Easy Come, Easy Go? The Effects of Reducing Barriers Into Teaching on Teacher Attrition

• In Event: Teacher Labor Market, Distribution, and Retention

Abstract

In recent years, concerns about educational quality and teacher shortages have influenced policymakers to lower the barriers of entry into the teaching profession. Based on a state-wide dataset of K-12 public school teachers over a five-year period, we examine the relationship between a teacher’s preparation and their risk of exit from the state’s public school teaching workforce for six distinct entry categories using flexible parametric models for survival analysis (Royston and Parmar, 2002). We find that the risk of exit from the statewide public school teaching workforce is highest for teachers from Teach For America and the Visiting International Faculty alternative entry programs. Finally, we test the associations of several individual level and school level covariates with risk of exit.

Authors

• Kevin Fortner, Georgia State University

• Gary Henry, Vanderbilt University

• Casey Megan White, Teach For America, Inc.