Shocking news of the day: top teachers more likely to stay in low performing schools if they get a significant bonus.
To estimate how the program affected teachers, the scholars compared the retention rates of the teachers who qualified for the program to those taught by teachers who fell just below the qualification bar. They accounted for factors, such as student demographics, that could skew the results. The quasi-experimental research design helps to establish a cause-and-effect relationship, though it isn’t considered as conclusive as a random-assignment study.
Here’s a rundown of the results:
- Teachers who received the bonus were more likely to remain teaching in a priority school compared with those just below the cutoff.
- For teachers in “tested” grades and subjects, the participating teachers were 24 percent more likely to remain compared to those below the cutoff. But for nontested subject teachers, there was no statistically significant effect.
- Using recent research on the impact of high “value added” teachers, the scholars estimated that the state would in the long run recoup all but 5 percent of program costs through taxes on the higher income potential of students taught by these effective teachers.
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