Economics 147

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Economics 147

• Winter 2005
• Lecture 16

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Outline for today

• Markets for teachers
• Who teaches?
• What makes teachers change schools?
• Policies aimed at this market
• Merit pay
• Teach for America

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Supply-side factors

• What is the cost of being a teacher?
• Direct costs
• Education for credential, licensing, testing
• Opportunity costs
• Outside options have improved for women and
  minorities
• Corcoran, Evans and Schwab reading
• Outside options differ by subject taught
• What are the benefits of being a teacher?
• Wage compensation
• Benefits (health insurance, vacation, etc.)
• Job satisfaction and other amenities

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Who teaches? Major certification
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Table I. Decline in Proportion that Teach
Fraction College-Educated Population in Teaching.
Source Bacolod, 2003.
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Table I. Decline in Proportion that Teach
Fraction College-Educated Population in Teaching.
Source Bacolod, 2003.
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Table II. New Entrants to Teaching, by
EducationFirst row Fraction in Teaching, With
Some CollegeSecond row Fraction in Teaching,
CollegeSource Bacolod, 2003.
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Table II. New Entrants to Teaching, by
EducationFirst row Fraction in Teaching, With
Some CollegeSecond row Fraction in Teaching,
CollegeSource Bacolod, 2003.
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Corcoran, Evans and Schwab

• Evidence of a slight but detectable decline in
  the relative ability of the average new female
  teacher (emphasis added)
• Decline in entry to teaching is greater for women
  with test scores at the top of the distribution
  than for those in the middle

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Hanushek, Kain, and RivkinThe Revolving Door

• Teachers leave schools with low pay and low-SES
  students faster
• What causes exit?
• About 20 of teachers leave their school each
  year nationwide
• Texas 1993-1996
• 6 of teachers switch to other school in district
• 5 of teachers switch to other district in state
• 7 of teachers left Texas public schools

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Compensating wage differential
S for low- amenity school
Wage P
S
w
w
D
Q
Q
Q
w w CWD
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Average effects of changing districts

• Teachers with lt2 yrs experience
• Male 1.2 annual salary
• Female 0.7 annual salary
• Teachers with lt10 yrs experience
• 0.4 annual salary (100)
• All teachers switching districts
• 0.07 std dev increase in TAAS score (3 pts of
  100)
• 4.4 decline in Hispanic students
• Teachers moving from urban to suburban districts
• 0.35 std dev increase in TAAS score (14 pts of
  100)
• 20 decline in Hispanic students
• 0.7 salary decline

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HKR Figure 1
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Merit pay (Dee and Keys)

• Tennessee class size reduction experiment,
  Project STAR
• Useful here for randomizing students and teachers
  into classrooms
• Coincided with merit pay system in Tennessee
• Probationary period
• Apprentice period
• Levels I-III

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Merit pay (Dee and Keys)
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Teach for America

• Draws from selective colleges
• Works with alternative certification programs
• Two effects conflated
• Selection of teachers
• Training of teachers

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Raymond and Fletcher
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Raymond and Fletcher
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Raymond and Fletcher