Information, School Choice, and Academic Achievement: Evidence from Two Experiments by Justine Hastings and Jeffrey Weinstein concluded that “providing parents with transparent information on the academic achievement at schools with their school choice forms results in significantly more parents choosing substantially higher-performing schools.”
The researchers used data from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public School District to assess claims that low-income parents would be ill equipped to choose the best school for their child, if permitted to make that choice. By simply providing test scores for schools of choice, CMS parents chose higher-performing schools that produced substantial increases in their child’s test scores at the end of the first year.
Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: A Cross-Subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects by Charles Clotfelter, Helen Ladd, and Jacob Vigdor used data for 10th grade students in North Carolina to determine if teacher credentials had an effect on student achievement. They argue that “teacher credentials affect student achievement in systematic ways and that the magnitudes are large enough to be policy relevant.”
Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor also found that “having a strong, rather than a weak, teacher appears to be far better for student achievement than being in a classroom with five fewer students rather than one of average size.” I agree.
Teachers who were certified in their subject or a related subject had the largest effect on student achievement. The years of experience variable was also important. I am not surprised by these findings. Interestingly, they found that National Board Certification also matters, but I am curious how this variable interacted with years of experience variable. Board certified teachers must complete three full years of teaching in order to be eligible for state funding.
Both reports can be found at the National Bureau of Economic Research website.
