Douglas Staiger - Have We Identified Effective Teachers?

Douglas Staiger, John French Professor in Economics at Dartmouth College

Have We Identified Effective Teachers? Validating Measures of Effective Teaching Using Random Assignment

We report results from the first large-scale study that uses random assignment to test whether it is possible to identify great teaching. In the first year of the study, teaching practice was measured using a combination of student surveys, classroom observations, and student achievement gains. Then, in the second year, teachers were randomly assigned to different classrooms of students. The students’ outcomes were later measured using state tests and supplemental assessments designed to measure students’ conceptual understanding in math and ability to write short answer responses following reading passages. The teachers whose students did better during the first year of the project also had students who performed better following random assignment. Moreover, the magnitude of the achievement gains they generated aligned with the predictions.