Individual teacher incentives and student performance

This paper is the first to systematically document the relationship between individual teacher performance incentives and student achievement using the United States data. We combine data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey on schools, students, and their families with our own survey conducted in 2000 regarding the use of teacher incentives. This survey on teacher incentives has unique data on frequency and magnitude of merit raises and bonuses, teacher evaluation, and teacher termination. We find that test scores are higher in schools that offer individual financial incentives for good performance. Moreover, the estimated relationship between the presence of merit pay in teacher compensation and student test scores is strongest in schools that may have the least parental oversight. The association between teacher incentives and student performance could be due to better schools adopting teacher incentives or to teacher incentives eliciting more effort from teachers; it is impossible to rule out the former explanation with our cross sectional data.     

DOES TEACHER QUALITY AFFECT STUDENT PERFORMANCE? EVIDENCE FROM AN ITALIAN UNIVERSITY

In this paper, we analyse whether the characteristics of university teaching staff matter with regard to students' performance and interest in the discipline. We use data on about 1000 students enrolled on the first-level degree course in business and economics at a medium-sized Italian university. Thanks to the random assignment of students to different teaching classes during their first year, we are able to analyse the effect that teachers with different characteristics, in terms of experience and research productivity, produce both on students' performance, measured in terms of the grades obtained at subsequent examinations, and on courses chosen. Our results suggest that teacher quality has statistically significant effects on students' grades in subsequent courses. These effects are also robust after controlling for unobserved individual characteristics. On the other hand, we find less clear evidence when relating teacher quality to student involvement with a subject. It emerges that research productivity does not produce a statistically significant effect on the probability of a student undertaking additional courses in a subject, while more experienced teachers have a negative impact. However, also this effect does not become statistically significant when we run separate regressions for different disciplines.     

DOES TEACHER‐FAMILY EXPERIENCE AFFECT TEST SCORES?

Since families play a pivotal role in elementary schools, student learning may be influenced by how well the teacher knows a family and how well the parents know the teacher. We test this hypothesis by evaluating whether assignment to a teacher who has previously taught an older sibling affects test scores. We refer to teachers who have previously taught the older sibling as having “teacher‐family experience” when teaching the younger sibling. Using a novel data set that includes administrative data on students and teachers matched to family identifiers, we find that when the older sibling's teacher is teaching in the younger sibling's grade, 40% of younger siblings are assigned their older sibling teachers. We find that teacher‐family experience does not have any significant effects on test scores and we can statistically rule out small effects. (JEL I20)     

Teacher sorting, teacher quality, and student composition

Using panel data for Norwegian schools, we establish a two-equation supply and demand model for teachers with approved education. Taking into account nationally determined teacher pay and a strict teacher appointment rule, the data enable us to separately estimate supply and demand functions for certified teachers. The results clearly indicate that the student body composition, and in particular students belonging to ethnic minorities, influences both teacher supply and teacher demand. The implied negative relationship between excess demand for certified teachers and the share of minority students is likely to be important for teacher quality.     

The impact of teacher subject knowledge on student achievement: Evidence from within-teacher within-student variation

Teachers differ greatly in how much they teach their students, but little is known about which teacher attributes account for this. We estimate the causal effect of teacher subject knowledge on student achievement using within-teacher within-student variation, exploiting a unique Peruvian 6th-grade dataset that tested both students and their teachers in two subjects. Observing teachers teaching both subjects in one-classroom-per-grade schools, we circumvent omitted-variable and selection biases using a correlated random effects model that identifies from differences between the two subjects. After measurement-error correction, one standard deviation in subject-specific teacher achievement increases student achievement by about 9% of a standard deviation in math. Effects in reading are significantly smaller and mostly not significantly different from zero. Effects also depend on the teacher-student match in ability and gender.     

A Statewide Assessment of Precollege Economic Understanding and DEEP

Effects of various student, teacher, and school system characteristics on levels of student economic understanding and learning during the 1982–83 school year are estimated using a stratified random sample of schools from around the state of Indiana. Particular attention is paid to a binary variable indicating which schools are participating in the Developmental Economic Education Program (DEEP).     

CHARTER SCHOOL COMPETITION AND ITS IMPACT ON EMPLOYMENT SPENDING IN MICHIGAN'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS

This paper seeks to determine how competition from charter schools affects a broad range of employees including instructors, administrators, and support personnel. Three empirical models are estimated utilizing a panel data from Michigan: a fixed effect model, a fixed effect model with lagged dependent variable, and an instrumental variable model. The key findings are that when a school district faces competition from charter schools they spend a larger percentage on instructors (most likely most of this is going toward teachers and not teacher aides), while spending a smaller percentage on employees that support instructors. The models seem to imply that the increased spending on teachers may not be reflected in a salary increase. (JEL H52, H75, I21, I22)     

Teachers and politics

I find that self-selection into teacher training programs in Germany is co-determined with ideology. Incoming teacher-trainees are more left-wing in ideology and political preferences than the average incoming university student. I find also that teacher training programs exert a socialization effect: as compared to the average student, teacher trainees’ views are reinforced and they become more left-wing as they progress in their studies. In a third step, I use the German Socio-Economic Panel to compare tenured teachers’ political attitudes with other university graduates and other civil servants, and find that tenured teachers are more left-wing than the average in the respective reference groups. I consider possible explanations for the left-wing orientation of teachers in the German educational system and implications of indoctrination and imbalance of views.     

Teacher unions, teacher pay and student performance in India: A pupil fixed effects approach

This paper examines the relationship between teacher unionization, student achievement and teachers' pay using a cross-section of data from private schools in India. We use differences in student mark across subjects to identify within-pupil variation in achievement and find that union membership of the teacher is associated with reduced pupil achievement. We find no evidence this could be due to the unobservables not controlled for by this procedure. A school fixed effects equation of teacher pay shows that union membership raises pay and in this case too we find that remaining unobservables are unlikely to explain this outcome. We discuss the policy implications of the findings and show that the effectiveness of teacher credentials in improving teacher performance is linked to unionization.     

Can redistributing teachers across schools raise educational attainment? Evidence from Operation Blackboard in India

I evaluate a reform in India which sought to provide a second teacher to all one-teacher primary schools. The central government paid for 140,000 teachers, which is 8% of the pre-reform stock of primary-level teachers. I find that less than half of these teachers were sent to the intended place. Additionally, teachers per school did not increase and class size did not decrease. The only effect on school inputs appears to have been the redistribution of teachers from larger schools to smaller schools. This nevertheless generated increases in the primary school completion rate, especially for girls and the poor.     

Can redistributing teachers across schools raise educational attainment? Evidence from Operation Blackboard in India

I evaluate a reform in India which sought to provide a second teacher to all one-teacher primary schools. The central government paid for 140,000 teachers, which is 8% of the pre-reform stock of primary-level teachers. I find that less than half of these teachers were sent to the intended place. Additionally, teachers per school did not increase and class size did not decrease. The only effect on school inputs appears to have been the redistribution of teachers from larger schools to smaller schools. This nevertheless generated increases in the primary school completion rate, especially for girls and the poor.     

How accountability pressure on failing schools affects student achievement

Although an emerging body of evidence has shown that the threat of sanctions on low-performing schools can raise student test scores in the short run, the extent to which these test score improvements are due to schools' manipulation of the accountability system has remained uncertain. In this paper, I provide two new strands of evidence to evaluate the relative importance of educational reforms and gaming behavior in generating test score gains by threatened schools. First, using a regression discontinuity design that exploits Florida's system of imposing sanction threats on the basis of a cutoff level of performance, I estimate medium-run effects on student test scores from having attended a threatened elementary school. Threat-induced math improvements from elementary school largely persist at least through the first 1 to 2 years of middle school, while evidence for persistence of reading improvements is less consistent. Second, I analyze the effects of sanction threats on various features of educational production, and I find that sanction threats raise school spending on instructional technology, curricular development, and teacher training. Both strands of evidence are consistent with a predominant role for educational reforms in generating test score gains by threatened schools.     

Racial/ethnic match and student–teacher relationships

This paper explores the role of teacher race/ethnicity in the teacher-perceived relationships with kindergarten and early elementary school students. Employing a model with both student and teacher fixed effects, we discover a positive link between the racial/ethnic match and the teacher-reported relationships with students. Specifically, minority students tend to have closer relationships with their teachers when they are taught by a minority teacher. Our analyses also provide suggestive evidence that the effects on the teacher–student relationships could not be driven by differential racial discrimination between white and minority teachers. Particularly, white and minority teachers are not differentially biased in judging their relationships with minority students, implying that the source of the racial/ethnic interaction effects is likely to come from the role modeling of behaviors. Given the importance of the relationships between young children and nonparental adults in their early stages of life, these findings have crucial policy implications.     

人权的正当性追问

在人权的正当性问题上,先验式人权论证、经验式人权论证和康德关于"人是目的"的哲学判断,都不具有充分的说服力。论证人权的正当性需要另辟蹊径。由于人权是一个关系性概念,人权的正当性需要从人与人的关系、从人类社会共同体的角度来阐明。尊重和保障人权是维系社会共同体存续的需要。     

高师生教师职业情感缺失与对策探讨

高师生教师职业情感缺失,这既有师范生自身的主观原因,也有客观原因。而教师职业情感是教师素养的重要构成部分,对教育工作起着极其重要的支配作用。师范学校应结合学校和学生实际,从设置教师教育课程、改革教学方式方法、阅读教育著作、组织学生活动、教师榜样作用、建设校园文化等多方面加强对师范生教师职业情感的培养。     

LOST IN TRANSLATION? TEACHER TRAINING AND OUTCOMES IN HIGH SCHOOL ECONOMICS CLASSES

Using data from a 2006 survey of California high school economics classes, we assess the effects of teacher characteristics on student achievement. We estimate value‐added models of outcomes on multiple choice and essay exams, with matched classroom pairs for each teacher enabling random‐effects and fixed‐effects estimation. The results show a substantial impact of specialized teacher experience and college‐level coursework in economics. However, the latter is associated with higher scores on the multiple‐choice test and lower scores on the essay test, suggesting that a portion of teachers' content knowledge may be “lost in translation” when conveyed to their students. (JEL A21, I21)     

TEACHER LOCATION CHOICE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF QUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM NEW YORK CITY

This article studies the distribution of teacher quality measures across the New York City school system. Because teachers are paid along a fixed salary schedule and they have the option to transfer schools, this analysis measures the degree to which environmental factors affect teacher location choice. Both school-based and neighborhood-based effects are measured, and both types are significant. Furthermore, this article finds that the location of the school in relation to the suburban borders is an important determinant of teacher location choice. (JEL I29 , J24 , J61 )     

International Differences in Student Achievement: An Economic Perspective

Abstract. International comparisons reveal large cross‐country differentials in average student performance. Although there is considerable public debate about these differences, their sources are hardly identified. Using school, teacher and student data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the present paper attempts to explain what causes between‐country gaps in mathematics test score distributions. Following a three‐pronged strategy of micro‐level and cross‐country regressions as well as bilateral country comparisons, we show how these gaps are explained by differences in school, teacher and student characteristics, or financial resources devoted to the school system. Institutional characteristics, such as competition between schools and the composition of the faculty can also help to understand international differences in student achievement.     

Industrial actions in schools: strikes and student achievement

Many jurisdictions ban teacher strikes on the assumption that they negatively affect student achievement, but there is surprisingly little research on this question. The majority of existing studies make cross‐section comparisons of the achievement of students who do or do not experience a strike. They conclude that strikes do not have an impact. I present new estimates of this impact of strikes using an empirical strategy that controls for fixed student characteristics at the school cohort level, and a sample of industrial actions by teachers in the province of Ontario. The results indicate that teacher strikes in grades 5 or 6 have a negative, statistically significant impact on test score growth between grade 3 and grade 6. The largest impact is on math scores: 29% of the standard deviation of test scores across school/grade cohorts.     

The effect of school resources on educational attainment: evidence from Denmark

We investigate the effect of school inputs in primary and lower secondary schools on the probability of eventually passing upper secondary or vocational education. Danish administrative register data for a large number of young people and their parents are used. Educational outcome and controls for family background are measured at the individual level, whereas school expenditure and controls for municipal socioeconomic characteristics are measured at the municipal level. As unobserved characteristics may be correlated for pupils within the same municipality, we estimate linear probability and logit models with random municipal‐specific effects in addition to standard OLS and logit models. With the full sample of pupils and the full set of controls, we find that expenditure per pupil has a statistically significant, but rather small, positive effect on educational attainment. Effects of teacher–pupil ratios are less significant. The expenditure effects are generally higher for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.