Teacher quality is widely believed to be important for education, despite little evidence that teachers' credentials matter for student achievement. To accurately measure variation in achievement due to teachers' characteristics-both observable and unobservable-it is essential to identify teacher fixed effects. Unlike previous studies, I use panel data to estimate teacher fixed effects while controlling for fixed student characteristics and classroom specific variables. I find large and statistically significant differences among teachers: a one standard deviation increase in teacher quality raises reading and math test scores by approximately .20 and .24 standard deviations, respectively, on a nationally standardized scale. In addition, teaching experience has statistically significant positive effects on reading test scores, controlling for fixed teacher quality.
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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Public Economics with number
0304002.
Find related papers by JEL classification: H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
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