Wenjing Gao

Disparate Pathways: Understanding Racial Disparities in Teaching

David Blazar, Max Anthenelli, Wenjing Gao, Ramon Goings, Seth Gershenson. February 2026

Topics: Teacher and Leader Development

Tags: Culturally responsive schooling, Human capital, Race, ethnicity, and education

Longstanding evidence on the importance of a diverse teacher workforce prompts policymakers to scrutinize existing recruitment pathways.

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Localized Teacher Recruitment through “Grow-Your-Own”: Impacts of the High School Teacher Academy of Maryland Program

David Blazar, Wenjing Gao, Seth Gershenson, Ramon Goings, Francisco Lagos. February 2026

Topics: Staffing, Finance, and Operations

Tags: Returns to education and skills, Teacher hiring and retention

Recruiting teachers via “grow-your-own” (GYO) programs is a popular, yet rarely evaluated, strategy for addressing local workforce shortages and ensuring that incoming teachers resemble, understand, and have strong connections to their communities. We provide novel evidence on the impacts… more →
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Troublemakers? The Role of Frequent Teacher Referrers in Expanding Racial Disciplinary Disproportionalities

Jing Liu, Emily Penner, Wenjing Gao. February 2023

Topics: Student Well-Being

Tags: Student discipline, Race, ethnicity, and education, Educator perceptions

Teachers’ sense-making of student behavior determines whether students get in trouble and are formally disciplined.

Download 02/2023