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This article explores the importance of education and the misperception of specific aspects that lead to the underestimation of cognitive skills and their impact on economic growth. It also discusses the implications of improved knowledge and suggests policy alternatives for improving school quality and performance, including measures to enhance teacher quality.
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How can school quality and performance be improved? Eric Hanushek Stanford University
Importance of Education • Importance widely recognized • Misperceive specific aspects • Underestimate importance
Years of Schooling and Economic Growth With quality control Without quality control
The Effect of Cognitive Skills on Growth Depending on Openness
The Implications of Improved Knowledge • Two aspects of any educational reform plan important: • Magnitude of reform accomplished? • Benchmark: 0.5 standard deviation improvement • How fast? • School reform policies taking 10, 20, or 30 years (operating linearly) • Impact on economy will not be immediate: new graduates from school will initially be a small to negligible portion of labor force • Full impact is not felt until 35 years past full completion of reform
Improved GDP with Moderately Strong Knowledge Improvement (0.5 s.d.)
What can be done to change things? • Resource Solutions • Have not worked
Expenditure per Student and Student Performance across Countries
Policy Alternatives – U.S. Analyses • Long history of research on achievement • Coleman Report (1966) • Hundreds of intervening studies • Accountability and improved data • U.S. institutional structure
Historic Teacher Quality Research • Achievement unrelated to common quality measures • Teacher graduate degrees • Experience* • Certification • Salary Teachers do not matter?
Alternative View • Measure effectiveness in classroom • Good teachers get good results • Wide variation in effectiveness • Texas: 3-5 years of good teacher closes achievement gap by low income • Gary: difference of best and worst = one year Substantial evidence that teacher quality is most important part of schools
Policy Options • Whole school reform • Altered curricula • Class size reduction • Pre-school programs Nothing matches teachers
How to Get Good Teachers • Front end policies • Better training • More rigorous screening • Extended training • Mentoring • Professional development • Selection • Voluntary • Involuntary
Conclusions • Improving achievement important • Knowledge, not seat time • Simple quality measures inaccurate • Spending • Program characteristics • Teacher characteristics • Teacher effectiveness is key