Economics of Education: two stylised facts about teachers

Education is another area economist are active in. From the wide range of studies we can formulate (atleast) two stylised facts. A stylised fact is a ‘simplified presentation’ of an empirical finding . It is a finding that is supported by (almost) everyone. For teachers we can formulate the two following stylised facts.

      1. Teachers are the most important input factor for student achievements.

A wide range of studies show that teachers are the most important factor for student achievements. For example Aaronson et al. (2007) find that a good teacher may raise math achievements of students with 22% of the average gain.

      2. Good teachers cannot be identified by easily observable characteristics such as experience (except the first 3 years), certification and academic achievements.

These same studies however cannot identify characteristics that identify these good teachers. Thus, an experience teachers does perform better than a relative inexperienced teachers, a teachers with certification does not perform better than a teachers without certification etc.

This implicates that attracting and retaining high quality teachers is the most important challenge the educational sector has to face. The solution will not be straightforward. Exploring different kind of policies with a open mind will be important.  For example, the results raise the question if strict certification requirements are useful. It also sheds light on the renewed attention towards performance-related pay for teachers. Which policy ultimately will be the most useful remains to be seen.

Investing in good teachers will without a doubt  have a positive return in the long run. However, the real question is: how do we invest in good teachers ?

reference

Aaronson, D., Barrow, L., & Sander, W. (2007). Teachers and Student Achievement in the Chicago Public High Schools. Journal of Labor Economics , 25 (1), 95-134.