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Principals as Agents: Subjective Performance Measures in Education

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  • Jacob, Brian A.

    (Harvard U)

  • Lefgren, Lars

    (Brigham Young U)

Abstract

In this paper, we compare subjective principal assessments of teachers to the traditional determinants of teacher compensation – education and experience – and another potential compensation mechanism -- value-added measures of teacher effectiveness based on student achievement gains. We find that subjective principal assessments of teachers predict future student achievement significantly better than teacher experience, education or actual compensation, though not as well as value-added teacher quality measures. In particular, principals appear quite good at identifying those teachers who produce the largest and smallest standardized achievement gains in their schools, but have far less ability to distinguish between teachers in the middle of this distribution and systematically discriminate against male and untenured faculty. Moreover, we find that a principal’s overall rating of a teacher is a substantially better predictor of future parent requests for that teacher than either the teacher’s experience, education and current compensation or the teacher’s value-added achievement measure. These findings not only inform education policy, but also shed light on subjective performance assessment more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob, Brian A. & Lefgren, Lars, 2005. "Principals as Agents: Subjective Performance Measures in Education," Working Paper Series rwp05-040, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp05-040
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    1. Daniel Aaronson & Lisa Barrow & William Sander, 2007. "Teachers and Student Achievement in the Chicago Public High Schools," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(1), pages 95-135.
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    Cited by:

    1. Terrier, Camille, 2020. "Boys lag behind: How teachers’ gender biases affect student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. David Blazar, 2018. "Validating Teacher Effects on Students’ Attitudes and Behaviors: Evidence from Random Assignment of Teachers to Students," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(3), pages 281-309, Summer.
    3. Jesse Rothstein, 2007. "Do Value-Added Models Add Value? Tracking, Fixed Effects, and Causal Inference," Working Papers 1036, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    4. Han Bing & McCaffrey Daniel & Springer Matthew G. & Gottfried Michael, 2012. "Teacher Effect Estimates and Decision Rules for Establishing Student-Teacher Linkages: What are the Implications for High-Stakes Personnel Policies in an Urban School District?," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Burgess, Simon & Greaves, Ellen & Murphy, Richard, 2022. "Deregulating Teacher Labor Markets," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Goldhaber, Dan & Grout, Cyrus & Wolff, Malcolm & Martinková, Patrícia, 2021. "Evidence on the Dimensionality and Reliability of Professional References’ Ratings of Teacher Applicants," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Elizabeth Dhuey & Justin Smith, 2014. "How important are school principals in the production of student achievement?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 634-663, May.
    8. Vegas, Emiliana & Ganimian, Alejandro, 2013. "Theory and Evidence on Teacher Policies in Developed and Developing Countries," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4597, Inter-American Development Bank.
    9. Maria De Paola, 2009. "Does Teacher Quality Affect Student Performance? Evidence From An Italian University," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 353-377, October.
    10. Cassandra M. Guarino & Michelle Maxfield & Mark D. Reckase & Paul N. Thompson & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2015. "An Evaluation of Empirical Bayes’s Estimation of Value-Added Teacher Performance Measures," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 40(2), pages 190-222, April.
    11. Victor Lavy & Rigissa Megalokonomou, 2019. "Persistency in Teachers’ Grading Bias and Effects on Longer-Term Outcomes: University Admissions Exams and Choice of Field of Study," NBER Working Papers 26021, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela & Camille Terrier & Clémentine Van Effenterre, 2017. "Effectiveness of CEOs in the public sector: evidence from further education institutions," CVER Briefing Notes 005, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    13. Jason A. Grissom & Susanna Loeb, 2017. "Assessing Principals’ Assessments: Subjective Evaluations of Teacher Effectiveness in Low- and High-Stakes Environments," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(3), pages 369-395, Summer.
    14. Hanley Chiang & Stephen Lipscomb & Brian Gill, 2014. "Is School Value Added Indicative of Principal Quality?," Mathematica Policy Research Reports a11ab111ac3a497885e0a736f, Mathematica Policy Research.
    15. 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.
    16. Eric Parsons, 2014. "Does Attending a Low-Achieving School Affect High-Performing Student Outcomes?," Working Papers 1407, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, revised 18 Feb 2015.
    17. Bacher-Hicks, Andrew & Chin, Mark J. & Kane, Thomas J. & Staiger, Douglas O., 2019. "An experimental evaluation of three teacher quality measures: Value-added, classroom observations, and student surveys," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Hanley Chiang & Stephen Lipscomb & Brian Gill, 2016. "Is School Value Added Indicative of Principal Quality?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 11(3), pages 283-309, Summer.

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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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