July 2013 Leaders of Learners 9 Introduction Teaching is a skill that is learned by doing. In the era of high stakes testing for students and the competitiveness of the current job market, the question regarding what qualifications make an applicant more desirable to principals has become more important. Teachers with less experience and minimal degree requirements for positions are easier to fit into a budget, but how to balance teacher attributes with student performance is a more pressing concern. Prior Research A recent research study completed by Henry, Fortner, and Bastian, in the public schools of North Carolina, focused on the learning curve associated with novice teachers. Novice teachers, defined as teachers with less than five years of teaching experience, in mathematics and science classes were evaluated for up to five consecutive years. This study reported that teacher effectiveness improved greatly between the first year and the second year that a teacher was in the classroom with smaller amounts of improvement in teacher effectiveness, based on student performance on standardized tests, for the next four subsequent years. Additionally, teachers who remained in the classroom for the full duration (5 years) of the study tended to have higher overall teaching effectiveness scores. However, a significant difference was not observed between those who stayed and those who left in regard to geometry, chemistry, and physics teachers. The courses that showed the greatest decrease in student performance on the end-of-course (EOCs) exams were chemistry and physics, when an experienced teacher was replaced with a novice teacher (Henry, Fortner and Bastian). The influence of teacher training and education has been investigated in several situations. A study conducted in Arizona, by Andreasen in 2009, investigated the relationship between teacher training and student performance on a statewide standardized test. Teacher training was defined as formal education, certification, outside subject-specific workshops, and campus-level development, which included mentor programs. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify participation in teacher mentor programs and subject-specific workshops as the most valuable aspects of teacher development in improving student performance on the state standardized test (Andreasen). ASSOCIATION BETWEEN Continues on 10 Association Between Teacher Credentials and Student Success on the Science TAKS By Dr. Anna George, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, and Dr. Diana Mason, University of North Texas