Recruiting, Training, and Retaining Effective Educators
Schools are only as effective as the teachers, administrators, and staff working within them. WEPC researchers seek to better understand the educator pipeline and to measure the impact of policies designed to improve the education workforce, from teacher preparation to professional development to increasing the diversity of the education profession.
Latest Projects
Early Education Workforce Supports at Scale
How state-level data and research could improve innovations and investments in Massachusetts Recognizing the critical role and economic necessity of high-quality early childhood educator (ECE) workforce, Massachusetts has made substantial investments in the development and retention of the ECE workforce in recent years. And while the state is working to monitor these efforts through additional data collection, the state continues to lack foundational insights and a comprehensive...
Massachusetts School Leader Workforce: 2023 Snapshot
Led by Dr. Olivia Chi, WEPC is partnering with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to study the characteristics, career trajectories, and outcomes of principals and assistant principals in public schools. This snapshot illustrates key facts and figures about the Massachusetts school leader workforce in 2023, providing policy-relevant insights for the state and setting a foundation for future research and inquiry. 2023 Snapshot
Forecasting the Supply and Demand of Diverse Educators
Authors: Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Olivia Chi Project Summary The increasing diversity of students in Massachusetts makes growing a diverse educator workforce a critical policy goal for the Commonwealth. In recent years, state and local leaders have responded to this challenge with a variety of programs and policy changes. This report details these efforts and their considerable impact to date. However, the findings show the racial and ethnic differences between the state’s students and teachers...
Comparing Turnover Intentions and Actual Turnover in the Public Sector Workforce
Authors: Tuan D. Nguyen, Elizabeth Bettini, Christopher Redding, Allison F. Gilmour Project Summary When teachers choose to leave their jobs, it can be disruptive and costly for their school and district, affecting everything from student learning to the experiences of other teachers and staff. For this reason, policymakers have been worried by indications that many teachers are thinking about leaving the profession. But just how reliable are these warning signs that teachers are thinking of...
Examining the Supply of New Special Educators
Authors: Tuan D. Nguyen, Elizabeth Bettini, Allison F. Gilmour, Christopher Redding Project Summary Special education teacher shortages have been a consistent problem around the U.S. for decades and have only grown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, reports of declining interest in special education among prospective teachers are especially concerning. The authors of this study examined the supply of new special education teachers into the workforce and the institutions...
Licensure Tests and Teacher Supply in Connecticut
Authors: Alexis Orellana and Marcus A. Winters Project Summary Traditional entry into the public-school teacher workforce requires individuals to pass at least one standardized test demonstrating their mastery of a particular subject and/or grade-level content area. Amid concerns about teacher shortages, policymakers are seeking to better understand whether licensure tests are serving their intended purpose and whether there are unintended consequences associated with these screening...
Disparate Teacher Effects, Comparative Advantage, and Match Quality
Author: Wiliam Delgado This reflects work completed in coordination with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Project Summary This study uses data from the Chicago Public Schools to examine differences in student performance and experiences relative to varying measures of teacher quality and seeks to ask: Is the best teacher the best for everyone? The analysis explores the extent to which "highly effective" teachers are differentially effective for different groups of...
Evaluating Emergency Licensure in Massachusetts
Authors: Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Olivia Chi, Ariel Tichnor-Wagner, Sidrah Baloch Project Summary Between 2021-2023 researchers with Boston University's Wheelock Educational Policy Center were contracted by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to conduct an evaluation of the emergency license policy, a pandemic-induced change to entry requirements to the profession, on the composition and quality of the workforce in Massachusetts. This research effort spanned...
Can a Commercial Screening Tool Help Select Better Teachers?
Authors: Olivia L Chi, Boston University; Matthew Lenard, Harvard University Project Summary When looking to hire a new teacher, districts can receive anywhere from dozens to hundreds of applications per vacancy. This can require significant time and effort as school leaders wade through the resume stack in order to find a teacher who will be most effective in the classroom. So, when a popular software company offers a product that screens and prioritizes candidates for review, it’s an...