General Equilibrium Effects of Recruiting High-Performing Teachers for School Turnaround: Evidence From Tennessee

• In Event: Compensation, Race, and Burnout: Examining Drivers of Disparate Teacher Retention

Abstract

Many districts and states have begun implementing incentives to attract high-performing teachers to low-performing schools. Previous research has found that these incentives are effective. However, effects on the schools and students these teachers leave behind has not been examined. This study focuses on the general equilibrium effects of recruiting effective teachers to Tennessee’s Innovation Zone (iZone) schools, one of the most successful turnaround initiatives in the nation (Zimmer, Henry, & Kho, 2017). While there is some variation in the effects of losing these teachers, we find they range between -0.04 and -0.12 standard deviations in student test score gains. However, an estimate including both these negative effects and the positive effects in iZone schools yields overall net positive effects.

Authors

• Adam Kho, University of Southern California

• Gary Henry, University of Delaware

• Ron Zimmer, University of Kentucky

• Lam D Pham, North Carolina State University