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Estimating teacher effectiveness from two-year changes in students' test scores

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  • Leigh, Andrew
Abstract
Using a dataset covering over 10,000 Australian school teachers and over 90,000 pupils, I estimate how effective teachers are in raising students' test scores. Since the exams are biennial, it is necessary to take account of the teacher's work in the intervening year. Even adjusting for measurement error, the teacher fixed effects are widely dispersed, and there is a strong positive correlation between a teacher's gains in literacy and numeracy. Teacher fixed effects show a significant association with some, though not all, observable teacher characteristics. Experience has the strongest impact, particularly in the early years of a teacher's career. Female teachers do better at teaching literacy. Teachers with a master's degree or some other form of further qualification do not appear to achieve significantly larger test score gains. Overall, teacher characteristics found in the departmental payroll database explain only a small fraction of the variance in teacher performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Leigh, Andrew, 2010. "Estimating teacher effectiveness from two-year changes in students' test scores," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 480-488, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:29:y:2010:i:3:p:480-488
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    Cited by:

    1. Steven Bednar & Dora Gicheva, 2018. "Career Implications of Having a Female-Friendly Supervisor," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 71(2), pages 426-457, March.
    2. Andrew Leigh & Xiaodong Gong, 2009. "Estimating cognitive gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 239-261.
    3. Nghiem, Son & Nguyen, Ha & Connelly, Luke, 2014. "The Efficiency of Australian Schools: Evidence from the NAPLAN Data 2009-2011," MPRA Paper 56231, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Azam, Mehtabul & Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi, 2015. "Assessing teacher quality in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 74-83.
    5. Son Nghiem & Ha Trong Nguyen & Luke B. Connelly, 2016. "The Efficiency of Australian Schools: A Nationwide Analysis Using Gains in Test Scores of Students as Outputs," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(3), pages 256-268, September.
    6. Chris Ryan, 2017. "Secondary School Teacher Effects on Student Achievement in Australian Schools," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2017n11, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    7. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    8. Knutsson, Daniel & Tyrefors, Björn, 2024. "Labor Market Effects of a Youth Summer Employment Program in Sweden," Working Paper Series 1485, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    9. Bernhard Enzi, 2017. "The Effect of Pre-Service Cognitive and Pedagogical Teacher Skills on Student Achievement Gains: Evidence from German Entry Screening Exams," ifo Working Paper Series 243, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    10. Coelli, Michael & Green, David A., 2012. "Leadership effects: school principals and student outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 92-109.
    11. Goel, Deepti & Barooah, Bidisha, 2018. "Drivers of Student Performance: Evidence from Higher Secondary Public Schools in Delhi," GLO Discussion Paper Series 231, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Mike Helal & Michael Coelli, 2016. "How Principals Affect Schools," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2016n18, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Andrew Leigh, 2013. "Revenge of the Nerds: The Economics of Education Reform," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 46(2), pages 227-233, June.
    14. Lagerström, Jonas, 2011. "How important are caseworkers – and why? New evidence from Swedish employment offices," Working Paper Series 2011:10, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    15. Holmlund, Helena & Häggblom, Josefin & Lindahl, Erica, 2024. "The Boost for reading," Working Paper Series 2024:6, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    16. Yi Long & Chris Nyland & Russell Smyth, 2016. "Fiscal Decentralisation, the Knowledge Economy and School Teachers’ Wages in Urban China," Monash Economics Working Papers 13-16, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    17. Grönqvist, Erik & Hensvik, Lena & Thoresson, Anna, 2022. "Teacher career opportunities and school quality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Educational economics Educational finance Efficiency Productivity;

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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