Associate Professor of Education and Policy at the University of Southern California
CERAS Learning Hall
Many states have reduced or removed tenure protections for teachers. However, little is known about the impacts of tenure reforms on the teacher workforce. Using comparative interrupted time series analyses, we assess the effects of tenure elimination in Louisiana on teacher attrition, particularly for groups who should be similarly affected by other conditions but differentially affected by the reform. We find evidence of an increase in attrition in the year of tenure removal, concentrated among teachers who derive a greater benefit from tenure or have a more certain alternative income through retirement. We find no evidence of effects on populations that should not be affected by the reform and no differential effects across groups that face similar benefits from tenure.