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All Eyes on the Nerd? The Unequal Distribution of Teachers’ Attention

Author

Listed:
  • Sofoklis Goulas
  • Rigissa Megalokonomou
  • Tommaso Sartori

Abstract

Teachers play a central role in shaping how students benefit from peers, yet little is known about how classroom composition affects their attention-allocation decisions. We conduct a large-scale randomized experiment using realistic class- room vignettes to assess how teachers engage with students under varying scenarios and objectives. The presence of a high achiever reduces the likelihood that teachers engage with a low achiever by about 8%, with substantially larger effects when teachers prioritize task success, consistent with convenience-based decision-making. Using administrative data, we show that low achievers per- form worse when quasi-randomly assigned to a classroom with an exceptional student.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofoklis Goulas & Rigissa Megalokonomou & Tommaso Sartori, 2025. "All Eyes on the Nerd? The Unequal Distribution of Teachers’ Attention," CESifo Working Paper Series 12301, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12301
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    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp12301.pdf
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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