This research brief examines differences in teacher effectiveness by school transition status and school characteristics in a large urban school district in Texas, using estimates of teacher effectiveness based on teacher contributions to student learning outcomes across classrooms. This research finds little or no evidence to support the view that more effective teachers have higher exit probabilities. In fact, the study finds that teachers who exit are significantly less effective, on average, than those who stay.

Eric A. Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Dr. Hanushek a member of the CALDER Management Team and oversees the CALDER Texas work. Dr. Hanushek is also chairman of the Executive Committee for the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas at Dallas, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education. He is a leading expert on educational policy, specializing in the economics and finance of schools.

Steven G. Rivkin is Professor of Economics specializing in labor economics, public finance, and the economics of education, and Chair of the Department of Economics at Amherst College. Dr. Rivkin is a part of the CALDER Texas team. Dr. Rivkin is also a Research Fellow and Associate Director of Research with the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas at Dallas. 

This research is part of the activities of the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER).

The article was published as a CALDER Brief and also posted on the website of the Urban Institute.

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14/04/2009

Eric A. Hanushek, Steven Rivkin

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration

Education