Acct 410 Project
ACCT 410 Project
Project ID: 21
xxxxx xxxxxxxxx
ACCT 410
Dr. xxxx xxx
November 29, 2012
Article Summary:
Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors.
It is a common perception that better education outcomes are achieved through higher-quality teachers. Teacher evaluation measures in education are different at secondary and post secondary levels. Authors argue that these measures can be influenced impacting actual student learning. At secondary and elementary level, teachers usually teach with the focus on ‘test’ and in postsecondary level, professors can reduce academic curriculum to enhance student evaluation or in some circumstances can even directly inflate the grades. The moot question then remains how the teacher evaluation measures can impact the desired outcomes of students learning.
Various studies have been conducted time to time to find the relationship between student achievements at the secondary and elementary levels vis. a vis. teacher contribution and the evidences available in this respect are somewhat mixed in nature. The clarity is much lesser when the question comes of measuring student outcomes at the postsecondary level with respect to the quality of instruction provided by the teachers. The reason is that standardized tests are not used at the postsecondary level and moreover, students select their own professors and their own course work so they are not assessed at the common platform to judge the real outcome. Thus, measuring teacher quality has been an issue at the postsecondary level.
To address the issue, researchers resort to a unique panel data set from the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). The relevant data are gathered through the random assignment of students to professors across a wide variety of standardized courses. Researchers select USAFA for their evaluation study because it is a fully accredited undergraduate institute and
Project ID: 21
xxxxx xxxxxxxxx
ACCT 410
Dr. xxxx xxx
November 29, 2012
Article Summary:
Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors.
It is a common perception that better education outcomes are achieved through higher-quality teachers. Teacher evaluation measures in education are different at secondary and post secondary levels. Authors argue that these measures can be influenced impacting actual student learning. At secondary and elementary level, teachers usually teach with the focus on ‘test’ and in postsecondary level, professors can reduce academic curriculum to enhance student evaluation or in some circumstances can even directly inflate the grades. The moot question then remains how the teacher evaluation measures can impact the desired outcomes of students learning.
Various studies have been conducted time to time to find the relationship between student achievements at the secondary and elementary levels vis. a vis. teacher contribution and the evidences available in this respect are somewhat mixed in nature. The clarity is much lesser when the question comes of measuring student outcomes at the postsecondary level with respect to the quality of instruction provided by the teachers. The reason is that standardized tests are not used at the postsecondary level and moreover, students select their own professors and their own course work so they are not assessed at the common platform to judge the real outcome. Thus, measuring teacher quality has been an issue at the postsecondary level.
To address the issue, researchers resort to a unique panel data set from the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). The relevant data are gathered through the random assignment of students to professors across a wide variety of standardized courses. Researchers select USAFA for their evaluation study because it is a fully accredited undergraduate institute and
Cited: Carrell, Scott. E. & West, James E. “Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professor.” The Journal of Political Economy, Vol 118, No.3, 2010, The University of Chicago. 409-432. Print. "U.S Securities and Exchange Commision." . Web. 28 Nov 2012. .