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Concerned about the low academic ability of teachers, in the 1990s and 2000s, some
states increased occupational licensing stringency to weed out low-academic-ability
candidates, while others decreased restrictions in hopes of attracting more competitive
candidates, with states differing in the nature of their requirements. Studying 1991–
2007, we show that academic coursework requirements constitute the most prominent
changes in licensing requirements and that stricter requirements increased the left tail
of the distribution of college selectivity among secondary school teachers. We find
no evidence of disparate negative effects for high-poverty school districts but some
evidence for high-minority districts.
