Too busy

Here’s another Applied Micro talk I won’t be able to see. But it looks interesting . . .

When: FRIDAY, April 22, 1:10-2 pm

Where: International Affairs Building, Room 1027

Speaker: Jonah Rockoff

Title: Teacher Quality and Alternative Teacher Certification
(joint with Thomas Kane and Douglas Staiger)

Abstract:

Many school districts in the United States, particularly urban districts,
have difficulties staffing their schools using only teachers with
traditional credentials. Some states and school districts therefore have
created alternative certification programs that allow uncertified
individuals to enter teaching. The alternative certification program for
New York City (NYC Teaching Fellows) placed more than 30 percent of all
new teachers in New York City in 2004. We examine the performance of New
York City students in classrooms led by teachers with alternative
certification compared with traditional certification. In addition to
comparing the average gains in student performance for traditionally
certified and alternatively certified teachers, we study the entire
distribution of classroom-level student performance gains for both groups.
We investigate whether differences in student achievement among teachers
are related to teacher credentials and characteristics (e.g. years of
teaching experience, graduate studies, or quality of undergraduate
institution) and whether the relationship between teacher characteristics
and student performance is different for traditionally and alternatively
certified teachers.