IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/econpb/_51.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effect of Subject-Specific Teacher Qualifications on Student Science Achievement

Author

Listed:
  • Vera Freundl
  • Pietro Sancassani

Abstract

What makes a good teacher? This is one of the central questions in the economics of education. General teacher qualifications, such as education level or advanced degrees, tend to be poor predictors of teacher quality. Instead, some studies have shown that subject-specific qualifications predict teacher quality better. However, the vast majority of such studies are based on data from the United States. It is therefore unclear to what extent the findings can be generalized to other nations, as teacher education programs vary widely across countries. The lack of international evidence is particularly problematic for developing economies, which would arguably benefit most from improving student achievement.

Suggested Citation

  • Vera Freundl & Pietro Sancassani, 2023. "The Effect of Subject-Specific Teacher Qualifications on Student Science Achievement," EconPol Policy Brief 51, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:econpb:_51
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/EconPol-PolicyBrief_51.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Croninger, Robert G. & Rice, Jennifer King & Rathbun, Amy & Nishio, Masako, 2007. "Teacher qualifications and early learning: Effects of certification, degree, and experience on first-grade student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 312-324, June.
    2. Buddin, Richard & Zamarro, Gema, 2009. "Teacher qualifications and student achievement in urban elementary schools," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 103-115, September.
    3. Thomas S. Dee, 2005. "A Teacher Like Me: Does Race, Ethnicity, or Gender Matter?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 158-165, May.
    4. Paredes, Valentina, 2014. "A teacher like me or a student like me? Role model versus teacher bias effect," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 38-49.
    5. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-1177, September.
    6. Douglas O. Staiger & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2010. "Searching for Effective Teachers with Imperfect Information," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 97-118, Summer.
    7. Richard Buddin & Gema Zamarro, 2009. "Teacher Qualifications and Middle School Student Achievement," Working Papers 671, RAND Corporation.
    8. Charles T. Clotfelter & Helen F. Ladd & Jacob L. Vigdor, 2010. "Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: A Cross-Subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(3).
    9. Clotfelter, Charles T. & Ladd, Helen F. & Vigdor, Jacob L., 2007. "Teacher credentials and student achievement: Longitudinal analysis with student fixed effects," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 673-682, December.
    10. Richard Buddin & Gema Zamarro, 2009. "Teacher Qualifications and Middle School Student Achievement," Working Papers WR-671-IES, RAND Corporation.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tommaso Agasisti & Alessio D'Ignazio & Gabriele Iannotta & Angela Romagnoli & Marco Tonello, 2024. "As soon as possible: the effectiveness of a financial education program in Italian schools," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1464, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Hermes, Henning & Lergetporer, Philipp & Peter, Frauke & Wiederhold, Simon, 2021. "Behavioral Barriers and the Socioeconomic Gap in Child Care Enrollment," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 16/2021, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sancassani, Pietro, 2023. "The effect of teacher subject-specific qualifications on student science achievement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Graves Jennifer & McMullen Steven & Rouse Kathryn, 2018. "Teacher Turnover, Composition and Qualifications in the Year-Round School Setting," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 1-27, July.
    3. Braga, Michela & Checchi, Daniele & Scervini, Francesco & Garrouste, Christelle, 2020. "Selecting or rewarding teachers? International evidence from primary schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Lee, Se Woong & Lee, Eunjung Alice, 2020. "Teacher qualification matters: The association between cumulative teacher qualification and students’ educational attainment," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Chow, Kirby A. & Gaylor, Erika & Grindal, Todd & Tunzi, Dominique & Wei, Xin & Tiruke, Tejaswini, 2021. "Associations of teacher characteristics with preschool suspensions and expulsions: Implications for supports," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    6. Richard Buddin & Gema Zamarro, 2009. "Teacher Effectiveness in Urban High Schools," Working Papers 693, RAND Corporation.
    7. Richard Buddin & Gema Zamarro, 2009. "Teacher Effectiveness in Urban High Schools," Working Papers WR-693-IES, RAND Corporation.
    8. Wedel, Katharina, 2021. "Instruction time and student achievement: The moderating role of teacher qualifications," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Kevin C. Bastian, 2019. "A Degree Above? The Value-Added Estimates and Evaluation Ratings of Teachers with a Graduate Degree," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 14(4), pages 652-678, Fall.
    10. Kevin C. Bastian & Gary T. Henry & Charles L. Thompson, 2013. "Incorporating Access to More Effective Teachers into Assessments of Educational Resource Equity," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 8(4), pages 560-580, October.
    11. Cordero, Jose M. & Gil-Izquierdo, María, 2018. "The effect of teaching strategies on student achievement: An analysis using TALIS-PISA-link," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1313-1331.
    12. Seah, Kelvin KC, 2018. "Immigrant educators and students’ academic achievement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 152-169.
    13. Metzler, Johannes & Woessmann, Ludger, 2012. "The impact of teacher subject knowledge on student achievement: Evidence from within-teacher within-student variation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 486-496.
    14. Pietro Sancassani, 2021. "The Effect of Teacher Characteristics on Students’ Science Achievement," ifo Working Paper Series 348, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    15. Joseph Marchand & Jeremy G. Weber, 2020. "How Local Economic Conditions Affect School Finances, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement: Evidence from the Texas Shale Boom," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 36-63, January.
    16. Boyd-Swan, Casey & Herbst, Chris M., 2018. "The demand for teacher characteristics in the market for child care: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 183-202.
    17. Kristine L. West, 2015. "Teachers’ Unions, Compensation, and Tenure," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 294-320, April.
    18. Buddin, Richard, 2011. "Measuring teacher and school effectiveness at improving student achievement in Los Angeles elementary schools," MPRA Paper 31963, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Buddin, Richard, 2010. "How effective are Los Angeles elementary teachers and schools?," MPRA Paper 27366, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Jan Bietenbeck & Marc Piopiunik & Simon Wiederhold, 2018. "Africa’s Skill Tragedy: Does Teachers’ Lack of Knowledge Lead to Low Student Performance?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(3), pages 553-578.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:econpb:_51. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifooode.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.