Behind the Headline: Quality of Teacher Hires Improved During the Recession, Analysis Finds

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Quality of Teacher Hires Improved During the Recession, Analysis Finds
Ed Week Teacher Beat | 7/27/15

Behind the Headline
Gains in Teacher Quality
Education Next |Winter 2014

A new study finds that teachers hired during recession periods are more effective at raising student test scores than teachers who are hired in more secure times because stronger applicants apply for teaching jobs when the economy is not doing well. The study was conducted by Markus Nagler, Marc Piopiunik and Martin West.

Ed Week’s Stephen Sawchuk notes

The idea that more people want to enter teaching relative to other, lesser-paid or less-stable professions during tough economic times makes perfect common sense. But this is still among the first papers to look empirically at how recessions affect the teacher labor market.

He also writes

Remember that recent study suggesting that teachers’ academic abilities have been improving? Maybe it’s partly because of the recession, the researchers suggest.

That study, “Gains in Teacher Quality: Academic capabilities of the U.S. teaching force are on the rise,” by Dan Goldhaber and Joe Walch, appears in the Winter 2014 issue of Education Next.

-Education Next

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