A New Evaluation Approach for Teacher Preparation Programs Using Labor Market Competitiveness of Teacher Applicants
WCER Working Paper No. 2020-3
Peter Goff, Hyunwoo Yang, Minseok Yang, Lena Batt, Xin Xie, and Eunji You
March 2020, 24 pp.
ABSTRACT: This study introduces a new approach to measure effectiveness of teacher preparation programs at U.S. universities (TPP) by examining to what extent TPPs produce employable teacher candidates. We use teacher application data in Wisconsin public schools from 2014-15 through 2016-17. We find that attending a specific university’s TPP makes a difference for novice teacher applicants’ job outcomes. However, the competitiveness of a TPP is inextricable from the geographic locale in which it operates. These findings call into question the validity of a contextual and absolute TPP rankings. Our results suggest that graduates of TPPs with strong school and community partnerships are more competitive in the local labor market.
keywords: teacher preparation programs, novice teacher, teacher preparation program ranking, teacher labor market, Wisconsin, K–12, elementary schools
