Konstantopoulos, S.; Sun, M. (University of Chicago Press, 2012-05)
We examined the persistence of teacher effects from grade to grade on lower-performing students using data from Project STAR. Teacher effects were computed as residual classroom achievement within schools. Teacher effects in one grade predicted achievement in following grades using quantile regression. Results consistently indicated that all students benefited similarly from teachers, and differential teacher effects were not evident. Overall, lower-performing students benefit as much as other students from teachers except in fourth grade, where lower-performing students benefit more. Having effective teachers in successive grades seems beneficial to lower-performing students in mathematics and reading. However, having low-effective teachers in successive grades is detrimental to all students especially in mathematics.