How to Measure a Teacher

Abstract

This paper examines how different aspects of teacher quality affect students’ long-run educational trajectories. We estimate teachers’ test-based and nontest value-added (the latter based on student absences, suspensions, grade progression, and grades) and assess how these impact various student postsecondary outcomes. We find that assignment to more effective teachers, measured by either test or non-test value-added, has positive effects on students’ long-run outcomes. Test-based teacher quality measures better explain outcomes more relevant for students at the top of the achievement distribution, such as attending a more selective college, whereas nontest measures better explain whether students enroll in college at all.