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Article
Grade-Specific Experience, Grade Reassignments, and Teacher Turnover
Economics of Education Review (2015)
  • Ben Ost, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Jeffrey Schiman, University of Illinois at Chicago
Abstract
This study documents that teacher turnover is strongly related to the pattern of grades that a teacher is asked to teach. Elementary teachers in North Carolina that teach the same grade in their first two years are approximately 20% more likely to stay than teachers who teach two different grades in their first two years of teaching. More generally, within total experience categories, teachers with the fewest years of grade-specific experience have the highest probability of turnover. We argue that this pattern is driven both by the disruption caused by grade reassignment and by the fact that teachers with stable grade assignments have effectively smaller workloads since they can reuse lesson plans and, more generally, apply grade-specific skills.
Keywords
  • Teacher turnover,
  • School practices
Publication Date
June, 2015
DOI
10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.03.004
Citation Information
Ben Ost and Jeffrey Schiman. "Grade-Specific Experience, Grade Reassignments, and Teacher Turnover" Economics of Education Review Vol. 46 (2015) p. 112 - 126
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jeffrey-schiman/3/