Using Big Data to Study Teachers’ Impacts

Content

Measuring Teacher Quality: Test-Score Based Metrics

Debate About Teacher Value-Added Measures

Measuring the Impacts of Teachers

A Quasi-Experiment: Entry of High Value-Added Teacher

Lesson 1: VA Estimates Are Unbiased Measures of Teacher Effectiveness

Effect of Teacher Quality on College Attendance Rates

Effect of Teacher Quality on Earnings

Effect of Teacher Quality on Teenage Birth Rates

Lesson 2: VA Estimates Based on Test Scores Predict Teachers’ Long-Term Impacts

The Value of Improving Teacher Quality

Reliability of Teacher Value-Added Estimates

Lesson 3: VA Estimates Based on a Few Years of Data Are Sufficiently Reliable to Generate Large Gains on Average

Relevance of Findings to Current Policy Debate

Policy Impacts

Summary: Improving Public Schools

Marked-Based Solutions: Charter Schools

Market-Based Solutions to Improving Education

Effects of Boston Area Charter Schools

Market Competition and Charter Schools

Limitations of Market Competition

Improving Primary Education: Summary