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Are Professors Worth It? The Value-added and Costs of Tutorial Instructors

Author

Listed:
  • Feld, Jan

    (Victoria University of Wellington)

  • Salamanca, Nicolás

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research)

  • Zölitz, Ulf

    (University of Zurich)

Abstract

A substantial share of university instruction happens in tutorial sessions—small group instruction given parallel to lectures. In this paper, we study whether instructors with a higher academic rank teach tutorials more effectively in a setting where students are randomly assigned to tutorial groups. We find this to be largely not the case. Academic rank is unrelated to students' current and future performance and only weakly positively related to students' course evaluations. Building on these results, we discuss different staffing scenarios that show that universities can substantially reduce costs by increasingly relying on lower-ranked instructors for tutorial teaching.

Suggested Citation

  • Feld, Jan & Salamanca, Nicolás & Zölitz, Ulf, 2018. "Are Professors Worth It? The Value-added and Costs of Tutorial Instructors," IZA Discussion Papers 11975, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11975
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 2012. "American Higher Education in Transition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 193-216, Winter.
    2. Jan Feld & Nicolás Salamanca & Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2016. "Endophilia or Exophobia: Beyond Discrimination," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1503-1527, August.
    3. Jan Feld & Ulf Zölitz, 2017. "Understanding Peer Effects: On the Nature, Estimation, and Channels of Peer Effects," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(2), pages 387-428.
    4. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long, 2010. "Does Cheaper Mean Better? The Impact of Using Adjunct Instructors on Student Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 598-613, August.
    5. Scott E. Carrell & James E. West, 2010. "Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(3), pages 409-432, June.
    6. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2014. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers I: Evaluating Bias in Teacher Value-Added Estimates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2593-2632, September.
    7. Long, Bridget Terry & Taylor, Eric S., 2016. "When inputs are outputs: The case of graduate student instructorsAuthor-Name: Bettinger, Eric P," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 63-76.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Griffith, Amanda L. & Main, Joyce B., 2021. "The role of the teaching assistant: Female role models in the classroom," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Benjamin Elsner & Ingo E Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2021. "Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College [Gender, competitiveness, and socialization at a young age: evidence from a matrilineal and a patriarchal society]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3182-3206.
    3. Feld, Jan & Salamanca, Nicolás & Zölitz, Ulf, 2019. "Students are almost as effective as professors in university teaching," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Harold E. Cuffe & Jan Feld & Trevor O'Grady, 2021. "Returns to Teaching Repetition: The Effect of Short-term Teaching Experience on Student Outcomes," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 516-532, Summer.
    5. Lavy, Victor & Megalokonomou, Rigissa, 2024. "Alternative Measures of Teachers' Value Added and Impact on Short and Long-Term Outcomes: Evidence from Random Assignment," IZA Discussion Papers 17121, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Zhu, Maria, 2021. "Limited contracts, limited quality? effects of adjunct instructors on student outcomes☆," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Ingo E. Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "The value of a peer," ECON - Working Papers 342, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    8. Keng, Shao-Hsun, 2020. "Gender bias and statistical discrimination against female instructors in student evaluations of teaching," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Feld, Jan & Zölitz, Ulf, 2022. "The effect of higher-achieving peers on major choices and labor market outcomes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 200-219.
    10. Chang, Simon & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Salamanca, Nicolás, 2022. "Parents’ responses to teacher qualifications," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 419-446.
    11. Barbara Biasi & Song Ma, 2022. "The Education-Innovation Gap," CESifo Working Paper Series 9653, CESifo.
    12. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2022. "Rank Effects in Education: What Do We Know So Far?," IZA Discussion Papers 15128, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Feld, Jan & Salamanca, Nicolás & Zölitz, Ulf, 2019. "Students are almost as effective as professors in university teaching," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Di Xu & Florence Xiaotao Ran, 2021. "The Impacts Of Different Types Of College Instructors On Students’ Academic And Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 225-257, January.
    15. Merkus, Erik & Schafmeister, Felix, 2021. "The role of in-person tutorials in higher education," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    higher education; teacher value-added; instructor rank;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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