Richard M. Ingersoll
Graduate School of Education
3700 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
rmi@gse.upenn.edu
Ph.D. (Sociology)
University of Pennsylvania, 1992.
Description of Research Expertise
1. Areas of Expertise
School organization
Teacher quality
Sociology of education
Sociology of organizations, occupations and work/organizational theory
Educational policy
2. Professional Biography
After teaching in both public and private schools for a number of years, Dr. Ingersoll obtained a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. From 1995 to 2000 he was a faculty member in the Sociology Department at the University of Georgia and currently he is Professor of Education and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Ingersoll's research is concerned with the character of elementary and secondary schools as workplaces, teachers as employees and teaching as a job. He has published numerous articles and reports on the management and organization of schools; the problem of underqualified teachers; the impact of induction and mentoring for beginning teachers; the problems of teacher turnover and teacher shortages; the status of teaching as a profession; changes in the demographic character of the teaching force; and the degree of accountability and control in schools and its impact.
His research is nationally recognized, was cited by President Clinton in a number of speeches announcing his teacher recruitment and training initiatives, influenced the No Child Left Behind Act, and has been featured in numerous major education reports, including those published by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, the Education Trust, the Alliance for Excellence in Education, the National Governors' Association. the international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Dr. Ingersoll has received a number of awards, including: the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Georgia; the Harry Braverman Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems for his work on organizational control and accountability in schools; an American Educational Research Association Fellowship; the National Award of Distinction from the Penn Education Alumni Association; and the Outstanding Writing Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for his book, Who Controls Teachers’ Work? Power and Accountability in America’s Schools, published by by Harvard University Press, and the 2011 Outstanding Researcher Award from the Association of Teacher Educators. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association in 2009.
Dr. Ingersoll has conducted numerous briefings of local, state and federal legislators and been invited to present his research before many policy groups, including: the Aspen Institute's Education Policy Program for Members of Congress, the Congressional Hearings on Teacher Preparation Initiatives held by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and the Workforce; the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, chaired by Senator John Glenn; the Science and the Congress Briefing; the Congressional Research Service's seminar for new members of Congress, sponsored by the U.S. House of Representatives; the Council of the City of New York; and education reform commissions in many states.
back to top
a) School Organization and Accountability
Who Controls Teachers' Work? Power and Accountability in America's Schools. Published by Harvard University Press. Winner of the 2004 Outstanding Writing Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Few issues in the realm of education have received more attention and are more controversial than the subject of this book – who controls the work of teachers? How much say do teachers have over their work and how much should they have? Are schools decentralized places where teachers work with little supervision or accountability, as some claim? Or are schools overly centralized places with too much top-down bureaucracy restricting teachers, as others argue? And what difference does it make, if any, for how well schools function? Drawing on data from international and national surveys as well as wide-ranging interviews with teachers and administrators, this book confronts one of the most important and misunderstood issues in education. Most research and policy, this book shows, overlook a fundamental fact: schools are not simply organizations engineered to deliver academic instruction to students, as measured by test scores; teachers also play a large part in the social and behavioral development of children. Researchers and reformers misunderstand how much and what kinds of control and accountability currently exist in schools, and how much and what kinds should exist. As a result, many educational reforms--charter schools, school choice, educational accountability, school restructuring, teacher professionalization, and school-based management--too often begin with inaccurate premises about how schools work and so are bound, not only to fail, but to exacerbate the problems they propose to solve. Learn more here.
Short on Power, Long on Responsibility
Published in the September, 2007 issue of Educational Leadership, this is a brief four-page summary, drawn from the above book, of what the data indicate about the balance, or imbalance, between the power and control over school decisions held by teachers and the accountability increasing required of teachers. Download a copy.
Teachers' Decision-Making Power and School Conflict
Published in the April 1996 issue of Sociology of Education, this is a research report examining what difference the amount of power exercised by teachers in schools makes for how well schools function. It uses national data to examine the effects of two kinds of teacher power in regards to core educational issues in schools -- collective faculty policy influence and individual teacher classroom autonomy -- on the degree of conflict among teachers, students and administrators. In particular, the results draw attention to the importance of teacher power over activities concerned with the crucial, but oft overlooked, sorting and socialization functions in schools.
Organizational Control in Secondary Schools
Published in the summer 1994 issue of Harvard Educational Review, this paper uses national data to address the debate between two currently prominent and contradictory views of organizational control in schools. One view holds that schools lack appropriate levels of control over teachers and their work and, hence, are overly decentralized organizations. The other holds that teachers lack appropriate levels of control over key decisions and policies and, hence, schools are overly centralized organizations.
Loosely Coupled Organizations Revisited
Winner of the Harry Braverman Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Published in the 1993 volume of Research in the Sociology of Organizations, this is a critique of the view, popular among organizational analysts, that elementary and secondary schools are the epitome of loosely coupled systems and lack internal coordination, control and accountability in regard to the work of teachers.
b) Teacher Turnover and Shortages
Is the Supply of Mathematics and Science Teachers Sufficient?
Published in the September, 2010 issue of the American Educational Research Journal, this 32 page research report empirically reexamines the issue of mathematics and science teacher shortages and evaluates the extent to which there is a supply-side deficit — a shortage — of new teachers in these fields, as is widely believed. This study analyzes national data on: the extent to which schools suffer from math and science teacher hiring difficulties; the main supply sources of new teacher hires for mathematics and science; whether the new supply of math and science teachers has kept pace with math and science student enrollments and with teacher retirements; and the portion of the new supply of qualified math and science teachers that is willing to teach. Download a copy.
The Magnitude, Destinations, and Determinants of Mathematics and Science Teacher Turnover
Released in October 2010 by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, this 48 page research report examines the mobility and attrition of mathematics and science teachers over the past two decades. Each year how many move to other schools and how many leave teaching? How does their turnover compare to other teachers? Has it changed over time? How much of it is concentrated in particular types of schools? What are the destinations of those leaving? Are math and science teachers leaving for jobs in industry? Which particular aspects and conditions of schools and of teachers’ jobs are most tied to their turnover? Download a copy.
Do We Produce Enough Mathematics and Science Teachers?
Published in the March 2011 issue of Phi Delta Kappan, this is a brief 4-page summary of the above two articles on the supply and turnover of math and science teachers. (Free access to the full text is available through libraries and online databases, such as EBSCO). Download a copy
Data Say Retention is Better Answer to 'Shortage' than Recruitment (by Jeffery Mervis)
This is a news story on the above two articles. It was published in the October 29, 2010 issue of Science. Download a copy.
Holes in the Teacher Supply Bucket
Published in the March 2002 issue of The School Administrator, this is a short two-page commentary piece on why the teacher shortage is a case of a wrong diagnosis and wrong prescriptions. Download a copy.
High Turnover Plagues Schools, a one-page op-ed piece, appeared in USA Today, August 15, 2002. Download a copy.
The Teacher Shortage: A Case of Wrong Diagnosis and Wrong Prescription
Published in the June 2002 issue of the NASSP Bulletin, this is a mid-length 14-page article with data on why the teacher shortage is a case of a wrong diagnosis and wrong prescriptions.
Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: an Organizational Analysis
Published in the Fall 2001 issue of the American Educational Research Journal, this is a 35-page research report on the roots of teacher shortages and teacher turnover, with a statistical analysis of how much teacher turnover exists, which kinds of schools have more of it and why they do. Download a copy.
Researcher Skewers Explanations Behind Teacher Shortage (by Debra Viadero)
This is a news story on a presentation given at the annual meeting of the AERA. It was published in the April 10, 2002 issue of Education Week. Download a copy.
Turnover Among Mathematics and Science Teachers in the U.S.
This is a brief 10 page summary of national data on the rates of and reasons for teacher turnover, especially among math/science teachers. Prepared in 1999 for the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, chaired by former Senator John Glenn. Download a copy.
Is There Really a Shortage of Mathematics and Science Teachers?
A presentation by Dr. Ingersoll of his research on teacher turnover and shortages among math/science teachers. Presented at the Math Science Partnership Learning Network Conference on Jan. 31, 2006, Washington DC. To view the entire video of the presentation with accompanying overheads and transcript, click here.
The Wrong Solution to the Teacher Shortage
Published in the May 2003 issue of Educational Leadership, this is a short 4 page article with data on the reasons for high beginning teacher attrition. Download a copy.
Is There Really a Teacher Shortage?
Published in September 2003 by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, this 28 page research report builds on, and updates with the most recent data, earlier work on the teacher shortage. It presents data from the period 1987 to 2001 on teacher demand, supply and turnover to make the case that the teacher shortage is a case of a wrong diagnosis and a wrong prescription. Download a copy.
Why Do High-Poverty Schools have Difficulty Staffing Their Classrooms with Qualified Teachers?
Commissioned and published by the Center for American Progress, this 30 page policy brief extends earlier work on teacher shortages and turnover by focusing on these problems in rural and urban high-poverty schools. Download a copy.
c) Teacher Induction and Mentoring
The Impact of Induction and Mentoring Programs for Beginning Teachers: A Critical Review of the Research
Published in the June 2011 issue of the Review of Educational Research, the objective of this 32 page paper is to provide policymakers, educators, and researchers with a reliable assessment of what is known, and not known, about the effectiveness of beginning teacher induction and mentoring programs -- that is, empirical studies that address the question: do induction and mentoring matter? A secondary objective of this project is to identify important research questions concerning teacher induction that have not yet been addressed. Download a copy.
Do Teacher Induction and Mentoring Matter?
Published in the March 2004 issue of the NASSP Bulletin, this is a mid-length 13 page article with data on the prevalence and effects of beginning teacher induction and mentoring programs. Download a copy.
What are the Effects of Induction and Mentoring on Beginning Teacher Turnover?
Published in the fall 2004 issue of the American Educational Research Journal, this is a 40 page research report with a statistical analysis of national data on the prevalence and effects of beginning teacher induction and mentoring programs. Download a copy.
d) Teacher Quality
Putting Qualified Teachers In Every Classroom
Published in the June 11, 1997 issue of Education Week, this is a short 2 page commentary piece on the problem of out-of-field teaching and some of the myths surrounding it. Download a copy.
Congressional Expert Testimony
Published in Teacher Preparation Initiatives: Hearing Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress. This is a brief summary of the problem of out-of-field teaching with federal policy recommendations presented by Dr. Ingersoll at the Congressional Hearings on Teacher Policy held in February, 1998. Download a copy.
The Problem of Out-of-Field Teaching
Published in the June 1998 issue of Phi Delta Kappan, this is a brief 4 page summary of the problem of out-of-field teaching and some of the myths surrounding it. Download a copy.
The Problem of Underqualified Teachers in American Secondary Schools
Published in the March 1999 issue of Educational Researcher, this is a slightly longer 12 page article summarizing Dr. Ingersoll's research on the how much, so what, who, where and why of out-of-field teaching. Download a copy.
Misunderstanding the Problem of Out-of-Field Teaching.
Published in the January-February 2001 issue of Educational Researcher, this is a short 2 page follow up essay to the above article. It addresses two key misunderstandings surrounding the problem of out-of-field teaching: Do teachers' qualifications really matter? And what do measures of out-of-field teaching really measure? Download a copy.
Measuring Out-of-Field Teaching
This longer paper describes, compares and evaluates over a dozen different measures of out-of-field teaching that have been used over the past decade. The objective is to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of each in order to aid researchers in their decisions as to which is best to use in their analyses and to help users interpret what any given measure actually indicates about the extent of underqualified teaching in schools. Copies available by request from Dr. Ingersoll.
All Talk, No Action: Putting an End to Out-of-Field Teaching
Produced with Craig Jerald and published in August 2002 by the Education Trust, this 14 page report has a state-by-state analysis of the new 1999-2002 Schools and Staffing Survey data on the percentage of core academic secondary school classes taught by a teacher without major or minor in the subject. The report documents the huge and growing problem of disproportionate numbers of classes in high-poverty and high-minority secondary schools being taught by out-of-field teachers. The report also includes a list of recommendations which states, districts and schools can act on immediately to help reduce out-of-field teaching. Download a copy.
Out-of-Field Teaching and the Limits of Teacher Policy
Published in September 2003 by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, this 28 page research report builds on, and updates with the most recent data, earlier work on the problem of out-of-field teaching. It presents data from the period 1987 to 2000 showing how much out-of-field teaching has existed, to what extent it varies across different subjects, and across different kinds of schools, and to what extent levels of out-of-field teaching have changed during these years, for both the nation and the 50 states. It discusses reasons for the failure of many popular teacher quality reforms and draws lessons for the prospects of the No Child Left Behind Act. Download a copy.
Why Some Schools Have More Underqualified Teachers Than Others
Published in the 2004 issue of Brookings Papers on Education Policy, this 30 page research paper uses advanced statistical analysis to examine which characteristics of school districts and schools are related to the degree of out-of-field teaching in schools. Download a copy.
Out-of-Field Teaching: The Great Obstacle to Meeting the "Highly Qualified" Teacher Challenge
Published in September 2004 by National Governor's Association, this 17 page issue brief summarizes the teacher quality provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, presents data showing how each state stands in terms of the new requirements, clarifies some widespread misunderstanding surrounding the sources of the problem of underqualified teachers and, finally, suggests some actions states and school districts could take to address the problem. Download a copy.
Four Myths About America's Teacher Quality Problem
Published in the 103rd Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, this 33 page chapter critiques four popular explanations for the problem of low-quality teachers and teaching in American schools: 1.) the teaching occupation is plagued by unusually restrictive and unnecessary entry barriers; 2.) severe teacher shortages are confronting elementary and secondary schools; 3.) the teaching force is inadequately trained and prepared; 4.) schools lack adequate control and accountability of the teaching force. The yearbook, entitled Developing the Teacher Workforce and edited by M. Smylie and D. Miretzky, is available from the University of Chicago Press or the NSSE website. Download a copy.
Misdiagnosing the Teacher Quality Problem
Published in September 2007 by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, this nine page brief provides a short summary of three of the myths discussed in the above paper. Download a copy.
A Comparative Study of Teacher Preparation and Qualifications in Six Nations
Published in February 2007 by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, this is a collaborative, comparative study on the preparation and qualifications of elementary and secondary teachers in six nations and one autonomous region: China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Hong Kong. The study examined data from each of the seven educational systems on three specific sets of research questions:
Copies of the 14 page summary can be downloaded here.
Copies of the 106 page full report can be downloaded here.
e) Teaching as a Profession
The Status of Teaching as a Profession
Published in 2011 in the 4th edition of Schools and Society: A Sociological Approach to Education (edited by Joan Spade and Jeanne Ballantine), this 12 page chapter uses theory and empirical data to answer the question of whether, and to what extent, elementary/secondary teaching is a profession. The chapter presents comparative data on licensing requirements, induction, professional development, specialization, authority, compensation and prestige. Download a copy.
f) Teacher Workforce Trends
Who's Teaching Our Children?
Published in the May 2010 issue of Education Leadership, this is a short six-page summary of a new project examining how the demographic character of the teaching force has changed in recent decades. The project discovered that indeed the teaching force has been, and is, greatly changing; yet, even the most dramatic trends appear to be little noticed, by researchers, by policy makers, and by the public. In this piece we summarize six trends: the teaching force has ballooned in size, is grayer, is greener, is more female, has not declined in academic ability, and is less stable. Download a copy.
4. Courses Taught
Education 544 - School and Society
This course provides an overview of theory and research concerned with the relationship between schools and society. The objective is to impart to students a grasp of the major ideas, themes and research traditions in the sociological study of education. This includes both mainstream and critical theories of how social forces shape the purposes, processes and organization of schools. In addition, the course will explore a number of current education policy issues. The primary focus is on elementary and secondary schools in the U.S. Download a syllabus.
Education 708 - Schools as Organizations
Schools are places of learning—but they are also workplaces, teachers are employees and teaching is a job. This course focuses on theory and research concerned with the organizational and occupational side to schools and teaching. It draws from multiple fields and perspectives, including: organizational theory; the sociology of organizations, occupations and work; educational administration; and school leadership. The objective is to have students understand and evaluate a series of different perspectives from theory, research and policy concerned with the character of the teaching occupation and the organization of schooling. Download a syllabus.