Missed Opportunities: How We Keep High-Quality Teachers Out of Urban Classrooms

It is widely recognized that no factor under school control affects student achievement
more than the quality of the teacher in the classroom. Yet, on average, low-income and minority children have lower-quality teachers who are far more likely to be uncertified, to have scored poorly on college and licensure exams, and
to be teaching outside of their field.

Conventional wisdom attributes this disparity to the inability of large city school
systems to attract high-caliber teachers. But the reality is that, thanks to stepped-up
recruitment efforts, high-quality teacher candidates regularly apply in large numbers
to teach in hard-to-staff districts. The problem is, they do not get hired.

The failure of many large urban districts to make job offers to new teachers until
July or August is largely to blame for this problem. Because of hiring delays, these
districts lose substantial numbers of teacher candidates—including the most
promising and those who can teach in high-demand shortage areas—to suburban
classrooms that typically hire earlier.