TY - JOUR
T1 - Teacher quality at the high school level
T2 - The importance of accounting for tracks
AU - Jackson, Clement Kirabo
PY - 2014/10/1
Y1 - 2014/10/1
N2 - Unlike in elementary school, high school teacher effects may be confounded with both selection to tracks and track-level treatments. I document confounding track effects and show that traditional tests for the existence of teacher effects are biased. After accounting for biases, high school algebra and English teachers have smaller test score effects than found in previous studies and value-added estimates are weak predictors of teachers’ future performance. Results indicate that either (a) teachers are less influential in high school than in elementary school or (b) test score effects are a weak measure of teacher quality at the high school level.
AB - Unlike in elementary school, high school teacher effects may be confounded with both selection to tracks and track-level treatments. I document confounding track effects and show that traditional tests for the existence of teacher effects are biased. After accounting for biases, high school algebra and English teachers have smaller test score effects than found in previous studies and value-added estimates are weak predictors of teachers’ future performance. Results indicate that either (a) teachers are less influential in high school than in elementary school or (b) test score effects are a weak measure of teacher quality at the high school level.
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U2 - 10.1086/676017
DO - 10.1086/676017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84898895506
SN - 0734-306X
VL - 32
SP - 645
EP - 684
JO - Journal of Labor Economics
JF - Journal of Labor Economics
IS - 4
ER -