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Is the Gender Gap in School Performance Affected by the Sex of the Teacher?

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Author Info
Holmlund, Helena (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University)
Sund, Krister () (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University)
Abstract

Girls outperform boys in school. We investigate whether the gender performance gap can be attributed to the fact that the teacher profession is female dominated, that is, is there a causal effect on student outcomes from having a same-sex teacher? Using data on uppersecondary school students and their teachers from the municipality of Stockholm, Sweden, we find that the gender performance differential is larger in subjects where the share of female teachers is higher. We argue, however, that this effect can not be interpreted as causal, mainly due to teacher selection into different subjects and nonrandom student-teacher matching. Exploring the fact that teacher turnover and student mobility give rise to variation in teacher’s gender within student and subject, we estimate the effect on student outcomes of changing to a teacher of the same sex. We find no strong support for our initial hypothesis that a same-sex teacher improves student outcomes.

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Paper provided by Swedish Institute for Social Research in its series Working Paper Series with number 5/2005.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: 04 Nov 2005
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Handle: RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2005_005

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  1. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long, 2005. "Do Faculty Serve as Role Models? The Impact of Instructor Gender on Female Students," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 152-157, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. David Neumark & Rosella Gardecki, 1996. "Women Helping Women? Role-Model and Mentoring Effects on Female Ph.D. Student in Economics," NBER Working Papers 5733, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain & Steven G. Rivkin, 2002. "New Evidence about Brown v. Board of Education: The Complex Effects of School Racial Composition on Achievement," NBER Working Papers 8741, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Sara J. Solnick, 1995. "Changes in women's majors from entrance to graduation at women's and coeducational colleges," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 48(3), pages 505-514, April.
  5. Thomas S. Dee, 2005. "A Teacher Like Me: Does Race, Ethnicity, or Gender Matter?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 158-165, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Thomas S. Dee, 2005. "Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement," NBER Working Papers 11660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-77, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Victor Lavy, 2004. "Do Gender Stereotypes Reduce Girls' Human Capital Outcomes? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," NBER Working Papers 10678, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Thomas S. Dee, 2004. "Teachers, Race, and Student Achievement in a Randomized Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 195-210, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2003. "On The Specification and Estimation of The Production Function for Cognitive Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F3-F33, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Donna S. Rothstein, 1995. "Do female faculty influence female students' educational and labor market attainments?," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 48(3), pages 515-530, April.
  12. Steven G. Rivkin & Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain, 2005. "Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(2), pages 417-458, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Ammermüller, Andreas & Dolton, Peter J., 2006. "Pupil-teacher gender interaction effects on scholastic outcomes in England and the USA," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-60, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. Behncke, Stefanie & Frölich, Markus & Lechner, Michael, 2008. "A Caseworker Like Me: Does the Similarity between Unemployed and Caseworker Increase Job Placements?," IZA Discussion Papers 3437, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  3. Böhlmark, Anders, 2005. "Age at Immigration and School Performance: A Siblings Analysis Using Swedish Register Data," Working Paper Series 6/2005, Swedish Institute for Social Research. [Downloadable!]
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