While there is a robust literature examining the patterns and causes of teacher turnover, few articles to date have critically examined the measures of turnover used in these studies. Yet, an assessment of the way turnover is measured is important, as the measures become the means by which the “problem” of turnover becomes defined and its varying dimensions understood. In this conceptual essay, we outline a typology of teacher turnover measures, discussing both measures used in existing teacher turnover literature as well as new measures that we have developed. We illustrate each of the measures using 10 years of administrative data from Texas. We discuss how the measures can help illuminate different ways in which staff instability can affect schools and identify schools that suffer from particularly severe staffing issues. We conclude with implications for policymakers and researchers who may seek to apply these measures to future empirical studies.

School-choice policies are expected to generate healthy competition between schools, leading to improvements in school quality and better outcomes for students. However, the empirical literature testing this assumption yields mixed findings. This systematic review and meta-analysis tests this theory by synthesizing the empirical literature on the competitive effects of school choice on student achievement. Overall, we found small positive effects of competition on student achievement. We also found some evidence that the type of school-choice policy and student demographics moderated the effects of competition on student achievement. By examining whether school competition improves outcomes, our findings can inform decisions of state and local policymakers who have adopted or are considering adopting school-choice reforms.

An increasing number of central cities across the U.S. are experiencing a growth in white middle-class population, which is associated with gentrification in historically disinvested and racially segregated urban neighborhoods. These changing neighborhood dynamics are starting to shift the context of urban schooling in some districts across the nation. While we know that racial and socioeconomic demographic shifts are associated with neighborhood and school gentrification, there is little conceptual clarity about how school gentrification unfolds over time and the varying conditions of schools in gentrified neighborhoods. To advance scholarship on the topic, researchers need an organizing framework. This study addresses this gap by drawing on existing research, 16 years of Census and American Community Survey data, and 6 years of district data in Austin, Texas. Highlighting Austin, an urban city with growing neighborhood gentrification, we put forth a typology to explain the experiences of schools in the district. We conclude with implications for future research.

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Informal and institutional barriers may limit teacher movement between charter schools and traditional public schools (TPSs). However, we know little about how teachers choose schools in areas with a robust charter school sector. This study uses qualitative data from 123 teachers to examine teachers’ job decisions in three cities with varying charter densities: San Antonio, Detroit, and New Orleans. Our findings illuminate different types of segmentation and factors that facilitate and limit mobility between sectors. We find that structural policies within each sector can create barriers to mobility across charter schools and TPSs and that teachers’ ideological beliefs and values serve as informal, personal barriers that reinforce divides between sectors. This study offers implications for policy in districts with school choice.