Teacher Testing Standards and the New Teacher Pipeline

Abstract

We examine the impact of changes in teacher testing standards on the new teacher pipeline by exploiting a quasi-experimental change in the minimum passing score required for admission into teacher training programs. Using institution-level data, we find that higher testing standards sharply reduce enrollments and graduations and that the effects are concentrated in academically weaker institutions. This suggests that testing standards were set inefficiently high if the goal of entry standards is to screen out students who would not have graduated. According to our estimates, the average increase in testing standards accounts for one-fifth of recent declines in new teacher graduations and more than half of the decline in the states that saw the largest increase in entry standards.

Keywords: testing, teacher supply, entry standards, education, occupational licensing, regulation

JEL Classification: J44, J45, J48, I20, I23, I28