Teacher Turnover, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement in DCPS

Oct 15, 2026

Teacher turnover, teacher quality, and student achievement are examined in the District of Columbia Public Schools using the IMPACT performance-assessment and incentive system. The study analyzes quasi-experimental evidence from early IMPACT data and finds that, on average, replacements for teachers who left increase student math achievement by 0.08 SD. Effects are larger and statistically significant when analyzing exits of lower-performing teachers. Exits not sanctioned under IMPACT are typically negative but not significant. Results highlight how policy details and teacher behavior can shape educational outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Teacher Turnover and Student Achievement

Study Design and Data Source (IMPACT)

Main Findings (Math and Reading)

Additional Evidence and Subgroup Results

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis March 2017, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 54–76 DOI: 10.3102/0162373716663646 © 2016 AERA. [http://eepa.aera.net](http://eepa.aera.net) Teacher Turnover, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement in DCPS Melinda Adnot University of Virginia Thomas Dee Stanford University Veronica Katz James Wyckoff University of Virginia In practice, teacher turnover appears to have negative effects on school quality as measured by student performance. However, some simulations suggest that turnover can instead have large positive effects under a policy regime in which low-performing teachers can be accurately identified and replaced with more effective teachers. This study examines this question by evaluating the effects of teacher turnover on student achievement under IMPACT, the unique performance-assessment and incentive system in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Employing a quasi-experimental design based on data from the first years of IMPACT, we find that, on average, DCPS replaced teachers who left with teachers who increased student achievement by 0.08 standard deviation (SD) in math. When we isolate the effects of lower-performing teachers who were induced to leave DCPS for poor performance, we find that student achievement improves by larger and statistically significant amounts (i.e., 0.14 SD in reading and 0.21 SD in math). In contrast, the effect of exits by teachers not sanctioned under IMPACT is typically negative but not statistically significant. Keywords: teacher quality, teacher turnover, teacher evaluation Having an effective teacher can dramatically alter students’ educational and economic outcomes. Yet, we know that there are substantial differences in the quality of public school teachers, and there is increasing evidence that in some urban areas less effective teachers are often concentrated in lower-performing schools serving disadvantaged students. Policymakers and researchers recognize these issues and have sought policies to provide all children with effective teachers. The selective retention of effective teachers has been one of the most-discussed strategies that may contribute to this goal. In theory, districts could dismiss ineffective teachers, hire more effective teachers, and redouble efforts to retain effective teachers in these schools. However, we know relatively little about how such policies would work in practice. In particular, the capacity of districts to identify effective teachers at the hiring stage is limited (Boyd, Lankford, et al., 2008; Rockoff, Jacob, Kane, & Staiger, 2011; Rockoff & Speroni, 2010) . Furthermore, research and practice have only recently begun making progress on accurately and reliably assessing teacher effectiveness. Some simulations (Hanushek, 2009; Staiger & Rockoff, 2010) estimate that dismissal of the least effective teachers would dramatically improve student achievement. However, these simulations make assumptions regarding the retention of more effective teachers and the labor supply of new teachers that may be overly optimistic. For example, if teacher-evaluation and dismissal policies cause more effective teachers to feel their jobs are threatened, such policies may have the unintended consequence of actually lowering teacher quality (Rothstein, 2015) . The ultimate outcome depends on the details of the policy, the behavioral response of teachers, and the characteristics of the local labor market from which new teachers are hired. Some school districts have begun to implement rigorous teacher-evaluation policies that could systematically dismiss meaningful numbers of ineffective teachers (Thomsen, 2014) . However, we are unaware of any research that documents how the patterns of teacher turnover created by such policies (i.e., the attrition of teachers sanctioned for low performance, other teachers choosing to leave, and the hiring of new teachers) influence student achievement. In this stud

FAQs

How does IMPACT relate teacher turnover to student achievement?

IMPACT annually evaluates teachers using multiple measures and separates “Ineffective” or twice-consecutively “Minimally Effective” teachers from the district. The study links these turnover patterns to changes in student achievement outcomes.

What is the average effect of replacing teachers who leave DCPS?

On average, DCPS replaced teachers who left with teachers who increased student achievement by 0.08 standard deviation in math.

Do teacher exits that are not sanctioned under IMPACT improve student outcomes?

Those exits are typically negative but not statistically significant, unlike turnover involving lower-performing teachers induced to leave for poor performance.

Oct 15, 2026

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