Does Subject Matter Matter? Subject and Distance in Teacher Labor Markets

• In Event: New Questions and Outcomes for Research on Teacher Turnover

Abstract

While a growing body of literature has emphasized conditions surrounding teacher turnover, less attention has been paid to how withing-career sorting has shaped the teacher labour market. Historically, half of all teacher vacancies in the U. S. each year—roughly 250,000 positions—have been filled by job-to-job (J2J) transfers. Examinations of within-career sorting, differentiation among transfer number, or patterns by subject area have been rare. This preliminary study examines the labor market trends of science and special education teachers over a 5 year period in Texas using J2J transfer distances via hierarchical linear modeling. Results add a new dimension to our understanding of the within-career transfer function of teachers, pointing to subject-area segmentation of movement, marked by gender and race.

Authors

• Andrew Pendola, Auburn University

• Frank Perrone, Indiana University-Bloomington