The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data
01 Apr 2004-The American Economic Review (For full text: http://econwpa.wustl.edu:8089/eps/pe/papers/0304/0304002.pdf.)-Vol. 94, Iss: 2, pp 247-252
TL;DR: This paper found large and statistically significant differences among teachers: a one standard deviation increase in teacher quality raises reading and math test scores by approximately.20 and.24 standard deviations, respectively, on a nationally standardized scale.
Abstract: Teacher quality is widely believed to be important for education, despite little evidence that teachers' credentials matter for student achievement. To accurately measure variation in achievement due to teachers' characteristics-both observable and unobservable-it is essential to identify teacher fixed effects. Unlike previous studies, I use panel data to estimate teacher fixed effects while controlling for fixed student characteristics and classroom specific variables. I find large and statistically significant differences among teachers: a one standard deviation increase in teacher quality raises reading and math test scores by approximately .20 and .24 standard deviations, respectively, on a nationally standardized scale. In addition, teaching experience has statistically significant positive effects on reading test scores, controlling for fixed teacher quality.
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TL;DR: In this article, the effects of various types of education and training on the productivity of teachers in promoting student achievement were studied. But they did not find a consistent relationship between formal professional development training and teacher productivity, and they found no evidence that teachers' pre-service training or college entrance exam scores are related to productivity.
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TL;DR: In this article, the problem of multiple comparisons can disappear entirely when viewed from a hierarchical Bayesian perspective, and a multilevel model is proposed to address the multiple comparisons problem and also yield more efficient estimates.
Abstract: Applied researchers often find themselves making statistical inferences in settings that would seem to require multiple comparisons adjustments. We challenge the Type I error paradigm that underlies these corrections. Moreover we posit that the problem of multiple comparisons can disappear entirely when viewed from a hierarchical Bayesian perspective. We propose building multilevel models in the settings where multiple comparisons arise. Multilevel models perform partial pooling (shifting estimates toward each other), whereas classical procedures typically keep the centers of intervals stationary, adjusting for multiple comparisons by making the intervals wider (or, equivalently, adjusting the p values corresponding to intervals of fixed width). Thus, multilevel models address the multiple comparisons problem and also yield more efficient estimates, especially in settings with low group-level variation, which is where multiple comparisons are a particular concern.
1,043 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that exposure to such supports is predictive of greater student learning gains and that teachers' behavioral interactions with students can be assessed observationally using standardized protocols, analyzed systematically with regard to sources of error, validated for predicting student learning, and changed (improved) as a function of specific and aligned supports provided to teachers.
Abstract: The authors advance an argument that placing observation of actual teaching as a central feature of accountability frameworks, teacher preparation, and basic science could result in substantial improvements in instruction and related social processes and a science of the production of teaching and teachers. Teachers’ behavioral interactions with students can be (a) assessed observationally using standardized protocols, (b) analyzed systematically with regard to sources of error, (c) validated for predicting student learning, and (d) changed (improved) as a function of specific and aligned supports provided to teachers; exposure to such supports is predictive of greater student learning gains. These methods have considerable promise; along with measurement challenges, some of which pertain to psychometrics, efficiency, and costs, they merit attention, rigorous study, and substantial research investments.
1,021 citations
Cites background from "The Impact of Individual Teachers o..."
...…neither (a) the proxies of degrees or experience that bear only indirectly (Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2008) or not at all (Pianta & Allen, 2008) on student outcomes, nor (b) the tautology that effective teachers are those who produce achievement gains (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005; Rockoff, 2004)....
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...Advances in theory, in measurement, and in intervention have led to the possibility that metrics for a “highly effective teacher” rely on neither (a) the proxies of degrees or experience that bear only indirectly (Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2008) or not at all (Pianta & Allen, 2008) on student outcomes, nor (b) the tautology that effective teachers are those who produce achievement gains (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005; Rockoff, 2004)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the importance of teachers in Chicago public high schools using matched student-teacher administrative data was estimated using a simple linear regression model, showing that one standard deviation, one semester improvement in teacher quality raises student math scores by 0.13 grade equivalents.
Abstract: We estimate the importance of teachers in Chicago public high schools using matched student‐teacher administrative data. A one standard deviation, one semester improvement in math teacher quality raises student math scores by 0.13 grade equivalents or, over 1 year, roughly one‐fifth of average yearly gains. Estimates are relatively stable over time, reasonably impervious to a variety of conditioning variables, and do not appear to be driven by classroom sorting or selective score reporting. Also, teacher quality is particularly important for lower‐ability students. Finally, traditional human capital measures—including those determining compensation—explain little of the variation in estimated quality.
1,009 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors test for bias in value-added measures using previously unobserved parent characteristics and a quasi-experimental design based on changes in teaching sta¤.
Abstract: Are teachers’impacts on students’test scores (“value-added”) a good measure of their quality? One reason this question has sparked debate is disagreement about whether value-added (VA) measures provide unbiased estimates of teachers’causal impacts on student achievement. We test for bias in VA using previously unobserved parent characteristics and a quasi-experimental design based on changes in teaching sta¤. Using school district and tax records for more than one million children, we …nd that VA models which control for a student’s prior test scores exhibit little bias in forecasting teachers’impacts on student achievement. Although teachers have substantial impacts,
996 citations
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TL;DR: The authors examined the reflection problem that arises when a researcher observing the distribution of behaviour in a population tries to infer whether the average behaviour in some group influences the behaviour of the individuals that comprise the group.
Abstract: This paper examines the reflection problem that arises when a researcher observing the distribution of behaviour in a population tries to infer whether the average behaviour in some group influences the behaviour of the individuals that comprise the group. It is found that inference is not possible unless the researcher has prior information specifying the compisition of reference groups. If this information is available, the prospects for inference depend critically on the population relationship between the variables defining reference groups and those directly affecting outcomes. Inference is difficult to implossible if these variables are functionally dependent or are statistically independent. The prospects are better if the variables defining reference groups and those directly affecting outcomes are moderately related in the population.
4,495 citations
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TL;DR: The authors disentangles the separate factors influencing achievement with special attention given to the role of teacher differences and other aspects of schools, and estimates educational production functions based on models of achievement growth with individual fixed effects.
Abstract: Considerable controversy surrounds the impact of schools and teachers on the achievement of students. This paper disentangles the separate factors influencing achievement with special attention given to the role of teacher differences and other aspects of schools. Unique matched panel data from the Harvard/UTD Texas Schools Project permit distinguishing between total effects and the impact of specific, measured components of teachers and schools. While schools are seen to have powerful effects on achievement differences, these effects appear to derive most importantly from variations in teacher quality. A lower bound suggests that variations in teacher quality account for at least 7« percent of the total variation in student achievement, and there are reasons to believe that the true percentage is considerably larger. The subsequent analysis estimates educational production functions based on models of achievement growth with individual fixed effects. It identifies a few systematic factors a negative impact of initial years of teaching and a positive effect of smaller class sizes for low income children in earlier grades but these effects are very small relative to the effects of overall teacher quality differences.
3,882 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate whether and how individual managers affect corporate behavior and performance and show that managers with higher performance effects receive higher compensation and are more likely to be found in better governed environments.
Abstract: This paper investigates whether and how individual managers affect corporate behavior and performance. We construct a manager-e rm matched panel data set which enables us to track the top managers across different e rms over time. We e nd that manager e xed effects matter for a wide range of corporate decisions. A signie cant extent of the heterogeneity in investment, e nancial, and organizational practices of e rms can be explained by the presence of manager e xed effects. We identify specie c patterns in managerial decision-making that appear to indicate general differences in “ style” across managers. Moreover, we show that management style is signie cantly related to manager e xed effects in performance and that managers with higher performance e xed effects receive higher compensation and are more likely to be found in better governed e rms. In a e nal step, we tie back these e ndings to observable managerial characteristics. We e nd that executives from earlier birth cohorts appear on average to be more conservative; on the other hand, managers who hold an MBA degree seem to follow on average more aggressive strategies.
3,245 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors point out that public and professional interest in education is likely to be short-lived, doomed to dissipate as frustration over the inability of policy to improve school practice sets in.
Abstract: N RECENT YEARS, public and professional interest in schools has been heightened by a spate of reports, many of them critical of current school policy.' These policy documents have added to persistent and long-standing concerns about the cost, effectiveness, and fairness of the current school structure, and have made schooling once again a serious public issue. As in the past, however, any renewed interest in education is likely to be short-lived, doomed to dissipate as frustration over the inability of policy to improve school practice sets in. This frustration about school policy relates directly to knowledge about the educational production process and in turn to underlying research on schools. Although the educational process has been extensively researched, clear policy prescriptions flowing from this research have been difficult to derive.2 There exists, however, a consistency to the research findings that does have an immediate application to school policy: Schools differ dramatically in "quality,"
3,102 citations
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TL;DR: This paper analyzed data on 11,600 students and their teachers who were randomly assigned to different size classes from kindergarten through third grade and found that performance on standardized tests increases by 4 percentile points the first year students attend small classes; the test score advantage of students in small classes expands by about one percentile point per year in subsequent years.
Abstract: This paper analyzes data on 11,600 students and their teachers who were randomly assigned to different size classes from kindergarten through third grade. Statistical methods are used to adjust for non-random attrition and transitions between classes. The main conclusions are: (1) on average, performance on standardized tests increases by 4 percentile points the first year students attend small classes; (2) the test score advantage of students in small classes expands by about one percentile point per year in subsequent years; (3) teacher aides and measured teacher characteristics have little effect; (4) class size has a larger effect for minority students and those on free lunch; (5) Hawthorne effects were unlikely.
1,303 citations