Chapter 5: Bolstering Capacity for Heightened State and Federal Standards?: An Exploration of National, State, and School District Staffing Trends, 1986–2003

This study has two purposes. First, I review the variability in which the concept of capacity is theorized and measured in the context of contemporary school reform. Second, I measure the degree to which one such measure of capacity is related to the heightened learning and accountability standards established by states and the federal government. The statistical analyses for this study rely on a simple, though important, conception of capacity—absolute staffing levels of teachers and teacher aids. The methods include descriptive statistics, GIS mapping, and regression-based time-series modeling using 17 years of data (1986–2003). I also investigate and test the relevance of Education Week’s Quality Counts (QC) ratings to staffing trends. My findings suggest that while staffing levels (controlling for changes in enrollment) have steadily increased in elementary schools for the 17 year time period, secondary teacher staffing appears to have decreased until the mid- to late 1990s, at which time it began to increase. Considerable and interesting variation exists within and between states, with highly rated QC states having the lowest level of capacity and the lowest QC having the most favorable staffing ratios. Finally, in a selection of states, it is evident that the variability in capacity varies somewhat by the demographic and fiscal attributes of districts within states, but this within-state variation is dwarfed by the state-to-state differences.