Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results from the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey. First Look. NCES 2017-072
Author: Taie, Soheyla
Date: 2017-08-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Teacher Characteristics,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,National Surveys,Principals,Racial Differences,Ethnicity,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Institutional Characteristics,Public School Teachers,Educational Attainment,Teaching Experience,Employment Level,Teacher Salaries,Class Size,Elementary Secondary Education,Higher Education,School Policy,Teacher Influence,Planning,Tables (Data),Statistical Analysis

The 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) is a nationally representative sample survey of public K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This report presents selected findings from the Public School Teacher Data File of NTPS. NTPS is a redesign of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS was conducted on behalf of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on a 4-year cycle, beginning with the 1987-88 school year and ending in the 2011-12 school year. NTPS maintains the same focus on schools, teachers, and administrators that was traditionally held by the SASS; however, it has a different structure and sample than previous administrations of SASS and operates on a 2-year survey cycle. NTPS collects data on core topics including teacher and principal preparation, classes taught, school characteristics, and demographics of the teacher and principal labor force. It is developed by the NCES of the Institute of Education Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. This report represents the initial results of the first collection of NTPS. The purpose of NTPS is to collect information that can provide a detailed picture of U.S. elementary and secondary schools and their staff. This information is collected through school, principal, and teacher surveys, and information can be linked across all three surveys. The 2015-16 NTPS uses a school-based sample of public schools. Because of this school-based design, principals associated with public schools were included in the sample. Teachers associated with a selected school were sampled from a teacher list provided by the school, collected from school websites, or purchased from a vendor. The selected samples include about 8,300 traditional and charter public schools and public school principals, and 40,000 public school teachers. The samples were drawn to support estimates by geography, grade span, and charter school status. The reader is referred to the Survey Documentation for the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (Cox et al. forthcoming) for details about these estimation domains and their precision criteria. The data were collected via mailed questionnaires and internet instruments with telephone and in-person field follow-up. The first questionnaires were mailed in September 2015, and data collection ended in August 2016. The weighted unit response rate was 67.8 percent for public school teachers. For detailed information about response rates, bias analysis results, methodology, and design of the 2015-16 NTPS, please see the technical notes of this report in appendix B or the Survey Documentation for the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (Cox et al. forthcoming). The purpose of this First Look report is to introduce new data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information. Selected findings chosen for this report demonstrate the range of information available on the 2015-16 NTPS Public School Teacher Restricted-Use Data File. The selected findings do not represent a complete review of all observed differences in the data and are not meant to emphasize any issue. This First Look report highlights findings from the NTPS public school teacher survey. Findings from the school and principal surveys will be presented in two companion First Look reports: (1) Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States: Results From the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look (NCES 2017-070); and (2) Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools in the United States: Results From the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look (NCES 2017-071). The tables in this report contain frequencies and percentages demonstrating bivariate relationships. All results have been weighted to reflect the sample design and to account for nonresponse and other adjustments. Comparisons drawn in the selected findings have been tested for statistical significance at the 0.05 level using Student's t statistics to ensure that the differences are larger than those that might be expected due to sampling variation. While the selected findings include only statistically significant findings they do not include every statistically significant comparison. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. Many of the variables examined are related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships have not been explored. Statistical Analysis Software (SAS 9.4) and SUDAAN (11.1) were used to compute the statistics for this report. The following are appended: (1) Standard Error Tables; (2) Methodology and Technical Notes; and (3) Description of Variables.