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The Impact of Teacher-Student Gender Matches: Random Assignment Evidence from South Korea

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  • Jaegeum Lim
  • Jonathan Meer

Abstract

Gender disparities in academic performance may be driven in part by the interaction of teacher and student gender, but systematic sorting of students into classrooms makes it difficult to identify causal effects. We use the random assignment of students to Korean middle school classrooms and show that the female students perform substantially better on standardized tests when assigned to female teachers; there is little effect on male students.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaegeum Lim & Jonathan Meer, 2015. "The Impact of Teacher-Student Gender Matches: Random Assignment Evidence from South Korea," NBER Working Papers 21407, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21407
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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