IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v25y2006i1p75-96.html

Alternative routes to teaching: The impacts of Teach for America on student achievement and other outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Steven Glazerman

    (Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC)

  • Daniel Mayer

    (Maynard Public Schools, Maynard, MA)

  • Paul Decker

    (Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ)

Abstract

This paper reports on a randomized experiment to study the impact of an alternative teacher preparation program, Teach for America (TFA), on student achievement and other outcomes. We found that TFA teachers had a positive impact on math achievement and no impact on reading achievement. The size of the impact on math scores was about 15 percent of a standard deviation, equivalent to about one month of instruction. The general conclusions did not differ substantially for subgroups of teachers, including novice teachers, or for subgroups of students. We found no impacts on other student outcomes such as attendance, promotion, or disciplinary incidents, but TFA teachers were more likely to report problems with student behavior than were their peers. The findings contradict claims that such programs allowing teachers to bypass the traditional route to the classroom harm students. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Glazerman & Daniel Mayer & Paul Decker, 2006. "Alternative routes to teaching: The impacts of Teach for America on student achievement and other outcomes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 75-96.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:25:y:2006:i:1:p:75-96
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.20157
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.20157
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.20157?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:mpr:mprres:4150 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Paul T. Decker & Daniel P. Mayer & Steven Glazerman, "undated". "The Effects of Teach For America on Students: Findings from a National Evaluation," Mathematica Policy Research Reports c8b5eb6d499c465c86a96bee4, Mathematica Policy Research.
    3. repec:mpr:mprres:4012 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Antecol, Heather & Eren, Ozkan & Ozbeklik, Serkan, 2013. "The effect of Teach for America on the distribution of student achievement in primary school: Evidence from a randomized experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 113-125.
    2. Lisa Dragoset & Jaime Thomas & Mariesa Herrmann & John Deke & Susanne James-Burdumy & Cheryl Graczewski & Andrea Boyle & Courtney Tanenbaum & Jessica Giffin & Rachel Upton, "undated". "Race to the Top: Implementation and Relationship to Student Outcomes," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 4169441544e144b08777d967e, Mathematica Policy Research.
    3. Susanna Loeb & Patrick J. McEwan, 2010. "Education Reforms," NBER Chapters, in: Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources Are Limited, pages 145-178, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Arias J. J. & Scafidi Benjamin, 2009. "When Does Teacher Licensure Make Sense?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-46, February.
    5. Rebecca Allen & Jay Allnutt, 2013. "Matched panel data estimates of the impact of Teach First on school and departmental performance," DoQSS Working Papers 13-11, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    6. Antecol, Heather & Eren, Ozkan & Ozbeklik, Serkan, 2012. "The Effect of Teacher Gender on Student Achievement in Primary School: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 6453, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Peter Z. Schochet, 2020. "Analyzing Grouped Administrative Data for RCTs Using Design-Based Methods," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 45(1), pages 32-57, February.
    8. Kane, Thomas J. & Rockoff, Jonah E. & Staiger, Douglas O., 2008. "What does certification tell us about teacher effectiveness? Evidence from New York City," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 615-631, December.
    9. Vegas, E & Ganimian, A. J., 2013. "Theory and Evidence on Teacher Policies in Developed and Developing Countries," Working Paper 104291, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    10. Roland G. Fryer, Jr, 2010. "Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials," NBER Working Papers 15898, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Heather Antecol & Ozkan Eren & Serkan Ozbeklik, 2016. "Peer Effects in Disadvantaged Primary Schools: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(1), pages 95-132.
    12. Philip Gleason & Alexandra Resch & Jillian Berk, 2018. "RD or Not RD: Using Experimental Studies to Assess the Performance of the Regression Discontinuity Approach," Evaluation Review, , vol. 42(1), pages 3-33, February.
    13. Burgess, Simon & Metcalfe, Robert & Sadoff, Sally, 2021. "Understanding the response to financial and non-financial incentives in education: Field experimental evidence using high-stakes assessments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    14. Javier Luque & Barbara Bruns & David Evans, 2012. "Achieving World-Class Education in Brazil : The Next Agenda," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2383, April.
    15. Vilsa E. Curto & Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2014. "The Potential of Urban Boarding Schools for the Poor: Evidence from SEED," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 65-93.
    16. repec:mpr:mprres:5699 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Steven D. Levitt & John A. List & Susanne Neckermann & Sally Sadoff, 2016. "The Behavioralist Goes to School: Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Improve Educational Performance," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 183-219, November.
    18. Martorell, Paco & Miller, Trey & Santibañez, Lucrecia & Augustine, Catherine H., 2016. "Can incentives for parents and students change educational inputs? Experimental evidence from summer school," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 113-126.
    19. Douglas O. Staiger & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2010. "Searching for Effective Teachers with Imperfect Information," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 97-118, Summer.
    20. Lisa Dragoset & Jaime Thomas & Mariesa Herrmann & John Deke & Susanne James-Burdumy & Cheryl Graczewski & Andrea Boyle & Rachel Upton & Courtney Tanenbaum & Jessica Giffin, "undated". "School Improvement Grants: Implementation and Effectiveness (Final Report)," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 76bce3f4bb0944f29a481fae0, Mathematica Policy Research.
    21. 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.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jpamgt:v:25:y:2006:i:1:p:75-96. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    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.