Competing Risks Analysis of Dropout and Educational Attainment for Students with Disabilities

We employ individual-level panel data on students with disabilities in Florida to determine the relationship between high school teacher quality and the likelihood a student drops out and the type of diploma they receive if they do finish high school. Our data include five cohorts of 9th graders from 1998/99-2002/03 and link students to individual teachers for each class the students are enrolled in at every grade level. We use both competing risks proportional hazard Cox model and propensity score matching to estimate the effect of teachers. We find some evidence of significant negative correlations between teacher experience and the likelihood of dropping out of high school and between drop out probabilities and teachers with advanced degrees. Competing risks analysis show that special education certification for teachers of special education classrooms leads to both higher hazard of obtaining special education diploma and lower hazard of obtaining standard high school diploma. The average treatment effects on the treated (ATT) show that study-defined high quality teacher exposure during high school career leads to lower dropout rate and higher probability of graduating with diplomas