Initial matches, transfers, and quits: Career decisions and the disparities in average teacher qualifications across schools

Using a unique dataset, this paper follows the careers of all NYS public school teachers over the previous 20 years. It asks questions such as: What is the typical path of a teacher? How do career paths differ across schools and across teachers having different characteristics? How do career paths contribute to the observed distribution of teachers across schools? The results of this study demonstrate the importance of the initial matching of teachers to schools and the importance of transfers in determining the distribution of teacher qualifications across schools, both within and between regions. Quit behavior contributes to the systematic differences identified, but is of secondary importance.