Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
In August 2010, the Los Angeles Times publicly released value-added ratings for teachers and elementary schools in Los Angeles. Exploiting the release of these ratings as a natural experiment and using the timing of their release to account for regression to the mean, I find that low-rated teachers saw increases in their students' math and English test scores. High-rated teachers saw little to no change in their students' tests with the release of the ratings. These differential responses from low- and high-rated teachers suggest possible test score gains from the release of teacher ratings. School ratings had no additional impact on student test scores. I find no evidence that the release of the ratings affected classroom composition or teacher turnover.