Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility - ERIC

URBAN INSTITUTE

Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility

Li Feng and T i m S a ss

working paper 57 ? january 2011

Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility

Contents

Acknowledgements........................................................................................ ii Abstract .................................................................................................... iii Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Methods ..................................................................................................... 3 A. Measuring Teacher Quality ............................................................................ 3 B. Estimating the Determinants of Teacher Job Choice.............................................. 5 Data .......................................................................................................... 9 Results ...................................................................................................... 10 A. Descriptive Evidence ................................................................................. 10 B. Multivariate Estimates of Absolute Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility ................. 11 C. Estimates of Peer Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility ...................................... 14 D. Mobility and the Distribution of Teacher Quality................................................ 16 Summary and Conclusions .............................................................................. 17 References ................................................................................................. 19

i

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the staff of the Florida Department of Education's K-20 Education Data Warehouse for their assistance in obtaining and interpreting the data used in this study. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) funded through Grant R305A060018 to the Urban Institute from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education for supporting this research. CALDER working papers have not gone through final formal review and should be cited as working papers. They are intended to encourage discussion and suggestions for revision before final publication. The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or any of the funders or supporting organizations mentioned herein. Any errors are attributable to the author.

CALDER, The Urban Institute 2100 M Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037 202-261-5739 ?

ii

Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility Li Feng and Tim Sass CALDER Working Paper No. 57 January 2011

Abstract

Using matched student-teacher panel data from the state of Florida, the authors study the determinants of teacher job change and the impact of such mobility on the distribution of teacher quality. The probability a teacher stays at a school increases the more productive they are in their current school. The quality of teachers who exit teaching tends to be bimodal; high and low-quality teachers are more likely to leave than those in the middle of the distribution. In contrast, the relationship between teacher productivity and inter-school mobility is relatively weak. In addition to own quality, peer characteristics play a significant role in teachers' job decisions. In particular, teachers who rank above their faculty colleagues are more likely to transfer to a new school within a district and exit teaching. Additionally, as the share of peer teachers with more experience, advanced degrees or professional certification increase, the likelihood of moving within district decreases. We also find evidence of assortative matching among teachers. The most effective teachers who transfer tend to go to schools whose faculties are in the top quartile of teacher quality. As a result, teacher mobility exacerbates differences in teacher quality across schools.

iii

iv

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download