Compensation Reform and Recruitment and Retention of Teachers in Detroit

• In Event: Attract, Retain, and Grow Your Own: Teacher Job Search and Recruitment

Abstract

To address persistent teacher vacancies in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), the district began to significantly increase compensation for beginning and veteran teachers in 2017. Although reported vacancies have been minimized, it is not clear how the reform has changed the composition of the teacher workforce or influenced retention. This research seeks to describe the trends in teacher recruitment and teacher exit from DPSCD, and through discrete time series analysis identify the association between the reform and the likelihood of teacher exit. The research has implications for understanding how such reforms may alter the compensation of the teaching workforce in a district with high concentrations of low-income and African American students.

Authors

• Ben Pogodzinski, Wayne State University

• Bianca Burch, Wayne State University

• Whitney Miller, Wayne State University