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Although more effective (higher value-added) teachers and those with advanced degrees are also assigned less difficult classes, controlling for these factors does not eliminate the association between experience, race, gender, and assignments. The authors hypothesize that this pattern of class assignments results, in part, from power relations among teachers within a school, a process that works to disadvantage those with less experience and from minority and female backgrounds, as well as from parental pressures. These patterns have negative implications for teacher retention given the importance of working conditions for teachers’ career decisions.