We use a unique dataset of student teaching placements in the State of Washington and a proxy for teacher shortages, the proportion of new teacher hires in a school or district with emergency teaching credentials, to provide the first empirical evidence of a relationship between student teaching placements and teacher shortages. We find that…

Massive funding cuts to public education took place around the country following the Great Recession. Many school districts were forced to conduct teacher layoffs at a larger scale than any other time in recent history. We show that prior to a district intervention, the layoff process disproportionately impacted historically disadvantaged students…

Research on teacher stability typically focuses on the extent to which teachers remain in the same school, district, or the teaching profession from one year to the next. I investigate another facet of stability--whether teachers remain in the grade they teach. Drawing on administrative data from a large district in California, I find that high…

This study investigates the distribution of math teachers with a major or certification in math using data from the National Center for Education Statistics' High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). The authors discuss the limitations of existing data sources for measuring teacher qualifications, such as the Schools and Staffing Survey…

Throughout the United States there is an increasing trend toward using value-added methods (VAMs) for high-stakes decisions. When policymakers use VAMs to identify, reward, and dismiss teachers, they may perpetuate the egg-crate model of schooling and undermine efforts to build instructional capacity schoolwide. At any time, in any school, some…

Notes that the abundant supply of teachers provides unprecedented opportunity for improvements in school and teacher education programs, as well as for selective recruiting of students preparing to teach and upgrading teachers with substandard qualifications. (Author/AM)