Rivkin Hanushek et al 2005

Teachers, schools and academic achievement

1. Références

• Référence complète APA : RIVKIN, S.G., HANUSHEK, E.A., & KAIN, J.F. (2005). TEACHERS, SCHOOLS, AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT. Econometrica, Vol. 73, No. 2 (March, 2005), 417–458.

• Auteur(s) : STEVEN G. RIVKIN, ERIC A. HANUSHEK, AND JOHN F. KAIN

• Revue : Econometrica

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3. Mots-clés

• effet maître
• pratique

4. Abstract

This paper disentangles the impact of schools and teachers in influencing achievement with special attention given to the potential problems of omitted or mismeasured variables and of student and school selection. Unique matched panel data from the UTD Texas Schools Project permit the identification of teacher quality based on student performance along with the impact of specific, measured components of teachers and schools. Semiparametric lower bound estimates of the variance in teacher quality based entirely on within-school heterogeneity indicate that teachers have powerful effects on reading and mathematics achievement, though little of the variation in teacher quality is explained by observable characteristics such as education or experience. The results suggest that the effects of a costly ten student reduction in class size are smaller than the benefit of moving one standard deviation up the teacher quality distribution, highlighting the importance of teacher effectiveness in the determination of school quality.

5. Résumé (facultatif)

Sur base de données issues de plus de 3000 écoles du Texas et 1 million et demi d'élèves du primaire (grade 3-7), montre :

• qu'il y a bien un effet maître
• que l'expérience n'a pas d'impact significatif
• que la taille de la classe joue un rôle mais moins important que l'effet maître

The results reveal large differences among teachers in their impacts on achievement and show that high quality instruction throughout primary school could substantially offset disadvantages associated with low socioeconomic background. These differences among teachers are not, however, readily measured by simple characteristics of the teachers and classrooms. Consistent with prior findings, there is no evidence that a master’s degree raises teacher effectiveness. In addition, experience is not significantly related to achievement following the initial years in the profession. These findings explain much of the contradiction between the perceived role of teachers as the key determinant of school quality and the body of research showing that observed teacher characteristics including experience and education explain little of the variation in student achievement.

Students also appear to benefit from smaller classes, particularly in grades 4 and 5. In comparison to the gains from higher teacher quality, however, the estimates indicate that even a very costly ten student reduction in class size such as that undertaken in some U.S. states produces smaller benefits than a one standard deviation improvement in teacher quality.