First-year teachers are employed at high-poverty schools in Jefferson County at double the rate of the rest of Kentucky, according to a new report recently released by the U.S. Department of Education.
The study shines light on inequitable teacher distribution in lower-performing schools across the country and is part of an education department effort to get all states to develop plans that will ensure every student has equal access to quality educators by June.
The education department uses data from the 2011-2012 school year. It shows has 71 of the state’s highest poverty schools. In those schools, around 10 percent of teachers were in their first year of teaching.
In lowest poverty schools statewide, five percent of teachers were in their first year.
Better performing high schools have more teachers who have earned National Board Certification and master’s degrees, according to JCPS data.
The education department data showed that higher poverty JCPS schools have a lower percentage of teachers who were absent 10 or more days during the 2011-2012 school year, when compared to the state's lowest poverty schools.
This includes both sick leave and personal leave,when the teacher would otherwise be expected to be in class teaching students, the report said.
