Research
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Understanding ECE Workforce Needs in Massachusetts
Analysis of recent investments in ECE programs in Massachusetts. Shows that a stronger workforce is key to meeting demand.
Teacher Shortages in Connecticut
The Wheelock Educational Policy Center, in partnership with the Connecticut State Department of Education, tracks where and why staffing shortages persist in Connecticut's public schools. These reports identify shortage areas across special populations, general education subjects, and school support personnel—and examine how those gaps fall unevenly across districts. Together, the 2023 and 2025 editions show how the state's staffing challenges have evolved over time.
Guardrails or Barriers
This white paper from the BU Wheelock Educational Policy Center seeks to summarize some of what we know from the literature and highlight related policy considerations surrounding teacher licensure.
Massachusetts School Leader Workforce – Annual Snapshots
Graphic snapshots showcasing the characteristics, career trajectories, and outcomes of principals and assistant principals in Massachusetts public schools.
Examining Wage Growth in ECE Programs: Evidence from Massachusetts
Analysis of Massachusetts early educator wage growth. Review of changes in early educator wages over several years. Shows modest inflation-adjusted wage gains that are still significantly below ideal levels.
Assessing the Potential Impact of Seniority-Based Reduction in Force Policies on the Changing Teacher Workforce in Connecticut Schools
Given statewide patterns in the composition, distribution, and effectiveness of newly hired teachers, layoffs that prioritize seniority are likely to cause disproportionate disruption to the teacher workforce in Connecticut, especially in schools serving vulnerable populations.
Early Education Workforce Supports at Scale
This white paper from the BU Wheelock Educational Policy Center seeks to outline the opportunity and imperative of building data and research capacity at the state level specific to improving our understanding of the ECE workforce.
Forecasting the Supply and Demand of Diverse Educators
The increasing diversity of students in Massachusetts makes growing a diverse educator workforce a critical policy goal for the Commonwealth. In recent years, state and local leaders have responded to this challenge with a variety of programs and policy changes. This report details these efforts and their considerable impact to date. However, the findings show the racial and ethnic differences between the state’s students and teachers will continue to widen through the end of this decade, if Massachusetts remains on the current trajectory. Employing a projection model developed by researchers at the Wheelock Educational Policy Center, the analysis models several hypothetical scenarios to close the gap. The report concludes with policy recommendations to accelerate the pace of change.
Examining the Supply of New Special Educators
Special education teacher shortages have been a consistent problem around the U.S. for decades and have only grown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, reports of declining interest in special education among prospective teachers are especially concerning. The authors of this study examined the supply of new special education teachers into the workforce and the institutions that are supplying them, shedding light on the increasingly prominent role of for-profit alternative certification programs in the preparation of special education teachers.
Comparing Turnover Intentions and Actual Turnover in the Public Sector Workforce
When teachers choose to leave their jobs, it can be disruptive and costly for their school and district, affecting everything from student learning to the experiences of other teachers and staff. For this reason, policymakers have been worried by indications that many teachers are thinking about leaving the profession. But just how reliable are these warning signs that teachers are thinking of leaving? In this study, a group of researchers aimed to understand the relationship between teachers’ self-reported intentions to leave the profession or transfer schools and their actual turnover.
Licensure Tests and Teacher Supply in Connecticut
This research project uses longitudinal data from Connecticut to examine the association between teachers’ performance on required subject-matter licensure tests (specifically, the Praxis II assessment suite) and their later effectiveness at improving student test scores. The authors then estimate the causal effect of failing a first attempt at one of these Praxis II tests on an individual’s likelihood of eventually becoming a licensed teacher in the state.
Disparate Teacher Effects, Comparative Advantage, and Match Quality
A teacher who is effective with one group of students but ineffective with another could either reduce or exacerbate educational inequality. Understanding disparate impacts of teachers based on students’ race can help design policies and practices to improve the efficiency and equity of education systems.
Evaluating Emergency Licensure in Massachusetts
To avoid pandemic-induced teacher shortages, Massachusetts implemented an emergency license, removing most traditional licensure requirements for individuals who wanted to become teachers. This research reports on initial impacts on composition and quality of the workforce.
Can a Commercial Screening Tool Help Select Better Teachers?
Do commercially available screening tools help schools and districts hire better teachers? Study from Olivia Chi and Matthew Lenard, suggests caution before making a big investment.
Using Classroom Observations in the Evaluation of Special Education Teachers
Researchers find that Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching is limited in assessing the quality of instructional practices most valued in special education.
COVID-19 and the Composition of the Massachusetts Teacher Workforce
With fears of teacher shortages mounting amidst the pandemic, the Wheelock Educational Policy Center examines actual changes in the composition and demographics of the teacher workforce in Massachusetts.
Teacher Time Use and Affect During COVID-19
Authors provide the most direct and detailed evidence yet of teachers’ work and affect before and immediately after spring 2020 school closures.
The Impact of Principal Attrition and Replacement on Indicators of School Quality
Authors explored whether principal transitions are inherently disruptive or varies on the context of the outgoing or incoming principal.
A Classroom Observer Like Me: The Effects of Race-congruence and Gender-congruence Between Teachers and Raters on Observation Scores
Olivia Chi examined how race and gender dynamics influence administrators’ subjective assessments of teachers in classroom observations.
Professional Development at Scale: The Causal Effect of Obtaining an SEI Endorsement Under Massachusetts’s RETELL Initiative
This project used longitudinal data from Massachusetts to measure the causal effect of a rigorous and time-intensive professional development (PD) delivered at a nearly unprecedented scale: teachers earning an endorsement in Structured English Immersion (SEI) under the Massachusett’s Rethinking Equity in the Teaching of English Language Learners (RETELL) initiative.