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How Important are School Principals in the Production of Student Achievement?

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Listed:
  • Dhuey, Elizabeth
  • Smith, Justin

Abstract

As school leaders, principals can influence student achievement in a number of ways, such as: hiring and firing teachers, monitoring instruction, and maintaining student discipline, among others. We measure the effect of individual principals on gains in student math and reading achievement between grades four and seven. We estimate that a one standard deviation improvement in principal quality can boost student performance by approximately 0.2 standard deviations in both math and reading. We also show that principal experience does not exert a significant influence on student performance. Our results imply that isolating the most effective principals and allocating them accordingly between schools can have a significant positive effect on reducing achievement gaps.

Suggested Citation

  • Dhuey, Elizabeth & Smith, Justin, 2011. "How Important are School Principals in the Production of Student Achievement?," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2011-33, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 23 Dec 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2011-33
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economics of education; principals; education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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