Power Play? Teacher Characteristics and Class Assignments

Using student and teacher data from Miami-Dade County, Florida, the authors found that less experienced, minority, and female teachers are more likely to be assigned students with lower average prior achievement, more prior behavioral problems, and lower prior attendance rates, especially in schools with stable senior staffs. Moreover, novice teachers were more likely to be assigned students from black and low-income families within the same school. The authors posited that these assignment patterns exist in part because savvy senior teachers influence principals and request the least challenging assignments for themselves. This factor has implications for teacher retention because novice teachers often cite difficult assignments as the reason for leaving.