Are Localized Programs Successful at Recruiting New Teachers?

Blazar et al. (2026) examine whether access to Maryland’s Teacher Academy (TAM) increases entry into teaching. They ask if a high school “grow-your-own” pathway affects students’ later education, careers, and earnings. They use statewide administrative data linking K–12 records, college enrollment and degrees, teacher employment, and unemployment insurance wages. They find that TAM exposure increased the probability of becoming a teacher by 0.6 percentage points, a 45% rise over baseline. Effects were larger for White girls (1.4pp) and Black girls (0.7pp). TAM also raised wages by about 5% overall and 18% for Black girls.

Why This Article Was Selected for The Policy Scientist

Blazar et al. (2026) address a policy issue of sustained national relevance: the weakening pipeline into teaching amid persistent staffing shortages and demographic imbalances. The topic extends beyond Maryland, touching workforce development, educational capacity, and long-run student outcomes. The study is timely given declining interest in teaching, fiscal pressures on districts, and renewed investment in “grow-your-own” strategies. The authors have contributed extensively to research on teacher labor markets and educational pathways, situating this article within an established scholarly trajectory. The linked administrative dataset—spanning K–12 records, postsecondary outcomes, employment, and wages—is a notable strength. The generalized difference-in-differences design provides credible causal evidence. While context-specific, the mechanisms examined appear relevant to other jurisdictions.

Full Citation and Link to Article

Blazar, D., Gao, W., Gershenson, S., Goings, R., & Lagos, F. (2026). Localized teacher recruitment through “grow-your-own”: Impacts of the high school Teacher Academy of Maryland program. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 45(2), 000–000. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.70084 

Central Research Question

This study investigates whether a statewide high school “grow-your-own” (GYO) teacher recruitment program meaningfully alters students’ long-run educational and labor market trajectories. Specifically, the authors ask whether exposure to the Teacher Academy of Maryland (TAM), a Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway oriented toward teaching, increases the probability that students later enter the teaching profession. The analysis also examines whether TAM influences intermediate outcomes such as high school completion, postsecondary enrollment, degree attainment, occupational choice, and early-career earnings. A central concern is whether early exposure to teaching as a career can counteract declining interest in the profession, particularly among demographic groups historically underrepresented in teaching.

Previous Literature

The article is positioned within three overlapping research domains: workforce development, CTE program effectiveness, and teacher labor supply. Prior research documents a persistent decline in interest in teaching over recent decades, with especially sharp decreases among Black students. Existing studies emphasize the importance of teachers for student achievement and long-term outcomes, as well as demographic mismatches between teachers and students. Despite the growing popularity of GYO initiatives, the empirical evidence base remains limited, with much of the literature relying on descriptive analyses, self-studies, or short-term outcomes.

Within the CTE literature, prior causal studies show that occupation-specific or academy-style programs can improve graduation rates and earnings, though effects vary by gender and labor market pathways. In the teacher labor supply literature, most work focuses on wages, working conditions, certification routes, and retention rather than early recruitment. The authors highlight that credible causal evaluations of large-scale GYO programs are rare. Their contribution addresses this gap by providing long-horizon evidence on a mature, statewide program with variation in adoption timing.

Data

The analysis uses linked administrative data from the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS), integrating records from multiple state agencies. The dataset includes K–12 enrollment and achievement files, high school course-taking information, postsecondary enrollment and degree records, teacher employment data, and unemployment insurance (UI) wage files. This structure allows the authors to follow several cohorts of students from ninth grade through approximately a decade after high school entry.

The analytic sample consists of roughly 226,000 students across five ninth-grade cohorts (2008–09 through 2012–13), excluding students in always-treated schools and incoming transfers. Outcomes span high school graduation, two- and four-year college enrollment, associate’s and bachelor’s degree completion, education-related credentials, employment as instructional aides or teachers, district characteristics of first teaching placements, certification routes, and quarterly earnings measured around age 25. The scale, longitudinal depth, and cross-agency linkage of the data are notable strengths, enabling the examination of both educational and economic outcomes.

Methods

The authors exploit the staggered rollout of TAM across Maryland public high schools. Treatment is defined at the school-cohort level, capturing whether students were exposed to TAM for at least three years during high school. Identification relies on a generalized difference-in-differences (DD) framework with two-way fixed effects (TWFE), incorporating school and cohort fixed effects. This design compares students within the same school before and after TAM adoption and between adopting and non-adopting schools.

Standard errors are clustered at the school level, with sensitivity analyses using alternative clustering structures. The models are estimated both with and without student-level controls (gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic indicators, prior achievement) and time-varying school characteristics. The authors also conduct regression-based balance tests on predetermined variables and event-study analyses to assess pre-treatment trends. Additional robustness checks use estimators designed to accommodate heterogeneous treatment effects and potential parallel-trend violations. The methodological approach aligns with contemporary causal inference practices for observational policy evaluations.

Findings/Size Effects

First-stage results indicate that TAM exposure substantially increased participation in TAM coursework. Take-up was markedly higher among girls than boys. White girls exhibited the largest increases in TAM completion, while Black girls showed strong increases in initial enrollment but far lower completion rates. Boys’ participation rose modestly.

Regarding career outcomes, TAM exposure increased the likelihood of becoming a teacher by 0.6 percentage points, representing roughly a 45 percent increase relative to baseline rates. Effects were heterogeneous: White girls experienced a 1.4pp increase, Black girls a 0.7pp increase, and boys a 0.2pp increase. The magnitude differences reflect variation in both baseline probabilities and program engagement.

The study also finds no overall increase in employment as instructional aides, though reductions appear for boys and Black girls, suggesting some substitution from aide roles toward teaching. Among White girls induced into teaching, a large share entered the profession locally within their home districts. Black girls induced into teaching were less likely to remain local and more likely to work in districts with higher shares of Black teachers or higher starting salaries.

Educational attainment effects show that TAM exposure modestly increased high school graduation and college enrollment, with particularly pronounced gains for Black girls’ graduation rates. Evidence suggests TAM operated through both extensive-margin mechanisms (increasing educational attainment) and intensive-margin mechanisms (shifting occupational preferences among students already likely to attend college).

Earnings analyses reveal that TAM exposure increased wages by approximately 5 percent on average and 18 percent for Black girls. Importantly, the study finds no statistically significant evidence of earnings reductions, countering concerns that teaching-oriented pathways might divert students from more lucrative careers. Wage gains are especially large at the lower end of the earnings distribution, consistent with movement from lower-paying aide positions into teaching roles.

Conclusion

The authors conclude that TAM produced measurable long-run effects on occupational entry into teaching and early-career earnings. The program appears effective in increasing the supply of new teachers, though impacts differ across demographic groups. While White girls show the largest absolute increases and strong local retention patterns, Black girls experience large relative increases and distinct mobility responses tied to district composition and salaries.

The study emphasizes that GYO-style CTE pathways can influence both educational attainment and career selection without detectable earnings penalties. The findings extend the literature by providing rare causal evidence on a large-scale, precollegiate teacher recruitment initiative. Although the institutional context is Maryland-specific, the mechanisms examined—early career exposure, credit articulation, and occupational signaling—are likely relevant to other jurisdictions considering similar programs.