Long‐run effects of teachers in developing countries

Lee Crawfurd,Caine Rolleston

doi:10.1111/rode.12717

Abstract

AbstractHow persistent are teacher effects on student outcomes? In this paper we present estimates of teacher effects on long‐run student outcomes from two low‐ and middle‐ income countries. We first estimate teacher value‐added using the Young Lives School Survey data from Ethiopia and Vietnam. We then track students taught by these teachers 2 and 5 years later and use data from the Young Lives Household Surveys to estimate the effects of teacher quality. We find no persistent effect after 2 years, but better mathematics (0.08σ) and reading (0.06σ) test scores after 5 years, from being taught by a 1σ better Grade 5 teacher. We find no persistent effects of good teachers on measures of more “generalized” cognitive ability, aspirations, well‐being, or “grit.”

Highlights

How persistent are teacher effects on student outcomes? A large literature has established the effects of individual teachers on students in the United States (Hanushek & Rivkin, 2010; Koedel, Mihaly, & Rockoff, 2015)
We present the results of the second-stage ordinary least squares (OLS) regression of later student test scores on earlier teacher effectiveness (Equation 2)
Having a “better” Grade 5 teacher results in better test scores in Grade 10, after students have graduated to middle school

Summary

Introduction

How persistent are teacher effects on student outcomes? A large literature has established the effects of individual teachers on students in the United States (Hanushek & Rivkin, 2010; Koedel, Mihaly, & Rockoff, 2015). Estimates from the USA put the economic value of an effective teacher in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on future wage gains of their students (Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2014b). In this paper we estimate the persistent effect of teacher quality in Ethiopia and Vietnam. Different approaches have been taken to defining and measuring teacher quality. The “Measures of Effective Teaching” (MET) project in the USA directly compared three measures: using growth in student test scores, using lesson observations, and using student feedback.

Methods

Results

Conclusion