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Eric S. Taylor
Does Increased Agency Improve the Effectiveness of Self-Directed Professional Learning for Educators?
Dorottya Demszky, Heather C. Hill, Eric S. Taylor, Ashlee Kupor, Deepak Varuvel Dennison, Chris Piech.Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentThe role of teacher agency in professional learning has been the subject of several qualitative studies but has not yet been tested in an experimental setting. To provide causal evidence of the impact of teacher agency on the effectiveness of professional learning, we conducted a preregistered… more →
Employee evaluation and skill investments: Evidence from public school teachers
When employees expect evaluation and performance incentives will continue (or begin) in the future, the potential future rewards create an incentive to invest in relevant skills today. Because skills benefit job performance, the effects of evaluation can persist after the rewards end or even… more →
“Refining” Our Understanding of Early Career Teacher Skill Development: Evidence From Classroom Observations
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentNovice teachers improve substantially in their first years on the job, but we know remarkably little about the nature of this skill development. Using data from Tennessee, we leverage a feature of the classroom observation protocol that asks school administrators to identify an item on which the… more →
Measuring returns to experience using supervisor ratings of observed performance: The case of classroom teachers
Topics: MethodsTags: Human capital, AssessmentWe study the returns to experience in teaching, estimated using supervisor ratings from classroom observations. We describe the assumptions required to interpret changes in observation ratings over time as the causal effect of experience on performance. We compare two difference-in-differences… more →
Teachers’ use of class time and student achievement
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentWe study teachers’ choices about how to allocate class time across different instructional activities, for example, lecturing, open discussion, or individual practice. Our data come from secondary schools in England, specifically classes preceding GCSE exams. Students score higher in math when… more →
Teacher peer observation and student test scores: Evidence from a field experiment in English secondary schools
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentTags: Professional developmentThis paper reports improvements in teacher job performance, as measured by student test scores, resulting from a program of (zero-) low-stakes peer evaluation. Teachers working at the same school observed and scored each other’s teaching. Students in randomly-assigned treatment schools scored 0.… more →