Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58932 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6453
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper attempts to reconcile the contradictory results found in the economics literature and the educational psychology literature with respect to the academic impact of gender dynamics in the classroom. Specifically, using data from a randomized experiment, we look at the effects of having a female teacher on the math test scores of students in primary school. We find that female students who were assigned to a female teacher without a strong math background suffered from lower math test scores at the end of the academic year. This negative effect however not only seems to disappear but it becomes (marginally) positive for female students who were assigned to a female teacher with a strong math background. Finally, we do not find any effect of having a female teacher on male students' test scores (math or reading) or female students' reading test scores. Taken together, our results tentatively suggest that the findings in these two streams of the literature are in fact consistent if one takes into account a teacher's academic background in math.
Subjects: 
teacher gender
student achievement
random assignment
JEL: 
I21
J24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
283.21 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.