Journal of Student Financial Aid
Short Title
Does TEACH Lead to More Teachers?
Abstract
Teachers are critical to education production. Yet, recruiting and retaining teachers has remained challenging, particularly in high need fields, at schools serving a high proportion of students from low-income backgrounds, and from racially diverse backgrounds. To incentivize enrollment in teacher preparation programs and to support teacher candidates through degree completion, the federal government implemented the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant in 2008. The TEACH Grant offers undergraduate and graduate students up to $16,000 and $8,000 in grant aid, respectively, to pursue degrees in high need teaching fields. I use difference-in-differences analyses to estimate the effects of the TEACH Grant on college and university bachelor’s and master’s degree production in high need education areas and among students of color. Results suggest that TEACH had small, positive effects on education degrees awarded in high need fields and to students of color. These effect sizes are unlikely to meaningfully address teacher supply issues in high need fields, which may speak to targeted grant aid as a necessary but incomplete policy lever for increasing the supply of prospective educators.
Recommended Citation
Sparks, Daniel
(2025)
"Does TEACH Lead to More Teachers? Evaluating the Effects of the Federal TEACH Program,"
Journal of Student Financial Aid: Vol. 54
:
Iss.
1
, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55504/0884-9153.1860
Available at:
https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jsfa/vol54/iss1/3
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