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Teacher characteristics and student achievement: evidence from teacher surveys

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  • Christopher Jepsen

Abstract

Teachers and peers are believed to have a strong influence on student achievement, but the specific characteristics that affect student achievement are hard to identify. This paper utilizes teacher survey data to investigate teacher characteristics that are not usually available in administrative data, as well as more readily available attributes such as experience and education. Classroom fixed effects explain a large portion of within-student variation in test score growth, suggesting a potentially important role for teachers and peers. Teacher characteristics are generally insignificant predictors of student achievement, especially for the lower grades.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Jepsen, 2005. "Teacher characteristics and student achievement: evidence from teacher surveys," Open Access publications 10197/4445, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
  • Handle: RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/4445
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/4445
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    1. Jacob M. Markman & Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain & Steven G. Rivkin, 2003. "Does peer ability affect student achievement?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(5), pages 527-544.
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    Cited by:

    1. Schindler, Dirk & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2012. "Debt shifting and ownership structure," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 635-647.
    2. Collier, Trevor C., 2013. "Teacher Qualifications And Student Achievement: A Panel Data Analysis," Review of Applied Economics, Lincoln University, Department of Financial and Business Systems, vol. 9(1-2), January.
    3. Jaime Andrés Sarmiento Espinel & Adriana Carolina Silva Arias, 2014. "La formación del economista en Colombia," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, vol. 0(1), pages 231-262, June.
    4. Fadil Latifi & Endrit Latifi, 2022. "Did the Characteristics of Kosovar Teachers Influence the Results of Students in TIMSS 2019? Findings from the Performance of Kosovar Students in TIMSS 2019," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Douglas Harris & Tim R. Sass, 2006. "The Effects of Teacher Training on Teacher Value Added," Working Papers wp_2006_03_01, Department of Economics, Florida State University.
    6. Harris, Douglas N. & Sass, Tim R., 2011. "Teacher training, teacher quality and student achievement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 798-812.
    7. Huang, Wei & Li, Teng & Pan, Yinghao & Ren, Jinyang, 2023. "Teacher characteristics and student performance: Evidence from random teacher-student assignments in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 747-781.
    8. Mark Hoekstra, 2010. "Are School Counselors a Cost-Effective Education Input?," Working Paper 396, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Jan 2011.
    9. Harris, Douglas N. & Sass, Tim R., 2014. "Skills, productivity and the evaluation of teacher performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 183-204.
    10. Eisenkopf, Gerald & Hessami, Zohal & Fischbacher, Urs & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2015. "Academic performance and single-sex schooling: Evidence from a natural experiment in Switzerland," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 123-143.
    11. Kukla-Acevedo, Sharon, 2009. "Do teacher characteristics matter? New results on the effects of teacher preparation on student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 49-57, February.
    12. Thomas S. Dee & Sarah R. Cohodes, 2008. "Out-of-Field Teachers and Student Achievement," Public Finance Review, , vol. 36(1), pages 7-32, January.
    13. Marine de Talancé, 2015. "Better Teachers, Better Results? Evidence from Rural Pakistan," Working Papers DT/2015/21, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    14. Kevin C. Bastian, 2019. "A Degree Above? The Value-Added Estimates and Evaluation Ratings of Teachers with a Graduate Degree," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 14(4), pages 652-678, Fall.
    15. Johan Coenen & Ilja Cornelisz & Wim Groot & Henriette Maassen van den Brink & Chris Van Klaveren, 2018. "Teacher Characteristics And Their Effects On Student Test Scores: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 848-877, July.
    16. J Farley O Staniec, 2017. "Missing Men: Determinants of the Gender Gap in Education Majors," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(4), pages 699-714, September.

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