RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Professor Like Me
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 479
OP 494
DO 10.3368/jhr.44.2.479
VO 44
IS 2
A1 Hoffmann, Florian
A1 Oreopoulos, Philip
YR 2009
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/44/2/479.abstract
AB Many wonder whether teacher gender plays an important role in higher education by influencing student achievement and subject interest. The data used in this paper help identify average effects from male and female college students assigned to male or female teachers. We find instructor gender plays only a minor role in determining college student achievement. Nevertheless, the small effects provide evidence that gender role models matter to some college students. A same-sex instructor increases average grade performance by at most 5 percent of its standard deviation and decreases the likelihood of dropping a class by 1.2 percentage points.