Lost to the System? A Descriptive Exploration of Teacher Candidates’ Career Paths

Abstract

We use data on over 14,000 teacher candidates in Washington state, merged with employment data from the state’s public schools and Unemployment Insurance system, to investigate the career paths of recently certified teacher candidates in the state. About two thirds of these candidates are observed as public school teachers at some point within 5 years after completing student teaching, many of whom transition from nonteaching education positions into public school teaching positions within a few years of student teaching. We also find that candidates with STEM endorsements and candidates who graduated after the Great Recession are far more likely to be employed in public K–12 teaching positions within the first several years after student teaching.