Are Homegrown Teachers More Racially Diverse, More Effective, and Less Likely to Exit Teaching?

• In Event: Leaving or Staying in Teaching? Intentions, Ideologies, and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Teachers’ preference to remain close to where they grew up has long been recognized as a feature of the teacher labor market. Homegrown teachers who are recruited from local communities may be both more effective and more likely to remain in teaching. Using a unique dataset from a large school district in the southeastern United States, I apply a series of within-school and within-student comparisons to assess the effectiveness of homegrown teachers compared to other teachers in the district. Discrete time survival analysis is then used to examine differences in when early career teachers exit the district. Study results show that homegrown teachers make small but statistically meaningful improvements in student achievement in English language arts.

Author

• Christopher Redding, University of Florida