tests," said Michael Rebell, CFE's Executive Director.
Many New York City teachers commute from the suburbs, the report found. More than one-third of all public school teachers who live in Rockland, Westchester or Nassau counties commute into the city to teach in a public school.
Those commuters are failing their certification exams. Twenty per cent of teachers who live in the suburbs but teach in city schools failed their LAST in 1997. More than a third who come in from Connecticut or New Jersey failed the same test.
The Lankford Report examined the salaries of teachers who possess Master's degrees. The mean teacher salary for those with MA degrees and 30 years on the job is just below $60,000. Outside the city, salaries for similar teachers are nearer $80,000.
"In no other profession can a person with a Master's Degree and 30 years of job experience be paid so poorly," observed Mr. Rebell.
This may contribute to the fact that New York City teachers quit their jobs at a higher rate than teachers in the surrounding suburbs and other areas of the State. After 10 years, nearly half of teachers hired in New York City quit, while the same figure for the suburbs is under one-third. After twenty years, more than two-thirds of city teachers leave the job, but for suburban teachers, that figure is under 50 per cent.
In the court system since 1993, Campaign For Fiscal Equity v. State of New York charges that thousands of students in New York City and other high-need districts are being denied the opportunity to a sound, basic education because they attend overcrowded schools with inadequate supplies and a lack of experienced, certified teachers.