Teacher Sorting is a Global Phenomenon

Although substantial evidence from the United States suggests that more qualified teachers are disproportionately concentrated in the schools and classrooms of academically and socioeconomically advantaged children, it is not clear whether the problem of teacher sorting is global in scope.

This study uses data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey to examine whether and how school- and classroom-level teacher distribution patterns vary across 32 education systems with diverse national contexts and education policies.

The authors find that cross- and within-school teacher sorting is common in most countries but within-school sorting is more pronounced in higher income countries.