Matching strategies of teachers and schools in general equilibrium

Abstract

I use a structural matching model, North Carolina public school data, and a survey of teachers' career plans to analyze schools' and teachers' behaviors in the teacher transfer market. Results show that mid-career teachers with better pre-service qualifications are the most eager to search, different types of teachers and schools have different search strategies, and the market is turbulent, characterized by search friction and large movements of teachers to better, worse, or comparable schools. The market is not as stable and orderly as it may first appear. Simulations show that simple policies to direct teacher transfers are at best inefficient. Jel codes: I24; J48; J62

Strategic Matching of Teachers and Schools with (and without) Accountability Pressure

“…Although the pattern of moving toward schools with fewer traditionally 33. There is some corroborating evidence for this result in Ahn (2015). In that study I find that both low-and highachieving schools have a preference for matching with teachers from high-achieving schools.…”

“…If teachers have formal or 8. See Ahn (2015) for a model that accounts for the initial search decision by a teacher (and how it affects all other teachers' search decisions). 9.…”

“…In another study where the authors detail information about all transfer applicants, Boyd et al (2011) determine that teachers who have better pre-service qualifications are most likely to search, and those who have better in-class performance are most likely to succeed in transferring. Ahn (2015) estimates a structural general equilibrium model of matching, finding that mid-career teachers with four to ten years of experience are the most eager to search and attempt to match with a school with higher academic performance. All schools attempt to match with experienced teachers over newly minted teachers, but schools with higher academic performance are choosier about selecting teachers originating from another high-performing school.…”