School Organizational Contexts, Teacher Turnover, and Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data

In education, there is ample evidence that some schools far outperform others at raising student achievement even when accounting for differences in the students they serve and the resources at their disposal. Differences in the human capital stock of teachers across schools cannot fully account for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSociety for Research on Educational Effectiveness
Main Authors Kraft, Matthew A, Marinell, William H, Yee, Darrick
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness 2015
Subjects
Academic Achievement
Elementary School Teachers
Faculty Mobility
Human Capital
Measures (Individuals)
National Surveys
New York
Organizational Climate
Productivity
Regression (Statistics)
Secondary School Teachers
Teacher Evaluation
Validity
New York
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Summary:In education, there is ample evidence that some schools far outperform others at raising student achievement even when accounting for differences in the students they serve and the resources at their disposal. Differences in the human capital stock of teachers across schools cannot fully account for the differential productivity across schools. In teaching, as in any occupation where professionals perform their work in organizational contexts, productivity is influenced by both individual and organizational factors (Hackman & Oldman, 1980; Kanter, 1983; Johnson, 1990). A growing body of literature attempts to identify, measure, and evaluate the potential contribution of organizational practices and contexts to overall productivity in schools. This study is among the first to address the empirical limitations of prior studies on organizational contexts by leveraging one of the largest survey administration efforts ever conducted in the United States outside of the decennial population census. While it seems intuitively obvious that an individual's performance is affected by the environment in which he or she works, policymakers have largely overlooked the central role that schools play in influencing teachers' in their push to overhaul teacher evaluation systems. To systematically improve student performance, school and district leaders need robust evidence about the strengths and weaknesses of both individual teachers and the school organization as a whole. Equipped with this data, policymakers and practitioners can take steps to address individual as well as organizational strengths and deficiencies. Tables are appended.