Nber Working Paper Series Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: a Cross-subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects

We use data on statewide end-of-course tests in North Carolina to examine the relationship between teacher credentials and student achievement at the high school level. The availability of test scores in multiple subjects for each student permits us to estimate a model with student fixed effects, which helps minimize any bias associated with the non-random distribution of teachers and students among classrooms within schools. We find compelling evidence that teacher credentials affect student achievement in systematic ways and that the magnitudes are large enough to be policy relevant. As a result, the uneven distribution of teacher credentials by race and socio-economic status of high school students -a pattern we also document -contributes to achievement gaps in high school. Charles T. Clotfelter Sanford Institute of Public Policy Box 90245 Duke University Durham, NC 27708 and NBER [email protected] Helen F. Ladd Sanford Institute of Public Policy Box 90245 Duke University Durham, NC 27708 [email protected] Jacob L. Vigdor Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy Box 90312 Duke University Durham, NC 27708 and NBER [email protected] Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor, March, 2008