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Hire Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Determinants of Attrition among Public School Teachers

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  • Feng, Li

Abstract

Increases in the school-age population, maximum class size requirements in various states and the No Child Left Behind Act’s mandate of a “highly qualified teacher” in every classroom collectively will increase the demand for teachers. However, public school teachers are exiting the profession in large numbers. This poses a serious challenge for policymakers. In this paper I analyze the determinants of teacher attrition using matched teacher-student class-level information for all Florida public school teachers. In addition to teacher demographics and school characteristics employed in previous studies, I include a number of variables measuring the characteristics of the specific students assigned to each teacher. The results indicate that classroom characteristics, such as students’ performance on standardized tests and the average number of disciplinary incidents, play a larger role than school average student characteristics in determining teacher attrition. Teacher pay has a positive influence on retention, while the results for class size are mixed. There is also some evidence that more able teachers are more likely to exit the teaching profession. These findings suggest that in addition to salary, classroom assignment is an important factor when considering policies to promote teacher retention and teacher quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Li, 2005. "Hire Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Determinants of Attrition among Public School Teachers," MPRA Paper 589, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:589
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/589/1/MPRA_paper_589.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Johnston, Andrew C., 2021. "Preferences, Selection, and the Structure of Teacher Pay," IZA Discussion Papers 14831, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Douglas Harris & Tim R. Sass, 2006. "The Effects of Teacher Training on Teacher Value Added," Working Papers wp_2006_03_01, Department of Economics, Florida State University.
    3. Fullard, Joshua, 2023. "Labour market expectations and occupational choice: evidence from teaching," ISER Working Paper Series 2023-01, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Li Feng, 2009. "Opportunity Wages, Classroom Characteristics, and Teacher Mobility," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(4), pages 1165-1190, April.
    5. Lee, Se Woong & Lee, Eunjung Alice, 2020. "Teacher qualification matters: The association between cumulative teacher qualification and students’ educational attainment," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Winters, Marcus A. & Dixon, Bruce L. & Greene, Jay P., 2012. "Observed characteristics and teacher quality: Impacts of sample selection on a value added model," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 19-32.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Teacher Turnover; Classroom Environment; Students' Test Scores;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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