Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

A growing awareness of the influential role that teachers of color play for minority students has sparked interest in the efficacy of various strategies to improve the recruitment and retention of minority teachers. In particular, the policy goal of reducing minority teacher turnover holds appeal as a low-cost strategy to maximize the impact of the existing pool of qualified candidates serving in diverse school types and locations. Given the already low representation of teachers of color in schools serving large proportions of black and Latino students, understanding the correlates of teacher attrition is key to developing supportive education policies to minimize teacher departure in those schools serving at-risk populations. This study uses North Carolina data to estimate a linear probability model with school fixed effects to investigate the role of principal-teacher demographic matching in the context of teacher turnover decisions. Analysis is ongoing but early findings reveal a statistically significant negative relationship between teacher-principal demographic matching and teacher turnover. Policy implications are discussed