does teacher preparation matter for beginning teachers in

tion had majored in general education (65.3%) was quite similar to SETs who majored in special
education, though a negligible percentage of GETs majored in special education (2.3%).
Degree level. Of beginning SETs, for all amounts of preparation in pedagogy and supervised
teaching combined, 31.3% earned a master’s degree (or higher) (see Table 1). These beginning
SETs were much more likely to earn masters degrees than comparable GETs (31.3% vs. 21.0%,
respectively). This is consistent with the results of earlier research (Boe, Cook, Kaufmann, &
Danielson, 1996) that also showed that more SETs than GETs earned master’s degrees. Degree
level is a common indicator of teacher qualifications. For example, some states require a master’s
degree for second stage teacher certification (e.g., Indiana and New York) (NASDTEC,
2003, Table D-1). For beginning teachers, only a bachelor’s degree is required under all state
certification systems (NASDTEC, 2003, Table B-1) and the NCLB definition of a HQT.
With respect to the concept of a HQT defined by NCLB’s, the results shown in Table 1
demonstrate that completing extensive preparation in pedagogy and supervised teaching matters
a great deal in the attainment of two key qualifications for a HQT—full certification and in-field
teaching assignments. Beginning SETs and GETs, who completed lesser amounts of teacher
preparation, were seriously disadvantaged in both respects.
Do Teaching Positions Vary by Amount of Teacher Preparation?
Time of Entry Into Teaching Employment. As shown in Table 2, 52% of beginning SETs with
extensive preparation secured teaching positions during the same year as they graduated (i.e., the
recent graduates) while the remaining 48% secured teaching positions during a subsequent year
(i.e., delayed entrants). By comparison, only 23.2% of SETs with no teacher preparation secured
teaching positions during the same year as they graduated. Similarly, most beginning SETs completing
only some preparation also waited more than a year to enter teaching employment. The entry
timing results for beginning GETs were quite similar. Thus, extensive teacher preparation matters
to both SETs and GETs in securing teaching employment soon after graduation.
School Minority Enrollment. In addition to entering teaching employment much sooner after
graduation than did other beginning SETs, beginning teachers with extensive preparation (who,
as seen above, were more qualified) were more likely than other beginning teachers to be hired
into schools with a low percentage of minority students, and, conversely, much less likely to be
hired into schools with a high percentage of minority students (see Table 2). Therefore, schools
with high minority enrollment apparently had to hire beginning SETs with only some or no
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