Policy efforts to improve teacher quality traditionally have focused on supply-side factors such as wages and working conditions; while these factors are important for recruiting and retaining teachers, a growing body of evidence suggests that demand-side factors may be equally important. The proposed project will examine the teacher hiring process in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Jacob will address which characteristics principals value most highly in teachers, whether principals can identify effective teachers, and whether principals face constraints in hiring the best teachers.
Poor and largely minority school districts face an enormous challenge in staffing their schools with effective teachers.
