Do Early-Offers Equal Better Teachers?

Abstract

We examine the impact of human resource changes in a large urban district that accelerated the hiring timeline for promising teacher candidates. After an initial screening, outstanding candidates were granted early offers and placed into the district’s internal labor market to interview for open positions alongside incumbent teachers. We find that early-offer candidates were more likely to apply, interview and be hired into positions that were less desirable to incumbents. After their first year or two in the classroom, early-offer teachers had higher average scores than their peers who accepted standard offers on student surveys. Value-added and formal observation metrics differences were not statistically significant.