Teacher Quality and Student Inequality

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Labor Economics
Year: 2015
Volume: 33
Issue: 3
Pages: 751 - 788

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper uses 11 years of administrative data from North Carolina public high schools to examine the extent to which the allocation of teachers within and across public high schools is contributing to inequality in student test score performance. The existence of nearly 3,500 teacher transfers allows separate identification of each teacher's quality from other school-level factors. I find that teaching quality is fairly equitably distributed both within and across high schools: students among the bottom (top) decile of a student background index are taught by teachers who are, on average, at the 41st (57th) percentile of the value-added distribution.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/679683
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25