Chapter 7: Teacher Qualifications and Work Environments Across School Choice Types

Teachers are vital to any school: academic success depends on high quality teachers providing high quality instruction. Indeed, teachers are the most important school resource for student learning.¹ Yet the impact of school choice on teachers and teaching has received less attention than other components of school operations. This chapter reviews what is known about teacher quality across types of schools and the impact of school choice on teachers’ qualifications and work environments; it includes as well the little that is known about the impact of choice on the teaching labor market.

Because increasing school choice creates options for teachers as well as students, teacher qualifications and work environments might be expected to differ across school types. Traditionally, large districts serve as the single employer of teachers within a particular geographical area.² Teachers who want to work in a particular community have generally had to work for a certain district, which typically has had centralized hiring, staffing, and compensation policies. With little or no competition for teachers, many districts have had few incentives to create enticing work environments. However, increasing numbers of private schools and charter schools have increased the number of potential employers for whom teachers may work, introducing a competitive environment for traditional public school districts. Moreover, the employment options that choice schools present may vary not only in such practical criteria as salary but also in such areas as commitment to a particular educational philosophy or curriculum. Overall, choice schools may appeal to teachers on a variety of factors. Creating more schools of choice could thus alter dynamics in the teacher labor market.