ABSTRACT
This chapter examines differences in personnel policy between traditional public, charter, and private schools and examines how these policies are shaped by the institutional and market framework within which these schools operate. It then explores how these personnel policy differences contribute to the academic quality differences observed between the sectors. The chapter examines reasons that personnel policy and wage setting differ among traditional public, private, and charter schools and the effects of these policies on academic measures of teacher quality. Survey and administrative data suggest that regulatory freedom, small wage-setting units, and a competitive market environment make pay and personnel practices more market and performance based in private and charter schools than in traditional public schools. In principle, public school districts need not be so bureaucratic. They could adopt more decentralized systems of personnel policy, give school principals more control over teacher recruitment and pay, and adopt more of a team model.
