PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kinsler, Josh
TI  - Beyond Levels and Growth
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.47.3.722
DP  - 2012 Jul 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 722--753
VI  - 47
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/47/3/722.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/47/3/722.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2012 Jul 01; 47
AB  - The levels and growth achievement functions make extreme and diametrically opposed assumptions about the rate at which teacher inputs persist. I first show that if these assumptions are incorrect, teacher value-added estimates can be significantly biased. I then develop a tractable, cumulative model of student achievement that allows for the joint estimation of unobserved teacher quality and its persistence. The model can accommodate varying persistence rates, student heterogeneity, and time-varying teacher attributes. I implement the proposed methodology using schooling data from North Carolina, and find that only a third of the contemporaneous teacher effect survives into the next grade.