IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp18271.html

Student Disruptions and Teacher Turnover

Author

Listed:
  • Choi, Kyuhan

  • Shi, Ying

    (Syracuse University)

  • Zhu, Maria

    (Syracuse University)

Abstract

This paper examines how exposure to disruptive students affects teacher retention using linked teacher-student administrative records from North Carolina. To address non-random classroom assignment, we instrument for classroom exposure using the school-by-grade share of disruptive students based on prior-year disciplinary infractions. A one standard deviation increase in the share of disruptive students raises the probability of a teacher leaving the school in the following year by 1.6 percentage points. We do not find differential effects by teacher characteristics. However, working in a school environment with supportive leadership and greater teacher input into decision-making mitigates the impact of student disruptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Choi, Kyuhan & Shi, Ying & Zhu, Maria, 2025. "Student Disruptions and Teacher Turnover," IZA Discussion Papers 18271, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18271
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp18271.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas S. Dee & James Wyckoff, 2015. "Incentives, Selection, and Teacher Performance: Evidence from IMPACT," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 267-297, March.
    2. Feng, Li & Figlio, David & Sass, Tim, 2018. "School accountability and teacher mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-17.
    3. Scott E. Carrell & Mark Hoekstra & Elira Kuka, 2018. "The Long-Run Effects of Disruptive Peers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(11), pages 3377-3415, November.
    4. Li Feng, 2010. "Hire Today, Gone Tomorrow: New Teacher Classroom Assignments and Teacher Mobility," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 5(3), pages 278-316, July.
    5. Rebecca Dizon-Ross, 2020. "How Does School Accountability Affect Teachers?: Evidence from New York City," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(1), pages 76-118.
    6. Barbara Biasi, 2021. "The Labor Market for Teachers under Different Pay Schemes," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 63-102, August.
    7. Donald Boyd & Pam Grossman & Hamilton Lankford & Susanna Loeb & James Wyckoff, 2008. "Who Leaves? Teacher Attrition and Student Achievement," NBER Working Papers 14022, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Kristine M. Brown & Ron A. Laschever, 2012. "When They're Sixty-Four: Peer Effects and the Timing of Retirement," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 90-115, July.
    9. Gregory Elacqua & Diana Hincapié & Matías Martínez, 2024. "The Effects of School Accountability on Teachers in Public and Private Schools: Evidence from Chile," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 19(4), pages 539-566, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lara Fleck & Melline Somers & Tom Stolp & Wim Groot & Frits Merode & Ralph Vries, 2025. "The Effectiveness of Interventions to Increase Employment in Education and Healthcare: A Systematic Literature Review," De Economist, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 1-45, March.
    2. Li Feng & Tim R. Sass, 2017. "Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(3), pages 396-418, Summer.
    3. Michael Bates & Michael Dinerstein & Andrew C. Johnston & Isaac Sorkin, 2022. "Teacher Labor Market Equilibrium and Student Achievement," CESifo Working Paper Series 9551, CESifo.
    4. Iftikhar Hussain & Vincenzo Scrutinio & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2025. "Public sector performance disclosure: salary and career outcomes for top managers and employees," CEP Discussion Papers dp2107, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Elacqua, Gregory & Rodrigues, Mateus & Rosa, Leonardo, 2025. "Impact of Monetary Incentives on Teacher Decisions to Leave and Choose Schools: Evidence from a Policy Reform in SaÞo Paulo," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13950, Inter-American Development Bank.
    6. Jo Blanden & Matthias Doepke & Jan Stuhler, 2022. "Education inequality," CEP Discussion Papers dp1849, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Jessalynn James & Matthew A. Kraft & John P. Papay, 2023. "Local supply, temporal dynamics, and unrealized potential in teacher hiring," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 1010-1044, September.
    8. Barbara Biasi & Wayne Sandholtz, 2025. "The Political Consequences of Controversial Education Reform: Lessons from Wisconsin’s Act 10," CESifo Working Paper Series 11817, CESifo.
    9. Sam Sims, 2016. "High-Stakes Accountability and Teacher Turnover: how do different school inspection judgements affect teachers' decisions to leave their school?," DoQSS Working Papers 16-14, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    10. Hongmei Ma & Wanpeng Lei, 2025. "Compensating teachers serving rural schools: evidence from a developing region in southern China," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    11. Susanna Loeb & Demetra Kalogrides & Tara Béteille, 2011. "Effective Schools: Teacher Hiring, Assignment, Development, and Retention," NBER Working Papers 17177, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Camelo, Rafael & Ponczek, Vladimir, 2021. "Teacher Turnover and Financial Incentives in Underprivileged Schools: Evidence from a Compensation Policy in a Developing Country," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    13. Steele, Jennifer L. & Pepper, Matthew J. & Springer, Matthew G. & Lockwood, J.R., 2015. "The distribution and mobility of effective teachers: Evidence from a large, urban school district," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 86-101.
    14. Sass, Tim R. & Hannaway, Jane & Xu, Zeyu & Figlio, David N. & Feng, Li, 2012. "Value added of teachers in high-poverty schools and lower poverty schools," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 104-122.
    15. Stuit, David A. & Smith, Thomas M., 2012. "Explaining the gap in charter and traditional public school teacher turnover rates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 268-279.
    16. Swain, Walker A. & Rodriguez, Luis A. & Springer, Matthew G., 2019. "Selective retention bonuses for highly effective teachers in high poverty schools: Evidence from Tennessee," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 148-160.
    17. Anne Ardila Brenøe & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "Exposure to More Female Peers Widens the Gender Gap in STEM Participation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 1009-1054.
    18. Stacy, Brian, 2014. "Ranking Teachers when Teacher Value-Added is Heterogeneous Across Students," EconStor Preprints 104743, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    19. Takao Kato & Yang Song, 2022. "Advising, gender, and performance: Evidence from a university with exogenous adviser–student gender match," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 121-141, January.
    20. Seth Gershenson, 2016. "Performance Standards and Employee Effort: Evidence From Teacher Absences," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(3), pages 615-638, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.