In this paper we analyze teacher attrition from Appalachian school districts over nearly twenty years of data. We employ a unique panel of public K-12 teachers active in Kentucky between 1986 and 2005, and discern several patterns of interest to scholars and policymakers. Inter-district mobility is rare in Kentucky, and rarer still among…

Using Current Population Survey data, this study investigates the effect of a wage differential between a teacher's current wage and wages of alternative occupations on teachers' decisions to leave the profession. Results show that opportunity costs (wage differentials) influence teacher supply. A merit-based, market-sensitive teacher salary…

Using recent personnel data for Washington State K-12 teachers, this study quantifies the relationships among teachers' personal and professional attributes; school districts' financial, institutional, and demographic characteristics; and the retention behavior of teachers employed by these districts. Teacher persistence is positively correlated…

Using national longitudinal survey data, employs current duration-analysis techniques to examine the first teaching spell for a sample of teachers. Estimates of a proportional hazard model indicate that the length of a teacher's first spell is more responsive to wages than improved teaching conditions. Marriage and fertility variables are also…

Examines the relationship between teacher shortages and teacher salary differentials for mathematics and science teachers from a sample of school districts within large metropolitan areas. Results support the proposition that salary differentials between teachers and alternative occupations influence teacher shortages. (MLF)

Uses Missouri beginning teacher survey to analyze teacher migration. Develops simultaneous equations model to identify teacher and school district characteristics predictive of teacher mobility and determine predictive relationships between teachers' annual earnings and selected demographic and geographic variables. Findings support conventional…

Quantifies the relationships among the personal and professional attributes of teachers, school district characteristics, and the retention behavior of teachers employed by these districts. Retention is negatively related to property wealth and the percentage of Indian and Asian students and is positively related to teaching experience, salary,…

Uses longitudinal data from current population surveys to examine the responsiveness of educators to wage differentials between occupations and between districts and to determine wage growth rates experienced by educators at wage levels above and below either national norms or the average wage levels of similarly experienced educators. (Author/PGD)