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Are Professors Worth It? The Value-Added and Costs of Tutorial Instructors

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Feld
  • Nicolás Salamanca
  • Ulf Zölitz

Abstract

A substantial share of university instruction happens in tutorial sessions—small group instruction given parallel to lectures. We study whether instructors with a higher academic rank teach tutorials more effectively in a setting where students are randomly assigned to tutorial groups. We find this to be largely not the case. Academic rank is unrelated to students’ current and future performance and only weakly positively related to students’ course evaluations. Building on these results, we discuss different staffing scenarios that show that universities can substantially reduce costs by increasingly relying on lower-ranked instructors for tutorial teaching.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Feld & Nicolás Salamanca & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "Are Professors Worth It? The Value-Added and Costs of Tutorial Instructors," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(3), pages 836-863.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:55:y:2020:i:3:p:836-863
    Note: DOI: 10.3368/jhr.55.3.0417-8752R2
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Griffith, Amanda L. & Main, Joyce B., 2021. "The role of the teaching assistant: Female role models in the classroom," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Benjamin Elsner & Ingo E Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2021. "Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College [Gender, competitiveness, and socialization at a young age: evidence from a matrilineal and a patriarchal society]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3182-3206.
    3. Feld, Jan & Salamanca, Nicolás & Zölitz, Ulf, 2019. "Students are almost as effective as professors in university teaching," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Lavy, Victor & Megalokonomou, Rigissa, 2024. "Alternative Measures of Teachers' Value Added and Impact on Short and Long-Term Outcomes: Evidence from Random Assignment," IZA Discussion Papers 17121, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Julius Koschnick, 2025. "Teacher-directed scientific change:The case of the English Scientific Revolution," Working Papers 0274, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    6. Zhu, Maria, 2021. "Limited contracts, limited quality? effects of adjunct instructors on student outcomes☆," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Ingo E. Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "The value of a peer," ECON - Working Papers 342, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    8. Hong, Junjie & Liu, Wanlin & Zhang, Qing, 2024. "Closing the digital divide: The impact of teachers’ ICT use on student achievement in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 697-713.
    9. Keng, Shao-Hsun, 2020. "Gender bias and statistical discrimination against female instructors in student evaluations of teaching," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Feld, Jan & Zölitz, Ulf, 2022. "The effect of higher-achieving peers on major choices and labor market outcomes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 200-219.
    11. Chang, Simon & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Salamanca, Nicolás, 2022. "Parents’ responses to teacher qualifications," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 419-446.
    12. Harold E. Cuffe & Jan Feld & Trevor O'Grady, 2021. "Returns to Teaching Repetition: The Effect of Short-term Teaching Experience on Student Outcomes," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 516-532, Summer.
    13. Barbara Biasi & Song Ma, 2022. "The Education-Innovation Gap," CESifo Working Paper Series 9653, CESifo.
    14. Feld, Jan & Salamanca, Nicolás & Zölitz, Ulf, 2019. "Students are almost as effective as professors in university teaching," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    15. Di Xu & Florence Xiaotao Ran, 2021. "The Impacts Of Different Types Of College Instructors On Students’ Academic And Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 225-257, January.
    16. Delaney, Judith & Devereux, Paul J., 2022. "Rank Effects in Education: What do we know so far?," CEPR Discussion Papers 17090, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Merkus, Erik & Schafmeister, Felix, 2021. "The role of in-person tutorials in higher education," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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