Productivity returns to experience in the teacher labor market: Methodological challenges and new evidence on long-term career improvement

Citation:

Papay JP, Kraft MA. Productivity returns to experience in the teacher labor market: Methodological challenges and new evidence on long-term career improvement. Journal of Public Economics. 2015;130 :105-119.

Abstract:

We present new evidence on the relationship between teacher productivity and job experience. Econometric challenges require identifying assumptions to model the within-teacher returns to experience with teacher fixed effects. We describe the bias introduced by violations of different identifying assumptions, including a new approach that we propose. Consistent with past research, we find that teachers experience rapid productivity improvement early in their careers. However, we find suggestive evidence of returns to experience later in the career, indicating that teachers continue to build human capital beyond these first years.