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Skills, productivity and the evaluation of teacher performance

Author

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  • Harris, Douglas N.
  • Sass, Tim R.
Abstract
We examine the relationships between observational ratings of teacher performance, principals’ evaluations of teachers’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills and test-score based measures of teachers’ productivity. We find that principals can distinguish between high and low performing teachers, but the overall correlation between principal ratings of teachers and teachers’ value-added contribution to student achievement is modest. The variation across metrics occurs in part because they are capturing different traits. While past teacher value-added predicts future value-added, principals’ subjective ratings can provide additional information, particularly when prior value-added measures are based on a single year of teacher performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Harris, Douglas N. & Sass, Tim R., 2014. "Skills, productivity and the evaluation of teacher performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 183-204.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:183-204
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.03.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Cheng, Albert & Zamarro, Gema, 2018. "Measuring teacher non-cognitive skills and its impact on students: Insight from the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 251-260.
    2. Matthew A. Kraft & John P. Papay & Olivia L. Chi, 2020. "Teacher Skill Development: Evidence from Performance Ratings by Principals," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 315-347, March.
    3. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    4. Christian Posso & Jorge Tamayo & Arlen Guarin & Estefania Saravia, 2024. "Luck of the Draw: The Causal Effect of Physicians on Birth Outcomes," Borradores de Economia 1269, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    5. Cory Koedel & Mark Ehlert & Eric Parsons & Michael Podgursky, 2012. "Selecting Growth Measures for School and Teacher Evaluations," Working Papers 1210, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
    6. Goel, Deepti & Barooah, Bidisha, 2018. "Drivers of Student Performance: Evidence from Higher Secondary Public Schools in Delhi," GLO Discussion Paper Series 231, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Dominic Coey & Kenneth Hung, 2022. "Empirical Bayes Selection for Value Maximization," Papers 2210.03905, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    8. Jason A. Grissom & Susanna Loeb, 2017. "Assessing Principals’ Assessments: Subjective Evaluations of Teacher Effectiveness in Low- and High-Stakes Environments," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(3), pages 369-395, Summer.
    9. Eric Parsons & Cory Koedel & Li Tan, 2019. "Accounting for Student Disadvantage in Value-Added Models," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 44(2), pages 144-179, April.
    10. Vargas-Montoya, Luis & Gimenez, Gregorio & Fernández-Gutiérrez, Marcos, 2023. "ICT use for learning and students' outcomes: Does the country's development level matter?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    11. Gershenson, Seth, 2021. "Identifying and Producing Effective Teachers," IZA Discussion Papers 14096, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Li Feng & Tim R. Sass, 2017. "Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(3), pages 396-418, Summer.
    13. Koedel, Cory & Mihaly, Kata & Rockoff, Jonah E., 2015. "Value-added modeling: A review," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 180-195.
    14. Yetty Faridatul Ulfah & Purwanto Purwanto & Khuriyah Khuriyah, 2023. "Effective Factors to Manage Madrasah Teacher Work Productivity in the Disruption Era: An Analysis of Partial Correlation," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 41(1), pages 58-71, March.
    15. Marc Steeg & Sander Gerritsen, 2016. "Teacher Evaluations and Pupil Achievement Gains: Evidence from Classroom Observations," De Economist, Springer, vol. 164(4), pages 419-443, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Teacher evaluations; Observational ratings; Value-added;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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