What Impact Have Accountability Policies and Practices Had on the Retention of Teachers?

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Abstract

This study empirically examined the impact of school accountability reforms on the ability of schools to retain qualified teachers. Our data source was the National Center for Education Statistics’ nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey and its supplement the Teacher Followup Survey. Our statistical analyses show that, after controlling for the background characteristics of teachers and schools, some aspects and steps in school accountability reforms had an effect and some did not. Having standards and assessments in schools themselves did not have an impact on teacher retention. Performance did matter; lower-performing schools had far higher turnover than higher-performing schools. Rewards given to higher performing schools did little to improve the already higher retention. Sanctions applied to lower-performing schools did a lot to worsen their already lower retention. But, our analyses also show that it is not inevitable that sanctioned lower-performing schools lose more teachers. The data indicate that there is an important role for the leadership, management and organizational conditions in these schools, especially for the degree of autonomy and discretion teachers are allowed in their own classrooms. Lower-performing sanctioned schools which allowed teachers greater classroom autonomy had significantly better retention.

Author

• Richard Ingersoll, University of Pennsylvania