November 2024 Research Rundown
By Madie Spartz
For November’s Research Rundown—our curated list of recent, relevant research we think is worth adding to the education equity conversation—we’re sharing articles about:
- Teacher apprenticeship degrees
- Long-term outcomes for dual enrollment students
- The outcomes of COVID relief spending in schools
Best of Both Worlds: Teacher Apprenticeship Degrees
Bellwether, October 2024
This report offers a comprehensive overview of teacher apprenticeship degrees (TADs), an emerging tool in the efforts to shore up and diversify the teacher workforce. While traditional pathways into the classroom require several years of schooling while working for no or lower wages (if candidates work at all), TADs provide the opportunity for candidates to get a Bachelor’s degree while earning a salary and getting on-the-job training in their intended field. Furthermore, extensive mentoring and coaching are embedded into all TAD programs. The report provides background information on the TAD model, showcasing real-life examples from existing TAD programs nationwide, and offering strategies to scale successful programs.
Why This Matters in Minnesota
Like in many states, district leaders in Minnesota report significant challenges in staffing classrooms. Moreover, Minnesota’s teachers are overwhelmingly white and female, and recent efforts to diversify the workforce have seen small gains at best. To ensure that all students have access to qualified, effective, and diverse teachers, Minnesota needs to explore new ways to get teachers in the classroom. TAD programs have the benefit of expanding access to aspiring teachers who otherwise may not be able to complete traditional, university-based pathways, which are time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, TADs center around on-the-job training and intensive mentorship, which research shows are some of the best protective factors against teacher attrition. Minnesota has some emerging teacher apprenticeship models, but the field is still very new and there is a lot to be learned from national successes and built on to improve local pathways.
The Postsecondary Outcomes of High School Dual Enrollment Students: A National and State-by-State Analysis
Community College Resource Center, October 2024
This report, similar to the data set we shared in the October 2024’s Research Rundown, looks at the college-going outcomes for students who participated in dual enrollment in high school. The authors tracked students who participated in dual enrollment in 2015 to find answers about their paths four years later. Consistent with prior research, they found that dual enrollment students have stronger postsecondary outcomes than their peers, enrolling in and completing college at higher rates than students who don’t participate in dual enrollment.
Also consistent with prior research, the students in the sample did not reap the benefits equally: low-income, Black, and Hispanic students are underrepresented in dual enrollment and earn college credentials at lower rates than dual enrollment students overall. A notable finding, however, is that despite these gaps in who is benefitting from dual enrollment, low-income, Black, and Hispanic dual enrollees still earn college credentials at higher rates than students who don’t participate in dual enrollment. This finding underscores the importance of dual enrollment as a tool in closing race- and income-based opportunity gaps.
Why This Matters in Minnesota
Dual enrollment can be a powerful tool for opening postsecondary pathways to students who have been traditionally left out, and Minnesota has robust dual enrollment offerings, such as College in the School (CIS) and Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO). This study counts Minnesota as one of ten states that account for over half of all dual enrollees nationwide. However, as is true in this sample, Minnesota students of color and low-income students aren’t represented in these programs at similar rates to their white and higher-income peers. The study found that Minnesota ranks second highest for the share of high-income students in dual enrollment. However, our state has above-average college completion rates for low-income students who do participate. This highlights the strong impact dual enrollment can have if more underrepresented students are given the opportunity to participate. Policymakers should focus on removing barriers facing underrepresented students, from transportation to marketing and beyond.
No Silver School-Spending Bullets: Five Lessons from the $190B ESSER Investment to Help Drive Learning Recovery
Education Next, October 2024
This article offers takeaways from the federal government’s record cash infusion into local districts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those funds, called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, brought $190 billion to school districts around the country with very few requirements on how they should be spent. The funds expired in September, so analysts have been studying how they were used and to what effect. The answer: it’s complicated. Notably, how districts spent their ESSER funds didn’t really have a relationship to academic gains, at least not uniformly. The authors of the article did see some patterns and offer takeaways.
They suggest that state leadership mattered in translating ESSER funds to higher test scores for students. They determined that state leaders who emphasized reading and math, were clear about what constituted success, and made data-driven decisions based on student progress were most effective. Zooming into the district level, the authors argue that budget decisions are often not geared toward student outcomes. From an analysis of professional development workshops related to ESSER, they found only a quarter made any mention of student outcomes as a factor in deciding how to spend money. Furthermore, many districts spent money intended for high-poverty schools at wealthier schools in their district, a practice that is often “hard-wired” into the budgeting process. This happened when ESSER funds were used to give raises to teachers, because senior teachers and their correspondingly higher salaries are more likely to be employed at low-poverty schools.
Why This Matters in Minnesota
School budgets can seem boring or complicated (and they are!), but school finance is at the core of almost all aspects of school success. A look at recent budget woes and controversy in Robbinsdale, STEP Academy, and St. Paul illustrate the importance of sound, student-centered budgeting practices and the very real implications for students, staff, and families when things go wrong. Furthermore, we can see from ESSER that infusions of cash alone, even large ones, are not enough to mitigate pandemic learning loss or the opportunity gaps that existed long before COVID-19. Funding is necessary but not sufficient– it needs to come with clear goals, measurable metrics of success, and improving student outcomes at the forefront—and, moreover, to support sustainability of interventions over time.