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The Revolving Door: Why Public Schools Lose Teachers
Education Next, Winter 2004 by Eric Hanushek, John Kain, Steven Rivkin ![]()
The authors write that "teachers transfer from one school to another-or exit the Texas public school system altogether-more as a reaction to the characteristics of their students than in response to better salaries in other schools. This tends to leave disadvantaged, low-achieving students with relatively inexperienced teachers". They add that "teachers appear so unresponsive to salary levels, it would take enormous across-the-board increases to stem these flows. Indeed, the results suggest that policymakers ought to consider selective pay increases, preferably keyed to quality, for work in inner-city schools, together with efforts to improve the working conditions in these schools".
One limitation of this study is that the authors could not determine school districts' hiring and retention practices, and this lack of information about employer-initiated moves may, they say, "lead to an underestimate of the improvements in pay and working conditions achieved by teachers who move voluntarily." |