Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock/sergign

Something strange happens to the quality of teachers during recessions

It also reveals how to attract better teachers into classrooms.

THE QUALITY OF teachers goes up during recessions — and that says something about how to attract better teachers into classrooms.

new working paper by Markus Nagler, Marc Piopiunik, and Martin R. West published by the United States National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that recession-era teacher hires were more effective in raising student test scores than non-recession-era teacher hires.

In their study, the researchers looked at 33,000 fourth and fifth grade (fourth and fifth class) teachers in Florida public schools between the 2000-1 and 2008-9 school years, and examined the effect on students’ test scores in maths and reading.

The results showed the recession-era teacher hires were significantly more effective in raising both scores — and more so in maths.

This might sound counter-intuitive. But the researchers’ findings suggest that as the overall job market sags — and economic opportunities overall are worse — more capable applicants head for the classrooms in search of better opportunities.

“Our reduced-form estimates show that teachers who entered the profession during recessions are significantly more effective than teachers who entered the profession during non-recessionary periods,” they wrote in the report.

This finding is best explained by a Roy-style model in which more able individuals prefer teaching over other professions during recessions due to lower (expected) earnings in the alternative occupations.

In layman’s English, that means that more capable people prefer teaching to other jobs during recessions because they expect to earn more as teachers compared to other professions. That ends up being good news for students.

Another notable implication of this research is that when it comes to schools bringing in capable teachers, relatively higher pay is a more important factor than just a person’s desire to teach.

“If intrinsic motivation positively affects teachers’ effectiveness, then increasing teacher pay may attract more extrinsically motivated, but less effective individuals into the teaching profession. Since we find the opposite, intrinsic motivation seems to be of second-order importance relative to the effects of increasing teacher pay on selection when hiring more effective teachers,” the researchers wrote in their report.

In other words, if teachers were paid more relative to other professions, the aforementioned research suggests that the overall quality of teachers would be improved as more capable people would choose to teach.

Check out the whole paper here.

- Elena Holodny

Read: Online backlash forces private school to withdraw JobBridge ads >

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Published with permission from
View 21 comments
Close
21 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Trevor Hayden
    Favourite Trevor Hayden
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 9:00 AM

    Always look forward to a new one coming out.
    Well done Paul.

    185
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute nelly
    Favourite nelly
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:13 AM

    Pity he didn’t scrap all his books . Utterscutter and that’s all I’ve to say about the matter

    170
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gillian Weir Scully
    Favourite Gillian Weir Scully
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 9:16 AM

    @nelly: I did once try to read one of the pieces in the newspaper but it was rubbish. Same I tried to read 50 shades but could not get beyond first page. As for books written by Celia Ahern!!

    Dreadful. Better a good dictionary than a bad book.

    80
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan McKeon
    Favourite Ronan McKeon
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 10:08 AM

    @nelly: they are actually very good. I initially thought they were rubbish but tried them again and loved them. The characters are well constructed, they are very witty and has a social commentary about Ireland.
    An author that can do all that, make his books accessible to everyone and publish a new one every year is a rare thing.

    170
    See 6 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Sims
    Favourite Catherine Sims
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:32 AM

    @Ronan McKeon: Also they are on English literature degree courses in Irish Universities . Required reading no less right alongside the likes of James Joyce.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute orestes1776
    Favourite orestes1776
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:40 AM

    @Catherine Sims: Are you joking???

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marie Okeeffe
    Favourite Marie Okeeffe
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 5:22 PM

    @Ronan McKeon: I read one on the plane going to Australia I laughed all the way there

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pauline Geraghty
    Favourite Pauline Geraghty
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 9:41 PM

    @Gillian Weir Scully: Pompous remarks.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Sims
    Favourite Catherine Sims
    Report
    Oct 1st 2017, 12:42 AM

    @orestes1776: Nope I’m deadly serious . His books are on degree courses here

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute EoinM
    Favourite EoinM
    Report
    Oct 2nd 2017, 8:11 AM

    All this criticism from faceless people on what amounts to an Internet message board.

    I’d say he cares.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marcia Craine
    Favourite Marcia Craine
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:31 AM

    It’s satire so of course it had to be rewritten. This isn’t a news story. It’s pr for the new book. Say it like it is.

    102
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Sims
    Favourite Catherine Sims
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:33 AM

    @Marcia Craine: So what ???

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ne
    Favourite Ne
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 3:05 PM

    @Marcia Craine: No flies on you.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Chambers
    Favourite David Chambers
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 9:18 AM

    Good to see all the happy folk on the comments section here as usual!

    92
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel Healy
    Favourite Nigel Healy
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:16 AM

    Jumping on the bandwagon.

    82
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Casserly
    Favourite Michael Casserly
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 10:08 AM

    Best books ever, not to be taken seriously or literally! But as per usual miserable gits commenting negatively…

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gareth Stewart
    Favourite Gareth Stewart
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:19 AM

    Or trump had to become president to stop his book. Works both ways. Either way ‘ had to because of’ is a bit of a stretch there.

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Campbell
    Favourite John Campbell
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:52 AM

    Just another ‘author ‘ throwing a rubbish book into the Christmas market to make a quick buck. It’ll be forgotten as quickly as the unwanted socks or cheap perfume.

    63
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chad Rockett
    Favourite Chad Rockett
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:10 AM

    Every cloud…

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute kjholt
    Favourite kjholt
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:45 AM

    “couldn’t write a book that didn’t address”…, or “could write a book that did address…jaysus, me head.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Cunningham
    Favourite Paul Cunningham
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:41 AM

    Same happened with South Park, made a whole season hinging on Hilary getting elected, and it fell apart. Writers need to make an alternate draft in scenarios where the premise is based off something not guaranteed to happen.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mike Igoe
    Favourite Mike Igoe
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:44 AM

    @Paul Cunningham: Coming at Trump directly is toxic to satire. If Trey Parker can’t come up with anything it more or less can’t be done.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Sims
    Favourite Catherine Sims
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:37 AM

    I thought his books wouldn’t be my thing but once I did finally read one I was hooked. He is very funny and the characters are really very well developed and the books are satire at its best. His books are required reading in some English lit degrees here in Ireland. His books are far from rubbish !!

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute OU812
    Favourite OU812
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 10:02 AM

    Wish he’d compile the weekly columns into a book

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tomas
    Favourite Tomas
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:25 AM

    Complete boll.x

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ne
    Favourite Ne
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 3:04 PM

    A U2 album, a Ross O’Carroll Kelly book and possibly North Korea. When will Trump’s carnage end?

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Minom Pnom
    Favourite Minom Pnom
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 10:17 AM

    Good interview in a podcast with Eamonn dunphy done the other day. Check out the stand podcast.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Minom Pnom
    Favourite Minom Pnom
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:08 AM

    Pathetic click bait headline. Sad stuff

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Griffin
    Favourite Richard Griffin
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:20 AM

    God damn you Trump…. have you no heart..

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean
    Favourite Sean
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 10:34 PM

    His books are hilarious and I always look forward to the new ones. I have to say though I always assumed the wig was a reference to a certain DOB and never got that it was Trump .

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Mc Carthy
    Favourite Michael Mc Carthy
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:49 AM

    What a trashy headline.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michelle Dermody
    Favourite Michelle Dermody
    Report
    Oct 1st 2017, 8:03 PM

    I would love to see his books adapted into a TV series. It would make for great entertainment on an Irish Winter’s night.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nick Drake
    Favourite Nick Drake
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 8:39 AM

    What an idiot. And as for the headline…also idiotic.

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Old Gabby Johnson
    Favourite Old Gabby Johnson
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 9:52 AM

    @Nick Drake: Takes one to know one.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JJ Ryan
    Favourite JJ Ryan
    Report
    Sep 30th 2017, 11:31 PM

    So true. Looking forward to Trump the bully spending years in jail.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds