IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v107y2017i6p1656-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring the Impacts of Teachers: Comment

Author

Listed:
  • Jesse Rothstein

Abstract

Chetty, Friedman, and Rockoff (2014a, b) study value-added (VA) measures of teacher effectiveness. CFR (2014a) exploits teacher switching as a quasi-experiment, concluding that student sorting creates negligible bias in VA scores. CFR (2014b) finds VA scores are useful proxies for teachers' effects on students' long-run outcomes. I successfully reproduce each in North Carolina data. But I find that the quasi-experiment is invalid, as teacher switching is correlated with changes in student preparedness. Adjusting for this, I find moderate bias in VA scores, perhaps 10-35 percent as large, in variance terms, as teachers' causal effects. Long-run results are sensitive to controls and cannot support strong conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesse Rothstein, 2017. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1656-1684, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:6:p:1656-84
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20141440
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20141440
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=z0UOFtWOvQyP5nCSmtf5RjSnRsuIcsHt
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=YoPmP4muSICOCCA1Yq9gSjE4fA4gM_ry
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=CZoheDATEGnicSHZZKDc5kdWBzuaFDa3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "Teacher Quality in Educational Production: Tracking, Decay, and Student Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 175-214.
    2. Jesse Rothstein, 2009. "Student Sorting and Bias in Value-Added Estimation: Selection on Observables and Unobservables," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 4(4), pages 537-571, October.
    3. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    4. Thomas J. Kane & Douglas O. Staiger, 2008. "Estimating Teacher Impacts on Student Achievement: An Experimental Evaluation," NBER Working Papers 14607, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Chetty, Raj & Friedman, John & Rockoff, Jonah, 2015. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers: Response to Rothstein (2014)," CEPR Discussion Papers 10768, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Richard K. Mansfield, 2015. "Teacher Quality and Student Inequality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(3), pages 751-788.
    7. repec:cdl:econwp:qt0bt6r8br is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Cassandra M. Guarino & Mark D. Reckase & Jeffrey M. Woolrdige, 2014. "Can Value-Added Measures of Teacher Performance Be Trusted?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(1), pages 117-156, November.
    9. repec:cdl:indrel:qt5gq4j7kq is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Andrew Bacher-Hicks & Thomas J. Kane & Douglas O. Staiger, 2014. "Validating Teacher Effect Estimates Using Changes in Teacher Assignments in Los Angeles," NBER Working Papers 20657, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Godstime Osekhebhen Eigbiremolen, 2020. "Estimating Private School Premium for Primary School Children in Ethiopia: Evidence from Individual-level Panel Data," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 20(1), pages 26-44, January.
    2. repec:cdl:econwp:qt0bt6r8br is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Koedel, Cory & Mihaly, Kata & Rockoff, Jonah E., 2015. "Value-added modeling: A review," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 180-195.
    4. repec:cdl:indrel:qt5gq4j7kq is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:cdl:econwp:qt5gq4j7kq is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Hermann, Zoltán & Horváth, Hedvig, 2022. "Tanári eredményesség és tanár-diák összepárosítás az általános iskolákban. Empirikus mintázatok három magyarországi tankerület adatai alapján [Teacher effectiveness and teacher-student matching in ," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1377-1406.
    7. Koedel Cory & Leatherman Rebecca & Parsons Eric, 2012. "Test Measurement Error and Inference from Value-Added Models," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-37, November.
    8. Canales, Andrea & Maldonado, Luis, 2018. "Teacher quality and student achievement in Chile: Linking teachers' contribution and observable characteristics," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 33-50.
    9. Nirav Mehta, 2014. "Targeting the Wrong Teachers: Estimating Teacher Quality for Use in Accountability Regimes," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20143, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    10. Victor Lavy & Genia Rachkovski & Adi Boiko, 2023. "Effects and Mechanisms of CEO Quality in Public Education," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(655), pages 2738-2774.
    11. Naven, Matthew, 2019. "Human-Capital Formation During Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from School Quality and Postsecondary Success in California," MPRA Paper 97716, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Eric Parsons & Cory Koedel & Li Tan, 2019. "Accounting for Student Disadvantage in Value-Added Models," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 44(2), pages 144-179, April.
    13. Araujo P., Maria Daniela & Quis, Johanna Sophie, 2021. "Parents can tell! Evidence on classroom quality differences in German primary schools," BERG Working Paper Series 172, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    14. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2011. "The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood," NBER Working Papers 17699, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Araujo P., María Daniela & Quis, Johanna Sophie, 2021. "Teacher Effects in Germany: Evidence from Elementary School," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242457, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Tristan Zajonc, 2011. "Do Value-Added Estimates Add Value? Accounting for Learning Dynamics," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 29-54, July.
    17. Hanushek, Eric A. & Rivkin, Steven G. & Schiman, Jeffrey C., 2016. "Dynamic effects of teacher turnover on the quality of instruction," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 132-148.
    18. Stacy, Brian, 2014. "Ranking Teachers when Teacher Value-Added is Heterogeneous Across Students," EconStor Preprints 104743, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    19. Seth Gershenson, 2016. "Performance Standards and Employee Effort: Evidence From Teacher Absences," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(3), pages 615-638, June.
    20. Hinnerich, Björn Tyrefors & Vlachos, Jonas, 2017. "The impact of upper-secondary voucher school attendance on student achievement. Swedish evidence using external and internal evaluations," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-14.
    21. Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "Teacher Quality in Educational Production: Tracking, Decay, and Student Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 175-214.
    22. Braga, Michela & Paccagnella, Marco & Pellizzari, Michele, 2014. "Evaluating students’ evaluations of professors," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 71-88.
    23. Condie, Scott & Lefgren, Lars & Sims, David, 2014. "Teacher heterogeneity, value-added and education policy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 76-92.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Measuring the Impacts of Teachers: Comment (AER 2017) in ReplicationWiki

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:6:p:1656-84. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.