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Teachers matter—but that basic fact had been difficult to measure until now. CALDER researcher Eric Hanushek and his collaborators discovered just how much teachers matter when they began working with data in Texas. "By our estimates from Texas schools," Hanushek reports, "having an above average teacher for five years running can completely close the average gap between low-income students and others." Research is beginning to uncover the qualities of an effective teacher, including experience level, academic ability, and subject matter expertise. We are also learning about the uneven distribution of teachers across districts, schools, and classrooms. At every level, students with the greatest needs, typically minority and low-income students, are much more likely to have the least effective teachers.  Brief: Graduation Rates and GED Attainment in Florida This brief calculates graduation rates for the state of Florida using longitudinal data. The results show an increasing trend in graduation rates in the state over the period studied and a substantial bump at five years, with growth flattening out after that time. Classroom Peer Effects and Student Achievement We analyze the impact of classroom peers on individual student performance with a unique longitudinal data set covering all Florida public school students in grades 3–10 over a five-year period. Under linear-in-means specifications, estimated peer effects are small to nonexistent, but we find some sizable and significant peer effects within nonlinear models. We also find that peer effects tend to be stronger at the classroom level than the grade level. Making a Difference?: The Effects of Teach for America in High School Teach for America (TFA) selects and places graduates from the most competitive colleges as teachers in the lowest-performing schools in the country. We find that TFA teachers tend to have a positive effect on high school student test scores relative to non-TFA teachers, including those who are certified infield. This brief describes estimation and measurement issues relevant to estimating the quality of instruction in the context of a cumulative model of learning. The discussion highlights the importance of accounting for student differences and the advantages of focusing on student achievement gains as opposed to differences in test scores. Note: The research reported here was supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A060018 to the Urban Institute. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, or the Urban Institute. |
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CALDER |
 with Susanna Loeb Greater demand and higher standards for teachers has led some school districts to recruit from new prep programs, such as Teach for America. Susanna Loeb and colleagues studied the effect of these multiple paths to teaching in New York City schools. More commentaries in the Plain Talk Archives
6/23/2008 | CALDER's teacher quality work is featured in another New York Times editorial, "Better Qualified Teachers." 6/14/2008 | CALDER is cited in the Wall Street Journal editorial, "Amazing Teacher Facts." View all CALDER-related news clippings.
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