Assessing the Determinants and Implications of Teacher Layoffs

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Goldhaber ◽  
Roddy Theobald
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Layoffs

Teacher Layoffs: An Empirical Illustration of Seniority versus Measures of Effectiveness

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Boyd ◽  
Hamilton Lankford ◽  
Susanna Loeb ◽  
James Wyckoff
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Teacher Effectiveness ◽  
District Leaders ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
School District Leaders ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Teacher Layoffs ◽  
Measures Of Effectiveness

School districts are confronting difficult choices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Today, the financial imbalance in many school districts is so large that there may be few alternatives to teacher layoffs. In nearly all school districts, layoffs are currently determined by some version of teacher seniority. Yet, alternative approaches to personnel reductions may substantially reduce the harm to students from staff reductions relative to layoffs based on seniority. As a result, many school district leaders and other policy makers are raising important questions about whether~other criteria, such as measures of teacher effectiveness, should inform layoffs. This policy brief, a quick look at some aspects of the debate, illustrates the differences in New York City public schools that would result if layoffs were determined by seniority in comparison to a measure of teacher effectiveness.

Performance-Based Staff Layoffs in the Public Schools: Implementation and Outcomes

1980 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Moore Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Performance Criteria ◽  
Local School ◽  
The Public ◽  
Teacher Layoffs

In response to declining school enrollments, some local school districts are using performance criteria to determine the order of teacher layoffs. In this article, Susan Moore Johnson reviews efforts to implement such practices in four local school districts. The findings of the study indicate that performance-based layoff policies are not easily translated into practice. Furthermore, interviews with principals in these districts suggest that the unintended consequences of performance-based layoff practices may limit their educational worth.

The Inequitable Effects of Teacher Layoffs: What We Know and Can Do

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Kraft ◽  
Joshua F. Bleiberg
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Early Career Teachers ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Economic Downturns ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Career Teachers ◽  
Teacher Layoffs

Abstract Economic downturns can cause major funding shortfalls for U.S. public schools, often forcing districts to make difficult budget cuts, including teacher layoffs. In this brief, we synthesize the empirical literature on the widespread teacher layoffs caused by the Great Recession. Studies find that teacher layoffs harmed student achievement and were inequitably distributed across schools, teachers, and students. Research suggests that specific elements of the layoff process can exacerbate these negative effects. Seniority-based policies disproportionately concentrate layoffs among teachers of color who are more likely to be early career teachers. These “last-in first-out” policies also disproportionately affect disadvantaged students because these students are more likely to be taught by early career teachers. The common practice of widely distributing pink slips warning about a potential job loss also appears to increase teacher churn and negatively impacts teacher performance. Drawing on this evidence, we outline a set of policy recommendations to minimize the need for teacher layoffs during economic downturns and ensure that the burden of any unavoidable job cuts does not continue to be borne by students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.

scholarly journals Teacher Layoffs, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement: Evidence from a Discretionary Layoff Policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Kraft
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Principal Evaluations ◽  
Experimental Variation ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Teacher Layoffs

Most teacher layoffs during the Great Recession were implemented following inverse-seniority policies. In this paper, I examine the implementation of a discretionary layoff policy in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. Administrators did not uniformly lay off the most or least senior teachers but instead selected teachers who were previously retired, late-hired, unlicensed, low-performing, or nontenured. Using quasi-experimental variation within schools across grades, I then estimate the differential effects of teacher layoffs on student achievement based on teacher seniority and effectiveness. Mathematics achievement in grades that lost an effective teacher, as measured by principal evaluations or value-added scores, decreased 0.05 to 0.11 standard deviations more than in grades that lost an ineffective teacher. In contrast, teacher seniority has limited predictive power on the effects of layoffs. Simulation analyses show that the district selected teachers who were, on average, less effective than those teachers identified under an inverse-seniority policy, and also reduced job losses.

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