Chris Redding

Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan Thanks Tuan! And great chatting here!

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan As policy researchers, it’s both important to push for smaller, technical recommendations while also giving voice to the challenges that teachers face, whether related to scrutiny over their work or the dearth of supports available to be successful at a very demanding job.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan A challenge is describing the small changes that school districts could make to improve teacher recruitment and retention while not losing sight of the larger question of how we, as a society, value and support the work of teachers.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan I supplemented the main analysis with a linear probability model with school-by-year fixed effects to address this concern. Though slightly smaller in magnitude, I still find strong evidence that early career district graduates leave teaching at lower rates than other teachers.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan I’ve gotten some good use of district-time survival analysis in this and other studies of teacher turnover when we have longitudinal data and think there might be variation in when teachers are leaving. This question of school-level unobservables is always in the background.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan Since this study was not examining a specific policy, say the effect of Grow Your Own programs, it’s important not to overstep too much. That said, I think it provides some compelling evidence that recruiting district graduates can improve a number of important outcomes

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan By imagining the school conditions where teachers would be more likely to stay, JE theory appropriately sets a much higher bar regarding how to foster a more sustainable teaching career.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan By shifting the focus from why some teachers leave to the factors that drive others to stay, JE theory brings the focus on teacher retention. Focusing on why some teachers leave risks overlooking the experiences of the majority of teachers who remain in teaching each year.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan Though JE theory has a strong basis outside education, only a few studies of teachers have used JE theory. I think it could be applied much more widely when studying educator labor markets, both given its breadth and helpful corrections for how we think about teacher retention.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan I had not previously used JE theory in my research. As I read more, it was clear it was well aligned with the goals of the study, given that much of the theoretical basis for homegrown teachers’ effectiveness and retention is familiarity with and connection to their home district

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan I hope this paper is the tip of the iceberg for similar studies of other groups of prospective teacher pools (e.g., paraprofessionals; noninstructional school staff; parent mentors). It’s also important to extend this research to rural school districts

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan This study greatly benefitted from feedback from reviewers and editors. They pushed for a much richer conceptualization and series of extensions to the analysis that brought important nuance to the study. Not an easy revision process but a much stronger paper as a result.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan Teachers effectiveness may also result from the presence of preexisting professional and personal support networks or strong value congruence resulting from growing up within, graduating from, and working in the same school system

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan These findings are supported by a well-developed literature describing the ways in which local teachers bring implicit understandings of their students, families, and the community that can inform routine classroom interactions.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan Partnering with a southeastern school district, I found the district graduates were more effective at raising their students’ achievement in English language arts and more likely to stay and identify as Black compared to other beginning teachers.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan This study provided evidence in support of renewed interest in local teacher recruitment. It also built on the longstanding literature related to localism in the teacher labor market by focusing on district graduates who returned to teach in their home district.

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@edu_tuan I specialize in how students’ learning opportunities and outcomes can be improved within schools, whether through the recruitment and retention of a high-quality, racially diverse teacher workforce, school improvement, or equitable access to school programs.

[F. Chris Curran @fchriscurran]

The @vupeabody alum were represented well at this year's @UF commencement. Great celebrating our new grads with colleagues I went to grad school with. @ch_redding @btskinner

[Chris Redding @ch_redding]

@aerj_journal It's great to have this paper out! The editors and reviewers were extremely helpful in improving this paper along the way.