Sustainable Development Goals - 17 Goals to Transform our World
Quality education - Goal 4

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Indicator 4.c.1: Proportion of teachers in: (a) pre-primary; (b) primary; (c) lower secondary; and (d) upper secondary education who have received at least the minimum organized teacher training (e.g. pedagogical training) pre-service or in-service required for teaching at the relevant level in a given country

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Percent of US public school pre-primary teachers with certification

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Headline data

Year Value
1999 90.07415859
2003 93.547
2007 92.55402794
2011 93.915
2015 93.863

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from US statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from US statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other US-specific metadata information.

Actual indicator available Percentage of public elementary and secondary school teachers who have regular certification or probationary certification (only requiring fulfillment of a probationary employment period.
Actual indicator available - description The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) was conducted by NCES seven times between 1987 through 2011. SASS was an integrated study public and private school districts, schools, principals, and teachers designed to provide descriptive data on the context of elementary and secondary education. SASS covered a wide range of topics from teacher demand, teacher and principal characteristics, general conditions in schools, principals' and teachers' perceptions of school climate and problems in their schools, teacher compensation, district hiring and retention practices, to basic characteristics of the student population. After 2011–12, NCES redesigned SASS and named it the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) to reflect the redesigned study's focus on the teacher and principal labor market and on the state of K-12 school staff. NCES first conducted NTPS in 2015–16 and released data in 2017. Variable name Description of variable pctteachers_prep Percent of public school teachers with certification, preprimary pctteachers_prim Percent of public school teachers with certification, primary pctteachers_lowersec Percent of public school teachers with certification, lower secondary pctteachers_uppersec Percent of public school teachers with certification, upper secondary pctteachers_multiple levels Percent of public school teachers with certification, multiple levels
Date of national source publication 2017-8-15
Method of computation Percentage of public schoool teachers who have regular certification or probationary certification (only require fulfillment of probationary employment period.
Periodicity Data collected every 4 years
Scheduled update by national source 2019
U.S. method of computation Using nationally representative sample of public school teachers, percentage of teachers with regular or probationary certification.
Comments and limitations Coverage of prekindergarten teachers is only partial. Many teachers teach more than one academic level, and included in the tabulation as multiple levels.
Date metadata updated 2017-10-13
Disaggregation geography NA
Unit of measurement Teacher
Disaggregation categories Teacher level of instruction
International and national references
Time period 1999-2000, 2003-04, 2007-08, 2011-12, and 2015-16
Scheduled update by SDG team

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator name Percentage of teachers in: (a) pre-primary (b) primary (c) lower secondary and (d) upper secondary education who have received at least the minimum organized teacher training (i.e. pedagogical training) pre-service or in-service required for teaching at the relevant level in a given country
Target name By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States.
Global indicator description From UNESCO: The percentage of teachers by level of education taught (pre-primary, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary) who have received at least the minimum organized pedagogical teacher training pre-service and in-service required for teaching at the relevant level in a given country. The indicator should be calculated separately for public and private institutions. From OECD: Teachers (ISCED 2 level) were asked to indicate whether they had participated in any of the following activities 12 months prior to the survey: Courses/workshops (on subject matter or methods and/or other education-related topics). Education conferences or seminars (where teachers and/or researchers present their research results and discuss education problems). Observation visits to other schools. Observation visits to business premises, public organisations, or non-governmental organisations. In-service training courses in business premises, public organisations or non-governmental organisations. Qualification programmes (e.g. a degree programme). Participation in a network of teachers formed specifically for the professional development of teachers. Individual or collaborative research on a topic of professional interest. Mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching as part of a formal school arrangement
UN designated tier 2
UN custodial agency UNESCO-UIS (Partnering Agencies: OECD)
Link to UN metadata Link opens in a new window
Organisation National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey; National Teacher and Principal Survey
Agency Staff Name Tom Snyder
Agency Survey Dataset National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey; National Teacher and Principal Survey
Notes http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/ and https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/
Title
Link to data source