CEPR Affiliated Faculty Matthew Kraft and CEPR Researcher Will Marinell recently released a working paper detailing the impact of school climate on teacher turnover and student achievement.
During the last decade, education research and policy have generated considerable momentum behind efforts to remake teacher evaluation systems and place an effective teacher in every classroom. But schools are not simply collections of individual teachers; they are also organizations, with structures, practices, and norms that may impede or support good teaching. Could strengthening schools—as organizations—lead to better outcomes for teachers and students?
This study begins to address that question by examining how changes in school climate were related to changes in teacher turnover and student achievement in 278 NYC middle schools between 2008 and 2012. Drawing on teacher responses to NYC's annual School Survey, as well as student test scores, human resources data, and school administrative records, we identified four distinct and potentially malleable dimensions of middle schools' organizational environments:
- Leadership and professional development;
- High academic expectations for students;
- Teacher relationships and collaboration; and
- School safety and order.
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