The role of personal teacher characteristics and school variables in teacher quality: A study using Item Response Theory

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between teacher quality, teacher attributes and school characteristics. The research presented is related to the discussion regarding teacher quality, how to best measure teacher quality and the most effective policies to improve teacher performance. The study, unlike previous studies, uses methods that consider teacher ability as an unobservable characteristic that is estimated independent from the sample of items and students who took the test. It also considers the nested structure of teachers within schools and uses a measure of teacher quality based on professional standards. Results show that although teacher quality is primarily a consequence of individual teacher characteristics, the school level plays an important role. However, the variables included in the model, both at the teacher and at the school level, explain only a limited proportion of the total variance (16%).