The U.S. has witnessed a resurgence of labor activism, with teachers at the forefront. We examine how teacher strikes affect compensation, working conditions, and productivity with an original dataset of 772 teacher strikes generating 48 million student days idle between 2007 and 2023. Using an event study framework, we find that, on average,…

Job satisfaction significantly impacts teachers' overall well-being and mental health. Research reveals a strong connection between employment status and mental health, with teaching being a particularly stressful profession. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges, with the shift to online education and limited support causing…

Attracting and retaining teachers can be an important ingredient in improving low-performing schools. In this study, we estimate the expressed preferences for teachers who have worked in low-performing schools in Tennessee. Using adaptive conjoint analysis survey design, we examine three types of school attributes that may influence teachers'…

In 2007 Georgia instituted a flexibility policy through which school districts enter into performance contracts with the state, receiving waivers from state rules, provisions, and guidelines in exchange for agreeing to meet annual accountability targets. The performance contracts are intended to incentivize innovations that increase achievement…

These are the appendixes for the report, "District Changes in Student Achievement and Local Practice under Georgia's District and School Flexibility Policy." Five appendixes are included in the document: (1) About the study; (2) Data and methods; (3) Supporting analysis; (4) Survey instrument; and (5) Interview protocol. [For the full…

There is a direct correlation between the variables of teacher job satisfaction and student academic achievement (Brookover & Lezotte, 1979; Mertler, 2002; Wynne, 1980). One would assume that schools that are not making AYP are doing everything possible to be removed from this status. One may also hypothesize that teacher job satisfaction is…

Successful teachers make successful schools. Yet some schools are better than others at accelerating student learning by developing and keeping great teachers, even compared to schools that serve the same population of students and have access to the same resources. These schools are called "greenhouse schools"--schools with carefully…

The primary determinant of student achievement is the quality of the classroom teacher. Some teachers are naturally talented, but the majority of teachers become effective through classroom experience. Unfortunately, the teaching profession experiences a high rate of turnover; many teachers leave before reaching the peak of their effectiveness. If…

Most studies that have fueled alarm over the attrition and mobility rates of teachers have relied on proxy indicators of teacher quality, even though these proxies correlate only weakly with student performance. This paper examines the attrition and mobility of early-career teachers of varying quality using value-added measures of teacher…

The effect teachers have on student achievement is perennial. Several factors contribute to declining teacher morale. Teachers have an insuperable amount of responsibilities and duties. Stress related to increased federal, state, and local demands, low pay, lack of administrative support, and heightened discipline problems, are all factors that…

In this paper we discuss results from an analysis of a large dataset that includes virtually all sixth-grade students in Uruguay in 1996. We analyze the relationship between teacher attributes and student achievement scores and we explore the distribution of teachers according to characteristics identified as important by this analysis. We find…

As a consequence of the federal "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law, there is tremendous pressure on school principals, teachers, school superintendents, district staff, state departments of education and governors to maximize the increase in student achievement that is obtained with every dollar of expenditure. Currently, teachers are…

This study examined teacher job satisfaction as influenced by school factors. One hundred and twenty-four elementary teachers, from one large urban school district in North Carolina, rated their level of job satisfaction. The independent variables were schools factors of (a) academic achievement, (b) student racial composition, and (c) social…

At the request of the Education Reform Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, the National Council on Teacher Quality undertook an analysis of the teacher policies in the Baltimore City Public Schools. Its analysis looks at the teachers' contract, school board rules and state laws. It also collected personnel data from the…

This article presents a principal-agent model in the context of public schools to help explain the use of merit pay for teachers. The model considers how both the nature of teaching and the political costs of union resistance affect school district merit pay decisions. Our results support the idea that merit pay is more likely in environments…