Association between measures of union strength and the levels of/gaps in allocation of teachers who are certified

                        Independent variable: quintiles, reference: first (lowest) quintile (states where unions are the least strong)
High poverty Average Average minus high poverty
M4 R4 M8 R8 M4 R4 M8 R8 M4 R4 M8 R8
Certification: collective bargaining coverage rate
Second quintile 0.006 0.000 0.024 -0.019 0.002 0.001 0.008 -0.021 -0.004 0.001 -0.016 -0.002
(0.013) (0.013) (0.032) (0.033) (0.009) (0.010) (0.025) (0.031) (0.008) (0.008) (0.018) (0.011)
Third quintile -0.016 -0.013 -0.011 -0.067** -0.004 0.000 -0.017 -0.047 0.011 0.013* -0.005 0.019*
(0.013) (0.013) (0.032) (0.033) (0.009) (0.010) (0.025) (0.031) (0.008) (0.008) (0.018) (0.011)
Fourth quintile 0.000 0.000 0.047 0.019 -0.007 0.000 0.013 0.003 -0.007 0.000 -0.034* -0.015
(0.013) (0.013) (0.032) (0.033) (0.009) (0.010) (0.025) (0.031) (0.008) (0.008) (0.018) (0.011)
Fifth quintile 0.013 0.008 0.027 -0.024 0.005 0.007 0.014 0.000 -0.009 -0.001 -0.014 0.024**
(0.013) (0.013) (0.032) (0.033) (0.009) (0.010) (0.025) (0.031) (0.008) (0.008) (0.018) (0.011)
Constant 0.944*** 0.945*** 0.886*** 0.931*** 0.953*** 0.948*** 0.918*** 0.940*** 0.009 0.003 0.032** 0.009
Observations 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51
R-squared 0.095 0.056 0.082 0.137 0.042 0.014 0.041 0.077 0.137 0.092 0.083 0.263
Certification: union strength
Second quintile -0.012 -0.013 -0.028 -0.047 -0.002 0.000 -0.012 -0.042 0.010 0.014* 0.017 0.006
(0.014) (0.013) (0.031) (0.034) (0.009) (0.010) (0.024) (0.030) (0.009) (0.007) (0.018) (0.013)
Third quintile -0.004 -0.003 0.020 0.006 0.007 0.014 0.025 0.015 0.011 0.017** 0.006 0.010
(0.014) (0.013) (0.031) (0.034) (0.009) (0.010) (0.024) (0.030) (0.009) (0.007) (0.018) (0.013)
Fourth quintile 0.009 0.008 0.038 0.011 0.006 0.013 0.029 0.016 -0.003 0.005 -0.009 0.004
(0.014) (0.013) (0.031) (0.034) (0.009) (0.010) (0.024) (0.030) (0.009) (0.007) (0.018) (0.013)
Fifth quintile -0.011 -0.013 0.042 -0.009 -0.004 0.000 0.022 0.009 0.007 0.013* -0.020 0.018
(0.014) (0.013) (0.031) (0.034) (0.009) (0.010) (0.024) (0.030) (0.009) (0.007) (0.018) (0.013)
Constant 0.948*** 0.948*** 0.889*** 0.921*** 0.950*** 0.944*** 0.909*** 0.928*** 0.003 -0.004 0.020 0.007
Observations 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51
R-squared 0.060 0.083 0.125 0.073 0.046 0.084 0.082 0.094 0.073 0.135 0.091 0.048
                        Independent variable: Continuous
High poverty Average Average minus high poverty
M4 R4 M8 R8 M4 R4 M8 R8 M4 R4 M8 R8
Certification: collective bargaining coverage rate
CBC 0.009 0.008 0.069 0.002 0.001 0.012 0.039 0.025 -0.008 0.004 -0.029 0.023
(0.020) (0.019) (0.047) (0.050) (0.014) (0.015) (0.036) (0.045) (0.013) (0.011) (0.026) (0.018)
Constant 0.938*** 0.938*** 0.857*** 0.912*** 0.951*** 0.941*** 0.895*** 0.910*** 0.012 0.003 0.039** -0.001
Observations 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51
R-squared 0.004 0.004 0.042 0.000 0.000 0.014 0.024 0.006 0.007 0.003 0.025 0.031
                         Certification: union strength
Fordham ranking (+) 0.000 0.000 0.001** 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.000 -0.001 0.000
(0.000) (0.000) (0.001) (0.001) (0.000) (0.000) (0.001) (0.001) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.000)
Constant 0.944*** 0.943*** 0.866*** 0.903*** 0.951*** 0.945*** 0.902*** 0.908*** 0.008 0.002 0.035*** 0.005
Observations 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51
R-squared 0.000 0.000 0.083 0.006 0.000 0.011 0.044 0.027 0.000 0.014 0.054 0.034

*Standard errors in parentheses. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1
**NAEP 2011 estimates

Note: High-poverty schools are those in which more than 50 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. M=math, R=reading, 4=4th grade, 8=8th grade.

Source: Data on teacher certification are from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress; union strength rankings are from the Fordham Institute (Winkler, Scull, and Zeehandelaar 2012) and data on collective bargaining are from EPI's analysis of Current Population Survey data

View the underlying data on epi.org.