Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

UTeach is a secondary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teacher education program founded at UT Austin and has since expanded rapidly around the county. What began as an effort to streamline the process of earning a degree in math or science alongside a teaching credential while graduating in a timely manner at one university is now available at 44 universities in 21 states and is expected to produce more than 9,000 math and science teachers by 2020. In 2014, the National Math and Science Initiative awarded a $22.5 million grant to continue the expansion of UTeach. However, despite this substantial investment and rapid growth, there is no evidence to date about the effectiveness of UTeach graduates in the classroom.

The selling point of UTeach is its efficient approach to producing STEM majors who have a teaching credential in hand upon graduation. Students in UTeach take courses in their major along with classes for future teachers. The program is designed with the goal of prospective teachers being able to earn a B.S. degree and a certification within four years. According to the Institute, 85 percent of UTeach graduates earn math or science majors. The program touts three key elements that drive its success. First, pedagogy courses designed specifically for the program; second, early and intensive field experiences; and third, guidance provided by master and mentor teachers.

There are several reasons for why UTeach teachers may be more effective than the average teacher. First, by reducing the barrier to earning a credential for math and science majors, the program may be drawing a more talented pool of teachers into the system. On average, STEM majors who enter the teaching profession score about 100 SAT points higher than non-STEM majors (Goldhaber and Walch, 2013). Second, subject-specific training may improve teacher performance in math and science at the secondary level, as greater math test scores for teachers is associated with greater effectiveness at the high school level (Clotfelter et al., 2010). Third, the UTeach program elements mentioned above may be effective at producing quality teachers. Finally, selective UTeach-affiliated institutions such as UT Austin are more selective and thus may produce more effective teachers by this selection effect alone (Clotfelter et al., 2010). For example, there is some evidence that part of the Teach For America effect may be due to its selection of candidates with strong observable characteristics such as test scores and attending a selective institution (Xu et al., 2011).

In this paper, we use administrative data covering all math and science teachers and students in public secondary schools in Texas to assess whether UTeach-affiliated programs in Texas produce teachers that are more effective than the average non-UTeach teacher. We then examine the extent to which there is evidence of within-UTeach program heterogeneity across the different UTeach programs in the state. Finally, we assess whether available program characteristics can explain the overall UTeach effect or any differences across UTeach programs.