The Effect of Teacher Value Added on Students of Different Achievement Levels
Faculty Supervisor:
Project and Position Description:
A significant body of literature explores the relationship between teacher quality and student outcomes and a substantial number of school districts evaluate teachers based on quantitative value-added scores. However, there is not any substantial body of research that analyzes how the effects of teacher value- added are distributed across each class. Anecdotally, teachers and researchers speak about teaching to the top, middle, or bottom of a class. We seek to extend the current literature by producing empirical evidence on the prevalence and impact of teaching to different strata of students. The purpose of our study is to estimate heterogeneity in teacher value-added in NYC schools in 2013-2019. We have two main objectives: 1. Determining if teachers have different value-added for students at different achievement levels (specifically, students at different terciles of baseline achievement), and 2. Determining if teachers have different value-added for students of different sub-groups (e.g., students qualifying for Free or Reduced Price Lunch, or students of the same race as the teacher).
Requisite Skills and Qualifications:
• B.A. or M.A. in Economics/Statistics (or equivalent).
• Strong econometrics background and (ideally) experience programming in Stata.
• Eagerness to take initiative and solve intricate problems.